LeBron James moved out to Hollywood this past year, and it hasn’t exactly been an easy move. As you all know, the Lakers sucked it up on the court, and for the first time since 2005, there will be no LeBron James in the playoffs.
And his career off the court is taking a hit as well. The game show/course competition he developed, Million Dollar Mile, has received less than ideal ratings for its first two episodes, which forced CBS to move it out of its prime Wednesday slot. It’s now been moved to Saturday night, where most shows are left to die.
But he still has Space Jam 2, right? Well, yeah, but even that is not going as planned. According to multiple reports, James is having trouble recruiting NBA stars to make cameos in the film.
Why? Because of shoes.
As to why shoes matter, Nike is essential to the Space Jam franchise. The 1996 first film was based on the ‘Hare Jordan’ commercial directed by Joe Pytka, who also helmed the feature. That makes the involvement of Curry (Under Armour contract through 2024) and Harden (Adidas) nearly impossible, sources say. Durant, though a key member of Team Nike, is pursuing his own Hollywood efforts, including an Apple series, Swagger, based on his life.
The good news is that the script has more meat to it than the original film. It has more of a story, so they don’t need the entire NBA to make an appearance.
Filming is expected to begin this summer and the movie will be released in July of 2021.
