The animated action movie, Space Jam unleashes the creative powers combined with the state of art technology. It was released in 1996 by Warner Bros. family entertainment and starred Bugs Bunny and the famed basketball player, Michael Jordan. The voice over was provided by Billy West for the Tunes and the movie marks the debut of Lola Bunny, Bugs Bunny’s girlfriend.
The popularity of the film went beyond the normal memorabilia and Acclaim Entertainment produced a video game while Sega went ahead to launch a pinball game based on the movie Space Jam. The storyline plays with the NBA superstar, Michael Jordan pursuing a baseball career after retiring from professional basketball.
Based with animated alien characters, Nerdlucks minions to Mr. Swackhammer, who is a owner of ‘Moron Mountain’, an extraterrestrial theme park which is going bankrupt due to poor business. To gather more attractions, he sends the Nerdlucks to earth to kidnap the Tune characters. In the movie, the home of the Looney Tunes is deep below the surface of the earth.
As a challenge the Tunes ask them to play a game of basketball after seeing that they are not very tall. But Nerdlucks are devious and to make sure that they win, they resort to underhand means such as stealing the powers of the NBA stars- Muggsy Bogues, Shawn Bradley, Patrick Ewing, Larry Johnson and Charles Barkley.
The stolen powers make the Nerdlucks powerful and they turn into gigantic creatures with super powers or Monstars that seem invincible to be defeated by the Tunes. To defeat the Monstars, Looney Tunes enlist the help of Michael Jordan and the game starts. The devious ways and tactics of the Nerdlucks, give Looney Tunes characters a tough time leaving only Michael Jordan, Bugs Bunny, Lola Bunny and daffy Duck in the team.
To help the Tunes, Bill Murray enters the game but it was with the help of the animated extendable arm of Michael Jordan that the Tunes get the winning shots. After winning the game, Looney Tunes leave Michael Jordan on Earth and he gives back the stolen prowess to the players while Tunes return back to their homes. The exciting live animated movie was an instant hit and grossed over $330 million worldwide. The popularity of the movie gave the memorabilia industry a push and thousands of key chains, statues, soft toys and Michael Jordan shoes hit the market where eager buyers of all ages bought them.
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