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115-494: Space Jam is a 1996 American live-action/animated sports comedy film directed by Joe Pytka and written by Leo Benvenuti, Steve Rudnick , Timothy Harris , and Herschel Weingrod . The film stars basketball player Michael Jordan as a fictional version of himself; the live-action cast also includes Wayne Knight and Theresa Randle , as well as cameos by Bill Murray and several NBA players, while Billy West , Dee Bradley Baker , Kath Soucie and Danny DeVito headline

230-547: A File Transfer Protocol , for its team to touch upon, digitally color, and composite into shots in Photoshop before being sent back to Sherman Oaks. Unlike previous projects that used the Cineon digital film system , Cinesite used the quicker Inferno and Flame systems for Space Jam . The film's Holly render farm consisted of 16 central processing units , four gigabytes of shared memory , and took up one million dollars of

345-420: A batter to step out of the batter's box to better prepare for a pitch , a foreign object entering a batter's eye such as dust or a bug, for a manager to speak with a player or umpire, or to replace one player with another (for which a time-out is required by the rules), etc. The requested time out is not effective unless an umpire grants it verbally or by hand signal (both hands raised). The umpire also has

460-513: A slam dunk , winning the game with a buzzer beater . After Swackhammer scolds the Monstars for their failure, Jordan helps them realize that they only served him because they were once smaller. Having had enough of their boss's behavior towards them, the Monstars insert Swackhammer inside a missile that sends him to the moon. After relinquishing their stolen talent, the Nerdlucks decide to join

575-505: A street painting , including Dick Van Dyke dancing with penguin waiters. In 1971 Bedknobs and Broomsticks transported Angela Lansbury and David Tomlinson to an underwater nightclub for dancing, followed by Tomlinson competing with anthropomorphic animals in an aggressive soccer match. Inspired by the Swedish film Dunderklumpen! (1974), Walt Disney produced Pete's Dragon in 1977 to experiment with similar techniques, placing

690-408: A time-out or timeout is a halt in the play. This allows the coaches of either team to communicate with the team, e.g., to determine strategy or inspire morale, as well as to stop the game clock. Time-outs are usually called by coaches or players, although for some sports, TV timeouts are called to allow media to air commercial breaks. Teams usually call timeouts at strategically important points in

805-600: A "coaching visit"). Under Major League Baseball (MLB) rules, a team is limited to one visit per inning and a maximum of three per game. Under NFHS (high school) rules, a team receives three mound visits for the game and can use more than one an inning. If a team exceeds the limit in either MLB or high school ball, the pitcher must be removed immediately. In the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), there are two systems of timeouts used. In games that are not broadcast, each team

920-413: A "timeout", a stoppage in play can also be requested by the defense. This can be accomplished in several ways. First, once in his "set" position, the pitcher may stop play by stepping off the rubber prior to his windup. Secondly, the catcher may visit the pitcher at any point before he steps on the rubber. Finally, the manager or pitching coach may also visit the pitcher before he steps on the rubber (called

1035-458: A $ 1 million budget to make. It was hindered by reluctance from Warner Bros. to allow Nike to modernize Bugs' character; however, the commercial success of both ads "was a nice bit of research for Warner Bros. to understand that the Bugs character still had relevance and to tie it in with Michael", explained Pytka. This led to the company green-lighting a film featuring Jordan and Bugs, which came out of

1150-621: A 2-disc, special-edition DVD including newly made extras such as a commentary track, a featurette, production notes, and an hour of previously released Looney Tunes shorts and a TV special. On November 6, 2007, Space Jam was featured as one of four films in Warner Home Video's 4-Film Favorites: Family Comedies collection DVD (the other three being Looney Tunes: Back in Action —which was released seven years after Space Jam — Osmosis Jones and Funky Monkey ). On February 8, 2011,

1265-405: A Nike commercial." Margaret A. McGurk of The Cincinnati Enquirer gave the film 2 + 1 ⁄ 2 stars out of four writing, "Technical spectacle amounts to nothing without a good story." Veteran Looney Tunes director Chuck Jones was critical of the film and its premise, opining that Bugs Bunny would not have enlisted help from others in resolving a conflict. The Monstars make a cameo in

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1380-415: A bunch of moving camera shots with 3D backgrounds to be added. The CGI backgrounds moved around with the motion trackers via Cinesite's proprietary software Ball Buster, which identified the markers through algorithm. To avoid mistakes in the visuals as much as possible, Cinesite artists worked on the film by frame instead of viewing each shot as a whole; those, such as Jonathan Privett were dissatisfied with

1495-477: A field goal after a timeout is called—possibly because they have come to expect a timeout to be called, if the opposing team still has one. There have also been times when the tactic has directly backfired; for example, in an NFL game played on November 19, 2007, between the Denver Broncos and Tennessee Titans , Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan called a timeout to ice the kicker. It was difficult to hear

1610-401: A first movie a script that builds nicely on his genial personality in an assortment of TV ads. The sound bites are just a little longer." Leonard Maltin also gave the film a positive review (three stars), stating that "Jordan is very engaging, the vintage characters perform admirably ... and the computer-generated special effects are a collective knockout." Todd McCarthy of Variety praised

