Film Preview: Space Jam: A New Legacy (2021)

Film Poster

Page Revisions:

(April 11, 2021) Original
(June 20, 2021) New Trailer (#2) — New Posters (#10-#16)

Release Date:

July 16, 2021

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “NBA superstar LeBron James teams up with Bugs Bunny and the rest of the Looney Tunes for this long-awaited sequel.”

Poster Rating: C / C- (8) / B- (5) / C- / C

SEE ALL POSTERS BELOW
Review: (#1) Reminiscent of the first design of the Michael Jordan Space Jam, which might entice fans of the original, but it won’t entice much else. (#2-#9) A dull character series with blank dichromatic backgrounds and an obviously tease for fans of the characters to buy their merchandise and watch their movie. A weak selection of designs.

(#10-#14) This series of character posters is the most visually and creatively distinct element of the entire publicity machine so far. (#15) Too little background detail, but we’ve come to expect this from the lackluster designs so far seen. (#16) What is probably the final poster, is thankfully the final poster with nothing particularly amazing to show for it.

Trailer Rating: C+ / C-

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Review: (#1) Targeting itself towards young children, this new version of Space Jam with LeBron James subbing in for Michael Jordan, doesn’t give a lot of exciting details that might make it a cross-over hit. That said, the original was and there are plenty of fans of that picture, so this one may just well be a hit with fans of the original taking their own kids to see this one, but unlike Pixar, the studio behind this film doesn’t have any illusions that it will be more than easy humor, as evinced in the final scene of the trailer.

(#2) It’s not easy to make a film look even worse than the first trailer, but this design has done that with a dull narrative explanation, bland animation style, and a serious lack of acting prowess.

Oscar Prospects:

This will be the first time we’ve had a test of the rules regarding the percentage of non-animated elements in the Animated Feature category. It probably won’t be nominated just because history seems to work against it, but it will be an interesting situation.