Space Jam 2 is coming

Eventually it will happen. The second episode of Space Jam is in the making. Space Jam 2 will happen and its star will be LeBron James, sanctioning an ideal media passage between Jordan and James.

Released in 1996, Space Jam is exactly what is called an iconic film, which represents a symbol, different symbols actually, which over time has consolidated itself even more. Among them the bottle of Michael Jordan Magic Stuff - sports transposition of the placebo effect, the scene inspired by Pulp Fiction, a website that has continued to function to this day, never suffering graphical update and preserving itself beautifully '90s.

But perhaps more than anything else, Space Jam has the merit of having made the Looney Tunes cool, as a recent Moschino by Jeremy Scott show has reminded us. The entire Space Jam aesthetic has been perpetuated over the years, and will finally have its sequel - although we don't know much about it yet.

But how exactly SJ has influenced the pop culture? We identified 5 points.

#1 I Believe I Can Fly

Among the memorable things from SJ, the soundtrack certainly plays a special role. Even the most critical environments (which now, as then, are many) recognise the actual power of it. And indeed, it is often considered (after the sneakers) "the best thing about the film," as recently written by Uproxx. From the introductory 10 minutes, where the music of  Space Jam by Quad City DJ's, are sent to loop spectacular images of the play of His Airness, we understand the central importance of music in the film. A succession of huge singles, from Hit 'Em High by Busta Rhymes, Method Man and LL Cool J to Turn On You, via Jay Z and D'Angelo, the OST has reached its peak in the 6 Platinum discs for I Believe I Can Fly by R Kelly, quickly become the ideological manifesto of the entire MJ career.

#2 A Sneaker Movie

In addition to the Looney Tunes, Michael Jordan and the epic game won against the Monstars, SJ has gone down in history for being sneaker-heads favourite film. The ones worn by Michael Jordan during the shooting were the "Space Jam 11", that he then resumed in the Playoffs, and soon became a fetish object among the collectors. The agonising wait for a re-issue in the year 2000 has also led Nike to change some of its habits, and move on the release date from Wednesday to Saturday. The reason? Too many kids were skipping school to get in line in front of the store. During the movie the Jordan 2 also appear, as well as the "Shadow" 10, in another iconic scene where Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck sneak inside Mike's house to retrieve his lucky shorts.

#3 Hare To Jordan

Any SJ imagination is condensed in the minute of commercial that four years earlier had opened the cooperation between Jordan and Bugs Bunny. The short story: Nike had to shoot a commercial (aired during the Super Bowl, and therefore of some significance) for the promotion of Jordan VII, and director Joe Pytka didn’t find anyome more famous than Bugs Bunny to put beside MJ. In that way the Hare Jordan campaign was born. The impact, in media and in business, was so great that any fan had some Space Jam stuffs in the mid-90s. And last year, for the 30th anniversary of the Air Jordan, Nike has relaunched the whole collection, made up of tank tops, shorts and sneakers and snapback, everything needed for a basketball game in short, everything '90s and Space Jam style.

#4 Bill Murray

Bill Murray has always been a big fan of basketball (and sports in general), as demonstrated by one of the best meme appeared last month in the US. In Space Jam he plays the part of himself, a white guy a bit 'out of shape, with an umbrella hat on his head, playing golf with MJ and Larry Bird, but dreaming of being in the NBA. One of the funniest lines in the film is exactly: "It's because I'm white, right?", asking for an explanation for the lack of confidence by Jordan.Murray's role is small but important. In an interview with Grantland a few years ago, the actual "hero of the Hipster part of the Internet", answering a question on his popularity among young people replied: "I think that Space Jam has helped me a lot in that sense, by bringing me in the heart of the youngest".

#5 Art

The influence of Space Jam has been so strong to reach also art galleries. In January 2015 in fact, at the Marboloroguh Chelsea in New York, Devon Troy Strother opened his personal exhibition of artworks inspired by the imagination and the characters (one for all, MJ) of SJ. As a huge fan, Devon wanted to recreate the atmosphere of the film completely. In addition, the eponymous title of the exhibition turned out to have also another meaning, where "space" was for the huge space and "jam" for the idea of ​​wanting to achieve the goal at all costs, and achieve the best possible exposure. It was a success, and Stother's work remains today one of the finest tributes to the enormous impact that Space Jam has had on contemporary pop culture.