1725-890: A game between the New York Knicks and Phoenix Suns . The Nerdluck voices include Jocelyn Blue as their orange leader, Pound, Charity James as the dim-witted blue Blanko, June Melby as the neurotic green second-in-command Bang, Colleen Wainwright as the diminutive red Nawt, and producer Ivan Reitman 's daughter, Catherine , as the eccentric purple Bupkus. Their transformed "Monstar" versions are voiced by Darnell Suttles (Pound), Steve Kehela (Blanko), Joey Camen (Bang), Dorian Harewood (Bupkus), and T.K. Carter (Nawt). Wainwright also voices Sniffles , Kehela also voices Bertie's announcer voice, and Frank Welker voices Jordan's bulldog, Charles. In 1992 and 1993, two Super Bowl Nike ads, "Hare Jordan" and "Aerospace Jordan" respectively, aired on television and featured Michael Jordan with

1840-633: A handheld LCD game by Tiger Electronics were released based on the film. Space Jam grossed $ 90.5 million in the United States, and $ 159.7 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $ 250.2 million. Domestically, it debuted to $ 27.5 million from 2,650 theaters, topping the box office. The film then made $ 16.2 million in its sophomore weekend but it dropped to second place behind Star Trek: First Contact and $ 13.6 million in its third place behind Star Trek: First Contact and 101 Dalmatians . In China,

1955-403: A lot with that." The drafting process involved the animators and artists using the original cartoons as references. Ultimately, they went with Bob Clampett 's style of animation due to being wilder than Chuck Jones ' style. Production of Space Jam totaled around 19 months, with filming taking up ten of them; this was half the time of any other film of its kind according to Smith. The animation

2070-601: A minor penalty for delay of game. In team handball , one sixty-second time-out per half per team is allowed. Time-outs are called by the head coach by handing a green time-out card to the match official, and can only be called when the team is in possession of the ball. In volleyball , the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) stipulates two 30-second time-outs allowed per team, per set. In FIVB World and Official Competitions, there are two additional 60-second technical time-outs in each set when

2185-413: A normal stoppage of play. The time-out is measured from when all the players are gathered around the team benches. In gridiron football , either team may call for a timeout while the ball is dead. They can be called by players (typically the quarterback or a linebacker ) or by the head coach. Importantly, the clock stops if it is running when the timeout is called. Both teams may call one timeout during

2300-426: A plane meeting between a Nike executive and producer Ivan Reitman . Jordan was offered movie deals previously, but his manager, David Falk , turned them all down because he felt the basketball icon could only act as himself. The project was closed when Jordan retired from basketball in 1993, only to be reopened in 1995 when Jordan returned as a basketball player. Falk pitched the idea to several major studios, without

2415-417: A sports film, Pytka took on fast, unlimited camera movements and Dutch angles ; this made integrating the characters into the shots challenging for the animators. To connect the real and animated worlds together, blue-screen shots of miniatures by Vision Crew Unlimited were used; these include a Christo -inspired interpretation of The Forum arena for exterior shots, city rooftops for a transition scene with

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2530-419: A story or script written. One of them was Warner Bros., which tried to create more "adult, sophisticated material" that deviated from the formula set by Disney in the animated film market. After Warner Bros. initially rejected Falk's pitch, he called the consumer products division leader, Dan Romanelli, reacting in surprise the studio would turn down a project having potential of high-selling merchandise. Pytka

2645-401: A strategy known as " icing the kicker ". In theory, this strategy is based on the presumption that the kicker has prepared himself mentally to make the kick only to have the timeout break his concentration. While this strategy has seemingly worked on occasion, statistics suggest that not only is this an ineffective strategy, but is actually counterproductive because kickers are more likely to make

2760-416: A successful second life in features". After Cervone was hired as animation director, Jerry Rees contacted Bruce W. Smith about being another animation director on the film; Rees was fired by the time Smith joined, and Pytka hired Smith to direct the animation sequences alongside Cervone. Before January 1996, when animation production was put into overdrive, none of the animators' drafts or concepts for how

2875-406: A team is limited to two timeouts. However, if one team has yet to be charged its mandatory timeout, then the limit applies after the mandatory timeout is taken. With less than two minutes to go in the game or overtime period, if the offensive team takes a timeout prior to inbounding the ball or if it secures the ball from a rebound or turnover but prior to advancing it, the team may choose to inbound

2990-431: A team's clock management strategy, calling timeouts for other reasons is often seen as unfavorable. An analysis of timeout usage by NFL head coaches conducted during the 2021 season showed that more than half of the head coaches on average used more "unnecessary" timeouts (i.e., those used to prevent a penalty or an unfavorable play, or lost coach's challenges) per game than "time-saving" timeouts (i.e., those used to manage

3105-431: A time out during the same stoppage, but the second team must notify the referee before the opponent's time-out expires. Since each team has only one time-out, they will often reserve it for special situations, such as sudden changes in momentum of the game, resting players who have been on the ice for an extended period of time, and needing to score a goal near the end of regulation time, allowing time to strategize and rest

