Will LeBron James’ Space Jam Re-Edit Uniforms After Twitter Backlash?
The crowd went mild this week when LeBron James unveiled the new Tune Squad uniforms from his forthcoming Space Jam: A New Legacy movie.
First look at the new Tune Squad jerseys for Space Jam 2 👀
(via @uninterrupted)pic.twitter.com/nvEwzhOuCx
— ESPN (@espn) August 18, 2020
Putting aside James’ decision to drop the new-look jerseys ahead of the Los Angeles Clippers’ first playoff game, an undeniably petty attention-seeking maneuver, substantively they were also a mess.
The color scheme is straight-up weird, the tops and bottoms are misaligned, and overall the whole package is just too busy.
Twitter immediately had a field day.
Don’t mess with perfection. #SpaceJam https://t.co/K86OsyE0C4 pic.twitter.com/msgHbTpiLm
— Benny (@bennythebull) August 18, 2020
Shit looking like a Fortnite skin https://t.co/tcreIwKfZs
— The Big Chillin (@Kofie) August 18, 2020
— E (@edownthestretch) August 18, 2020
Looks more like the Flint Tropics alternates https://t.co/1An0fHjT33 pic.twitter.com/N6cCTbfgf7
— Fundamentally Sound (@FundamentallySD) August 18, 2020
at least line up the shorts with the jersey https://t.co/Yvr1zX1GxL
— Tankathon.com (@tankathon) August 18, 2020
Rainbows seeing this pic.twitter.com/ArE71ExVmg
— President Airbud (@Airbudburner) August 18, 2020
Big facts! pic.twitter.com/QAFlkUEU0N
— David Pómez (@dpomez) August 18, 2020
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What makes this situation all the odder is the fact that some excellent Tune Squad jerseys were unveiled back in late January. Everyone loved that version because it was reminiscent of the original Tune Squad uniforms which were fan favorites.
Space Jam 2 x Nike 👀 pic.twitter.com/K9rtEV7JAV
— J23 iPhone App (@J23app) January 22, 2020
All James’ Space Jam had to do was keep everything as similar as possible to the original movie. That’s it.
So what happens now?
Well, Sonic The Hedgehog set an interesting precedent.
You will recall, after a ton of backlash in response to the graphics displayed in the movie’s trailer, Paramount went back to the drawing board. The movie was ultimately delayed by three months and the re-editing added $5 million to the production budget, but it worked.
Audiences reacted in a much more positive fashion to the new graphics, and the movie went on to gross more than $300 million at the box office
The decision to go back and fix what audiences deemed lacking in the trailer has been regarded as a smart move.
Will something similar happen with James’ incarnation of Space Jam? It should.
Space Jam faces the same uphill battle that many other sequels face. Fans will look for any reason to say that it clearly isn’t as good as its predecessor, and providing an easy lay-up like the ugly uniforms unveiled this week is not a good first move.
A New Legacy will drop in July 2021, so there is plenty of time to go back and modify things. Warner Bros. would be wise to take a page out of Sonic’s book and go back to change the uniforms while they still have the time to do so.
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Jennifer Withers Hoey is a former Business Development Manager who transitioned to writing about sports. With valuable connections all over the West Coast, she has used those contacts to break some of the most interesting stories pertaining to the Portland Trail Blazers, Oregon Ducks, LA Lakers, LA Clippers, Seattle Supersonics (RIP), and more.
This is a joke right? Either way Lebron James is not, was not, and will never be on Michael Jordan’s level! Compare them if you like but Lebron James will never be considered better than Michael Jordan… Period! Although as a kid I was always a Magic Johnson/Larry Bird fan as an adult I can truly say I was privileged enough to watch the greatest basketball player to ever play in the NBA and that is Michael Jordan! Watch the highlight films from both players and you’ll see when the game was on the line with seconds on the clock MJ came out a winner time after time while LB has missed those shots with the game on the line the majority of the time. In my mind there’s not even a comparison because as I said I wasn’t a Jordan fan but his greatness outshines every other player that’s played the game to the point that if you can’t just admit he was and still is the best it’s because either one you were not around to see Jordan play or two you are too stubborn to admit he’s better than your favorite player or some other bias.