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LeBron James wishes he could release ‘Space Jam 2’ to give people something to watch, but says it’s still on schedule

Like the rest of us, Lakers star LeBron James is excited about “Space Jam 2.” He wishes he could put it out now so people would have another entertainment option while the threat of coronavirus keeps the world on lockdown.

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Celebrities At The Los Angeles Lakers Game Photo by Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images

There hasn’t been a lot of good news to go around lately, but on Thursday, we at least got one small positive: Lakers star LeBron James says “Space Jam 2” is still on schedule.

James touched on a ton of topics during his appearance on the “Road Trippin” podcast, but among them was the status of the much-anticipated follow-up to the 1996 film, “Space Jam.” James said that it’s still on track for its original release window, and revealed that he wishes he could put the movie out now to give people something to watch while the world is mostly quarantined due to the threat of COVID-19, or the coronavirus (as transcribed by Dave McMenamin of ESPN):

Space Jam 2 is still on schedule to release next summer despite the domino of delays that the coronavirus is causing.

”Space Jam has always been scheduled to come out in June of 2021. So we’re kind of (OK),” he said. “And a lot of it right now is animation so being indoors is actually great for us. So, we’re still on. Just like everything in the world, everything is slowed down a little bit, but we’re still on target. I’m looking forward to it. During this time right now, I wish we could release it right now, man, and give people some things to watch in their households. But we got until next year, next summer. We’re excited about it.”

Given that the movie was originally slated to do more filming while the NBA was in its offseason this summer, it remains to be seen if it will stay on track for the same window. With the season suspended indefinitely due to coronavirus, it’s unknown when or if the league will resume, and when the league’s true “offseason” will start as a result. And due to the importance of social distancing, it’s not like James and Warner Bros. can just film the rest of the movie now instead.

Still, James has more information about all that than we do on the outside, so if he’s still saying the movie is on schedule, then it’s likely they have contingency plans. Like him, we all probably wish we could just watch it now and let the nostalgia distract us from everything else going on, but it’s at least a small positive that this movie isn’t joining the scores of other films that have already been delayed just yet. It at least gives us one little thing to look forward to when this is all over.

For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.

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