3220-539: A time-out is requested by either team during the first five minutes of a quarter, this time-out will be considered a media time-out and will also be charged to the appropriate team. If neither team has requested a time-out by the first dead ball after the five-minute mark in a quarter, a media time-out shall be taken. This time-out is not charged to either team. In beach volleyball , the Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) stipulates one 30-second time-out allowed per team, per set. In FIVB World Competitions, there

3335-611: A wide skyline view of Chicago serving as the chroma-keyed background, and space ship parts initially produced by Boss Film Studios for a Philip Morris advertisement. The soundtrack sold enough albums to be certified as 6-times Platinum. The song " I Believe I Can Fly " by musical artist R. Kelly earned him three Grammy Awards. Other tracks included a cover of Steve Miller Band 's " Fly Like an Eagle " (by Seal ), " Hit 'Em High (The Monstars' Anthem) " (by B-Real , Busta Rhymes , Coolio , LL Cool J , and Method Man ), " Basketball Jones " (by Barry White & Chris Rock ), " Pump up

3450-415: A wooden brown upper level, and there were so many colorful characters, and Michael Jordan and everybody had to look good in all the scenes." For scenes that take place in the stadium, shortcuts were made. For crane shots of the crowd of 15,000 people in the final basketball sequence, it was created with live-action extras, cloned animated crowd members, and a few computer-generated characters walking around

3565-400: Is a happy marriage of good ideas—three films for the price of one, giving us a comic treatment of the career adventures of Michael Jordan, crossed with a Looney Tunes cartoon and some showbiz warfare. ... the result is delightful, a family movie in the best sense (which means the adults will enjoy it, too)." Siskel focused much of his praise on Jordan's performance, saying, "He wisely accepted as

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3680-440: Is allowed four 75-second and two 30-second timeouts per regulation game. In games which are being broadcast, as of the 2015-16 season, each team is granted one 60-second timeout and three 30-second timeouts per game in addition to the media timeouts (at the first dead ball under 16, 12, 8 and 4 minutes remaining in each half). A maximum of two 30-second timeouts may carry over into the second half. Any called timeout that occurs within

3795-506: Is an additional 30-second technical time-out in sets 1–2 when the sum of both scores is equal to 21. During the 2009 season of the Indian Premier League of T20 cricket , the halfway point of each innings contained a seven-and-a-half minute television timeout , two-thirds of which were devoted to additional advertising time. After complaints by viewers and players (criticizing its commercial purpose and for breaking

3910-418: Is called, it is usually ignored and no penalty is assessed (however, in many leagues, a coach attempting to call a timeout when he has no timeouts left can be assessed a 5-yard Delay of Game penalty). Teams use several methods to stop the clock without exhausting a timeout. These include: A common practice in gridiron football is to call a timeout right before a potential game-winning or game-tying field goal,

4025-539: Is initially reluctant to help, but later agrees after a confrontation with the Monstars, and forms the "Tune Squad” with the Tunes; they are joined by Lola Bunny , with whom Bugs is enamored. Jordan is initially unprepared, and sends Bugs and Daffy Duck to his house in the live-action world to obtain his basketball gear. Jordan's children aid them and agree to keep the game a secret, while Stan, searching for Jordan, notices Bugs and Daffy, follows them to their world, and joins

4140-479: The Avatar franchise . These films are generally not considered animated due to the realism of the animation and the use of motion-capture performances , which are extensively based on live-action performances by implementing actors' movements and facial expressions into their characters. Roger Ebert said that "in my mind, it isn't animation, unless it looks like animation." Time-out (sport) In sports ,

4255-646: The Pinky and the Brain episode "Star Warners". Jordan, who was a spokesman for MCI Communications before the film was made, would appear with the Looney Tunes characters (as his " Space Jam buddies") in several MCI commercials for several years after the film was released before MCI merged with WorldCom and subsequently Verizon Communications . Bugs had previously appeared with Jordan as "Hare Jordan" in Nike ads for

4370-414: The Looney Tunes characters, while praising the technical achievements of its intertwining of live-action and animation. It was a commercial success, grossing over $ 250 million worldwide to become the highest-grossing basketball film of all time until 2022, as well the tenth-highest-grossing film of 1996 . A standalone sequel, Space Jam: A New Legacy , was released in 2021, with LeBron James in

4485-455: The Looney Tunes from the Nerdlucks, his quintet of alien minions, and orders them to abduct the Tunes to serve as attractions. The Nerdlucks enter the Tunes' universe hidden in the center of the Earth through a parking lot of a Piggly Wiggly and hold them hostage before Bugs Bunny convinces them to allow the Tunes to defend themselves. Tunes challenge the Nerdlucks to a basketball game, noting

4600-510: The quarterback or a linebacker ) and the head coach. If overtime is required in the NFL, each team is given two timeouts during a ten-minute regular season sudden-death period (overtime periods are fifteen minutes in the playoffs), while in college football each team gets one timeout per possession. In the CFL, overtime is untimed and teams receive no additional timeouts. If a timeout above these limits

4715-408: The 30 seconds prior to a scheduled media timeout break automatically takes the place of the upcoming media timeout, with the only exception to this rule being the first called timeout of the second half. A timeout cannot be called by a coach when the ball is live. Previously, under NCAA rules in prior seasons, teams had a total of five timeouts, and timeouts superseding media timeouts were only used in

