Warner Bros has announced that “Space Jam 2” is getting a summer 2021 release date. It is the highly anticipated sequel to Michael Jordan’s original Looney Tunes movie in 1996. The movie has garnered a ton of excitement and speculations of which NBA players will co-star alongside LeBron James in this sequel.

As excited as I am to see “Space Jam 2”, I am afraid that this film will not live up to fan expectations. There have been no plot details given for the film, and I don’t know how you squeeze a sequel out of the first film. This movie will be a lousy remake of a sports film classic that has entertained kids for the better part of 20 years.

“Space Jam” is not a cinematic masterpiece, but it’s a fun kids movie that pairs the greatest basketball player of all time with Bugs Bunny and the rest of the Tune Squad in a basketball game in order to save them from intergalactic enslavement.

Let’s not forget this movie came out two years after Jordan “retired” from the NBA to play baseball. It’s a fun fictional “what if instead of playing baseball during his year of retirement he did this” movie. What is James’s storyline going to be? How is he going to get paired up with the Looney Tunes?

This film doesn’t need to get a sequel. Studios need to have pride in their past success to get people into films they loved as a kid, and it takes parents showing kids the movies that they grew up watching.

It’s a problem within the film industry to reboot movies for nostalgia money. If studios want to make money, they should re-release movies in major anniversary years or work better deals with streaming services to keep cultural iconic movies like “Space Jam” on streaming services permanently.. Or let’s see “Space Jam” in some bargain bins  at Walmart or Target.

For parents, what’s a better way to bond with your kids then to enjoy a movie you loved when you where their age? Watching old movies helps inspire kids to go into the film industry by blending what they are watching today and by learning the history of the industry.

“Space Jam” is definitely not a part of classic cinema, but there is nothing wrong with the original to where it has to be rebooted. The industry should just find a way to get kids excited to watch the original and parents to show it.

There is no way fans of the original are going to say that the James’ sequel is better. Why not promote the achievements and the iconicism of the original? Get viewers to go back to the original and invest in their nostalgia. If you want to reboot “Space Jam” why not feature  other sports? Imagine Tom Brady, Bryce Harper or Sidney Crosby getting their own Looney Tunes film.

It also goes without saying that no “Space Jam” sequel would be considered as successful without a role for Bill Murray, and I don’t see how that is possible in a sequel with James.