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4830-546: The Air Jordan VII and Air Jordan VIII. In the next theatrical Looney Tunes film, Looney Tunes: Back in Action , Jordan appears in archive footage from this film as one of the disguises of Mr. Chairman ( Steve Martin ). In 2013, Yahoo! Screen released a parody of ESPN 's 30 for 30 about the game shown in the film. The short dates the game as taking place on November 17, 1995, although Jordan's real-life return to basketball when it occurred on March 18. In April 2019,

4945-699: The Clown , interacted with the live world; for example, having a boxing match with a live kitten. In a variation from this and inspired by Fleischer, Walt Disney 's first directorial efforts, years before Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was born in 1927 and Mickey Mouse in 1928, were the live-action animated Alice Comedies cartoons, in which a young live-action girl named Alice interacted with animated cartoon characters. Many previous films have combined live-action with stop-motion animation using back projection , such as Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen films in

5060-665: The Jam " (by Technotronic ), " I Turn to You " (by All-4-One ) and " For You I Will " (by Monica ). The film's title song was performed by the Quad City DJ's . There was also an original scoring soundtrack featuring most of James Newton Howard 's score from the film, except the main Merrie Melodies Theme itself. Coincidentally, Biz Markie , who was a guest vocalist on the Spin Doctors 's cover of KC and

5175-703: The Latin American film pair Saludos Amigos (1943) and The Three Caballeros (1945), Donald Duck cavorts with several Latin-American dancers, plus Aurora Miranda (sister of Carmen Miranda ), who gives him a kiss. In Song of the South (1946) Uncle Remus sings "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" in an animated field, and tells the stories of Brer Rabbit through animated sequences. So Dear to My Heart (1949) improved upon this. The 1964 film Mary Poppins gained significant notoriety for its blend of live action and animation, with an extensive sequence located "inside"

5290-510: The Monstars become increasingly violent, injuring most of the Tune Squad. With ten seconds left in the game, the Tune Squad is down by one point and one player, with only Jordan, Bugs, Lola, and Daffy still able to play. Murray unexpectedly arrives and joins the team. In the final seconds, Jordan gains the ball with Murray's assistance but is pulled back by the Monstars. On Bugs' advice, Jordan uses cartoon physics to extend his arm and achieve

5405-480: The Monstars obtained their talent and informs the Tune Squad. Disguising a bottle of water as "secret stuff", Bugs and Jordan motivate the Tune Squad, who improve in the second half using their cartoon physics. During a time-out , Jordan raises the stakes with Swackhammer: if the Tune Squad wins, the Monstars must relinquish their stolen talent, and if the Monstars win, Jordan will spend the rest of his life being Moron Mountain's newest attraction. On Swackhammer's orders,

5520-649: The Sunshine Band 's " That's the Way (I Like It) " on the soundtrack died from complications from type 2 diabetes on the release date of the sequel. Space Jam was one of the earliest animated productions to use digital technology. 2D animation and backgrounds were first done on paper with pencil at the Sherman Oaks studio before being scanned into Silicon Graphics Image files through Cambridge Animation Systems ' software Animo and were then sent to Cinesite via

5635-1055: The Tunes, while Jordan and Stan return to Earth and return the talent to the five players, whose remarks convince Jordan to return to the NBA. Space Jam ' s cast includes Manner Washington, Eric Gordon, and Penny Bae Bridges as Jordan's children, Jeffrey , Marcus , and Jasmine, respectively. Brandon Hammond plays the ten-year-old Michael Jordan. Larry Bird and Bill Murray appear as themselves, and Thom Barry portrays Jordan's father, James R. Jordan Sr. Several NBA players make cameo appearances in Space Jam , including Danny Ainge , Steve Kerr , Alonzo Mourning , Horace Grant , A.C. Green , Charles Oakley , Luc Longley , Cedric Ceballos , Derek Harper , Vlade Divac , Brian Shaw , Jeff Malone , Bill Wennington , Anthony Miller , and Sharone Wright , as do coaches Del Harris and Paul Westphal , and broadcasters Ahmad Rashad and Jim Rome . Dan Castellaneta and Patricia Heaton cameo as fans at

5750-646: The United States, and Aleksandr Ptushko , Karel Zeman and, more recently, Jan Švankmajer in Eastern Europe . The first feature film combining these forms was The Lost World (1925). In the Soviet film The New Gulliver (1935), the only character who was not animated was Gulliver himself. Warner Bros. ' cartoon You Ought to Be in Pictures , directed by Friz Freleng , featured animated Warner Bros. characters interacting with live-action people, and

5865-408: The ability to call time out for his/her own purposes, or for purposes of the game, such as replacing a worn ball. Since there is no clock in baseball, the main effect of a time out is to temporarily prevent the defensive team from tagging base runners out or delivering a pitch as well as to prevent base runners from advancing. However, the catcher may also request timeout once the pitcher has stepped on

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5980-407: The advent of techniques such as Rotoscoping , developed by Max Fleischer in the 1910s. Rotoscoping allowed animators to trace moving images, frame by frame, to generate realistic animations which could be integrated with real action scenes. During the silent film era in the 1920s and 1930s, the popular animated cartoons of Max Fleischer included a series in which his cartoon character, Koko

6095-422: The aisles in the stadium. When these shots involved camera movements, a few 2D extras were animated to reflect the angle of the camera, but much lighting was added to distract from the crowd, thus minimizing this work. The reflections of the floor on the gym were also "fake[d]" as raytracing would've meant rendering it for four days per a few frames. Abbate suggested the hurried workflow of the animators bled into

6210-518: The animated dragon, Elliot, in a live-action setting. The genre broke new ground again with Who Framed Roger Rabbit in 1988, with Disney and Amblin Entertainment producing advanced special effects and photo-realistic interactions among animated characters and live actors. Memorable moments include the entrance of Jessica Rabbit in the Ink & Paint Club and Bob Hoskins handcuffed to

6325-412: The animated title character . With live-action and traditional animated films, two negatives were double-printed onto the same release print pre-digitally. Since then, more complex techniques have used optical printers or aerial image animation cameras , which enabled more accurate positioning, and more realism for the interaction of actors and fictional animated characters. Often, every frame of

6440-486: The animation industry. Space Jam broke the record for amount of composited shots in a featured film, "roughly 1,043" according to Tippe, as well as a record number of FX shots, with around 1,100 in a single 90-minute film; Independence Day (1996), released the same year, had 700 FX shots within two hours of screen time. Tippe claimed the film would have, at most, "multiple characters, multiple levels of effects and, in some cases, up to 70 elements" in one shot. Space Jam

6555-507: The ball again, because Gibbs was unaware of the rule. Gibbs was issued an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, which narrowed the attempt from 51 yards to 36 yards out. Lindell made the 36-yard field goal to win the game for the Bills, 18–17. Game officials also have the authority to call their own time-outs, which unlike the team time-outs are unlimited. Such official time-outs can be used for instant replay reviews, to tend to an injury, to measure

6670-460: The ball at midcourt. The rules were changed before the 2017-18 NBA season to eliminate the distinction between "full" and "20-second" timeouts (which were actually 60 seconds by rule) and eliminate a third mandatory timeout in the second and fourth quarters. The changes sped up the pace of play and addressed a common fan complaint that the last few minutes of a game dragged due to excessive timeouts. However, some coaches call several timeouts before

6785-493: The ball is live, only the team in control of the ball can request a timeout. In the National Basketball Association (NBA), teams are allowed seven timeouts, each of 1 minute, 15 seconds. There is no limit on substitutions. In overtime periods, each team is allowed two timeouts. A timeout can only be requested by a player in the game or the head coach, and only when the ball is dead or in control of

6900-420: The character Bugs Bunny . Wieden+Kennedy creative director Jim Riswold conceived the "Hare Jordan" campaign following the popularity of advertisements where Jordan played with Mars Blackmon (played by Spike Lee ), a character from She's Gotta Have It (1986); he chose Bugs Bunny for his next campaign because the character was his "childhood hero". Directed by Joe Pytka , "Hare Jordan" took six months and

7015-509: The character animation, resulting in a quick-witted style the Looney Tunes cartoons are most known for. Although the animators had to work with almost 100 characters, they were the most focused on Bugs and Daffy not only because they were principal characters, but also because they were the most recognizable Warner Bros. characters to general audiences. Sculpting was incorporated the most on Bugs and Lola, including in "beauty shots" or sequences where Bugs and Lola are together. Perkins conceived

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7130-603: The commercials and was located in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles , was originally planned to be the only company responsible for Space Jam . However, after only a week, the animation work was so complicated that Warner Bros. contacted more studios, including reassigning the Feature Animation division in Glendale from working on Quest for Camelot (1998) to Space Jam . Ten of Classic Animation's members, including

7245-596: The early 20th century, with pioneers such as the Frenchman Georges Méliès . Méliès is often credited with creating the first examples of this genre through his innovative use of special effects, animation, and live-action footage. His 1902 film, " A Trip to the Moon ", although not a live-action animated film by the modern definition, laid the groundwork for the integration of imaginative elements into live-action films. The genre really began to develop with

7360-458: The early days of the web, and Warner Bros. returned the site to the spacejam.com address in response. Following the release of Space Jam: A New Legacy 's first trailer in April 2021, the website was updated for promotion of the new film, though the 1996 content remained available as a separate landing page. Live-action animated film The origins of live-action animation date back to

7475-517: The film a weighted average score of 59 out of 100 based on 22 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel of the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune both gave Space Jam a thumbs up, although Siskel's praise was more reserved. In his review, Ebert gave the film three-and a-half stars and noted, " Space Jam

7590-593: The film for its humor as well as the Looney Tunes' antics and Jordan's acting. Although Janet Maslin of The New York Times criticized the film's animation, she later went on to say that the film is a "fond tribute to [the Looney Tunes characters'] past." Michael Wilmington of the Chicago Tribune complained about some aspects of the movie, stating, "...we don't get the co-stars' best stuff. Michael doesn't soar enough. The Looney Tunes don't pulverize us

7705-399: The film on VHS , DVD , and LaserDisc on March 11, 1997. The VHS tape was reprinted and re-released through Warner Home Video's catalog promotions: The Warner Bros. 75th Anniversary Celebration (1998), Century Collection (1999), Century 2000 (2000) and Warner Spotlight (2001). The film was re-released on DVD on July 25, 2000. On October 28, 2003, the film was once again re-released as

7820-400: The film should look met with Reitman's approval; Bill Perkins joined that month as animation art director, and when first arriving at the Sherman Oaks division, "we only had around eight months to do about 52 minutes of animation" and "it was just kind of a little skeleton crew." Cervone highlighted Reitman's role as supervisor: "It started off as a string of gags with no structure, and he helped

7935-474: The film was released in 1997 and grossed CN¥ 24.1 million. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes , Space Jam holds an approval rating of 44% based on 87 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "While it's no slam dunk, Space Jam ' s silly, Looney Toons-laden slapstick and vivid animation will leave younger viewers satisfied – though accompanying adults may be more annoyed than entertained." Metacritic assigned

8050-521: The film's 20th anniversary. On July 6, 2021, the film arrived on Ultra HD Blu-ray to celebrate the 25th anniversary and the release of Space Jam: A New Legacy . Space Jam later expanded into a media franchise which includes comics, video games and merchandise. The Space Jam franchise is estimated to have generated $ 6 billion in total revenue. This includes a wide variety of merchandise, such as Air Jordans , Bugs Bunny shirts, Happy Meals , Mugsy Bogues jerseys, and Tweety gowns. The film

8165-429: The film's budget, "on top of which the deskside boxes had 256 megabytes of RAM to splurge on whatever scene you needed to create and render," explained Privett. Cinesite had begun developing proprietary software for motion tracking when working on Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995), which involved most of its shots incorporating a digital background; this made the company prepared for Space Jam , which consists of

8280-435: The film's production, including one from the official website, emphasized its state-of-the art computer technology when it came to its live-action/animation hybrid; "this film could have not been made two years ago," claimed Cervone in 1996. Due to its mixture of various art mediums as well as the "broad sense of humor and entertainment" unique to the Looney Tunes , Smith considered Space Jam an important part of diversifying

8395-461: The film, remained unchanged but active for 25 years prior to the release of the film's sequel, an unusual aspect to film promotion websites. The site was one of the earliest film promotion websites, and included a number of unrefined web design facets, such as heavy use of animated GIFs . While the site's content had been moved under Warner Bros.'s site around 2003, the site's design gained a resurgence of interest around 2010 as an historical artifact of

8510-473: The first disc of the previous 2-disc edition was released by itself in a film-only edition DVD and on October 4, the film was released for the first time in widescreen HD on Blu-ray which, save for the Looney Tunes shorts, ported over all the extras from the 2003 2-disc edition DVD. A double DVD release, paired with Looney Tunes: Back in Action , was released on June 7, 2016. On November 15, 2016, Warner Bros. released another Space Jam Blu-ray to commemorate

8625-442: The flow of the game), the following season replaced them with two sponsored and compulsory two-and-a-half minute "strategic timeouts" that must be taken by each side at certain points during the innings; one must be taken by the bowling team between the 6th to 10th overs , and the batting team between the 13th to 16th overs. In floorball , each team is allowed one thirty-second time-out per game, which may only be taken during

8740-432: The game clock). The use and rationing of time-outs is a major part of clock management strategy; calling time-out stops the clock (which normally is running between plays except in the case of a penalty , an incomplete pass , officials requiring time to re-spot the ball and/or down markers, or when the ball is run out of bounds ), extending the time a team has to score. Timeouts can be called by both players (typically

8855-402: The game resumed with a throw-in either from a designated line in the team's frontcourt or from the place in the backcourt nearest to where the game was stopped. In televised games, media time-outs may be used at the discretion of the game's organizing body. They may be up to 100 seconds long. One of these time-outs will occur in each quarter, but no media time-outs are allowed during overtime. If

8970-475: The genre broke new ground for the first time and paved the way for future films that also used this technique. In another cartoon, The animated sequence in the 1945 film Anchors Aweigh , in which Gene Kelly dances with an animated Jerry Mouse , is one of the most famous scenes in film history. Throughout the decades, Disney experimented with mixed segments of live-action and animation in several notable films, which are primarily considered live-action. In

9085-453: The golf course scene, he then wanted to be in the climactic basketball game after Pytka showed him the process of how he directed the live-action/animation scenes. Concept drawings and discussions between the animators and Pytka about how the animation would be incorporated into the live-action shots took place on set during shooting, and re-writes to the script would be done daily. As an experienced commercial and music video director working on

9200-405: The idea of the villains being secondary colors, as the main Looney Tunes were either primary colors, black, or brown. There was also a lot of experimentation with motion blur with the 2D characters, especially Tweety; as Simon Eves explained, "The workflow was that an artist would track some specific points on the sequence of 2D character-on-black that came from the animation house, and I think it

9315-544: The kicking team 15 yards and an automatic first down. It has only happened once in the NFL, in a 2007 game between the Buffalo Bills and the Washington Redskins , when Redskins head coach Joe Gibbs called a timeout just before Bills kicker Rian Lindell attempted a 51-yard field goal. The kick was good, but Gibbs was awarded the timeout. Gibbs then called a second timeout when Lindell was preparing to kick

9430-563: The latter's small stature. After seeing a documentary about basketball, the Nerdlucks infiltrate various NBA games, stealing the talents of Charles Barkley , Shawn Bradley , Patrick Ewing , Larry Johnson , and Muggsy Bogues . They use these talents to transform into gigantic, muscular versions of themselves known as the "Monstars". Realizing they need help, the Looney Tunes pull Jordan into their universe as he golfs with Bill Murray , Larry Bird , and Jordan's assistant, Stan Podolak, where Bugs explains their situation to Jordan. However, Jordan

9545-489: The lead role. The sequel failed to match the commercial success of the first film and received generally negative reviews. In 1973, a young Michael Jordan tells his father, James , about his dreams of playing in the NBA . Twenty years later, following James’ death, Jordan retires from basketball to pursue a career in baseball. In outer space, amusement park Moron Mountain is in decline. Its proprietor, Mr. Swackhammer, learns of

9660-523: The live-action film was traced by rotoscoping , so that the animator could add his drawing in the exact position. With the rise of computer animation , combining live action and animation became common. Since the late 1990s, some films have included large amounts of photorealistic computer animation alongside live-action filmmaking, such as the Star Wars prequels , The Lord of the Rings trilogy and

9775-403: The match, or to avoid the team being called for a delay of game -type violation, such as the five-second rule in basketball. With very few exceptions (such as the defunct North American Soccer League 's experimentation with TV timeouts) timeouts have never been permitted in association football . Moreover, the game clock runs continuously in each half, even if extenuating circumstances compel

9890-421: The method, primarily because it put them under much pressure: "We much preferred the good old fashioned run-at-24-fps, just-as-the-viewer-sees-it approach." The design of the stadium was heavily dictated by that of the film's many characters, and it was such a long process that it went through 94 revisions, explained Cinesite digital effects supervisor Carlos Arguello: "Tasmanian Devil was brown so we couldn't have

10005-415: The period, the official scorer declares it and charges it to the team not previously charged. The first and second timeouts in a quarter are extended to 2:45 for locally televised games and 3:15 for nationally televised games, to accommodate advertising. A team is limited to a maximum of four timeouts in the fourth quarter, losing any timeouts not yet taken. With three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter,

10120-479: The production's animation director Tony Cervone , were taken out of the faction to become involved all throughout production, and development artists were reassigned to animating jobs, including supervising animator Bruce Woodside, who had little faith in the project: "Like so many other animators, I adore the classic Warner Bros. characters, but I really had little hope that tying them to the massive anchor of an apparently doomed marketing scheme could actually give them

10235-419: The referee to halt play for an extended period of time, unless and until the match is abandoned. However, the referee adds stoppage time at the end of each half to ensure roughly 45 minutes of actual play is completed in each half after accounting for the amount of time play is interrupted. Baseball players and managers of both the offense and defense can request time out for a number of purposes, such as for

10350-404: The requisite number of commercial breaks in the quarter have been used, or it is the second timeout in the same dead ball period, in which cases the timeout is 30 seconds long. Common reasons for calling a timeout include: In the NFL, college football, and CFL, a timeout is assessed against a team if a head coach unsuccessfully challenges a play . Because timeouts are such important parts of

10465-406: The role due to his friendship with Pytka. One thing I heard was that Ivan Reitman, when they were thinking about going ahead with this movie, had phoned up Robert Zemeckis about Who Framed Roger Rabbit and asked, "Do you have any advice on what we should do to make a movie like this?" And he said, "Don't do it, it nearly killed me." The Classic Animation faction of Warner Bros., which animated

10580-470: The role. The easiest actors to obtain were the NBA players, except for Gheorghe Mureșan . Bill Murray 's appearance was present in the script from the beginning, but the filmmakers were unable to book him until filming started; there are rumors that Jordan begged Murray to be in the film. Reitman, serious about the voice actors for the established Looney Tunes characters being far better than their original voice actor, Mel Blanc , and not just replications,

10695-441: The roles of Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. The casting directors originally planned several voice cameos; however, that did not work out, and Danny DeVito ended up being the only celebrity voice actor in the film, which was for Mr. Swackhammer, who was originally planned to be played by Jack Palance . Swackhammer was also planned to be a live-action character until the very final days of development, with Dennis Hopper possibly playing

10810-450: The rubber, usually with the intention of either "resetting" the play, or to deliver some information to the pitcher via either signals or a visit to the mound. Under certain (uncommon) circumstances specified by the rules, umpires are required to call time out, even while a play is in progress, such as certain cases of interference . Unlike many other sports, the rules of baseball do not limit time outs, either by number or duration. The end of

10925-511: The same dead ball period. In American football ( National Football League (NFL), college , and high school ), each team is given three timeouts per half. In Canadian football, each team is given two timeouts per half in amateur leagues and one per half in the Canadian Football League (CFL). In all codes unused timeouts do not carry over between the first and second halves. In the NFL, timeouts are two minutes in length unless

11040-420: The scorer's table at any time, but it may only be granted by a referee when the ball is dead and the game clock is not running. A time-out may also be granted after a scored goal, but only to the team that was scored upon. If a time-out is granted to the team in possession of the ball during the last two minutes of the fourth quarter or any overtime, the head coach of the team calling the time-out may choose to have

11155-603: The spot of the ball with the chain crew or (in televised contests) to insert television commercials into the telecast. In ice hockey , each team is allowed one thirty-second time-out per game, which may only be taken during a normal stoppage of play. In the National Hockey League (NHL), only one team is permitted a time out during stoppage. However, in the International Ice Hockey Federation rules, both teams are permitted

11270-435: The team making the request. If a request for a timeout is made with none remaining, the offending team is assessed a technical foul and loses possession. In each quarter, there are two mandatory timeouts. If no team has taken a timeout prior to 6:59 of the period, then the next time the ball is dead, the official scorer calls a timeout and charges it to the home team. If no subsequent timeouts have been taken prior to 2:59 of

11385-520: The team's best players. In the NHL, teams lose their time-out if they unsuccessfully challenge a goaltender interference call, and cannot challenge if they are already without their time-out. Since the 2017–18 season, teams cannot utilize their time-out after an icing , except for the team who was not charged with the icing. In addition, they retain their timeout after every successful goaltender interference challenge; unsuccessful offside challenges result in

11500-432: The team. Meanwhile, the incapacity of the five players results in a nationwide panic that culminates in the season's suspension. The players try to restore their skills through various methods, with no success. The game between the Tune Squad and the Monstars commences, with Swackhammer arriving to observe. The Monstars dominate the first half, lowering the Tune Squad's morale. During halftime, Stan surreptitiously learns how

11615-409: The three-minute mark to avoid losing them. Under FIBA rules, each team is allowed two time-outs in the first half, three time-outs in the second half, and one time-out in each overtime period. Only two time-outs may be granted to each team during the last two minutes of the fourth quarter. Unlike in most other rule sets, only coaches are allowed to call time-outs. A time-out request may be made to

11730-583: The time out is indicated by an umpire verbally declaring "Play!" and/or by pointing at the pitcher while he is holding the ball (these umpire signals are identical to those used to start a game or resume play after the ball has become "dead", for example due to a half-inning ending). Since baseball provides natural breaks in the action when teams exchange offensive and defensive roles between half-innings (two minutes, five seconds normally; two minutes and twenty-five seconds for nationally televised games ), TV timeouts are not necessary. Other than coaching visits, which

11845-467: The umpires ensure stay brief, timeouts theoretically have no time limits. However, when no runners occupy a base, a pitcher must deliver the pitch within twelve seconds of receiving the ball from the catcher or else a "delay of game" is called, resulting in a ball. Also, any relief pitcher is limited to eight warm-up throws before play resumes, except in special circumstances (such as a pitcher substitution due to injury). Though not officially recognized as

11960-581: The voice cast. The film follows Jordan as he is brought out of retirement by the Looney Tunes characters to help them win a basketball match against invading aliens intent on enslaving them as amusement park attractions. Space Jam was the first film to be produced by Warner Bros. Feature Animation and was released theatrically in the United States on November 15, 1996, by Warner Bros. under its Family Entertainment label. Critics were divided over its premise of combining Jordan and his profession with

12075-438: The way they did when Chuck Jones , Friz Freleng or Bob Clampett were in charge." Yet overall, he also liked the film, giving it 3 stars and saying: "Is it cute? Yes. Is it a crowd-pleaser? Yup. Is it classic? Nope. (Though it could have been.)" TV Guide gave the movie only two stars, calling it a "cynical attempt to cash in on the popularity of Warner Bros. cartoon characters and basketball player Michael Jordan, inspired by

12190-468: The website SBNation ran a mockumentary April Fools Day episode of its popular Rewinder series on Jordan's climactic shot. The Nerdlucks appeared in the Teen Titans Go! original film Teen Titans Go! See Space Jam which aired on Cartoon Network on June 20, 2021, and was released on digital on July 27, 2021. The film's official website spacejam.com, created in 1996 alongside promotion of

12305-405: The whistle and the play continued, with Titans kicker Rob Bironas badly shanking a 56-yard field goal. The play was restarted, this time without a timeout, and the kick was good. Since a team is not allowed to call multiple timeouts between plays, they are prohibited from trying to ice a kicker more than once on the same kick; attempting to do so results in an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, giving

12420-460: The women's rules. High school basketball allots five timeouts per game, with three 60-second and two 30-second timeouts. In overtime games, each team is given one additional 60-second timeout in each overtime period, and is allowed to carry over any unused timeouts from regulation or – if the case may be – previous overtimes. Media timeouts are typically reserved for televised state tournament games only. Coaches and players can call timeouts. While

12535-445: Was able to take a basic roto shape as well, and then it would generate an interpolated motion vector field which could be applied as a variable directional blur. The field would deform based on the relative motion of the tracking points on the camera, to produce more accurate blur as the character deformed." Warner Bros. released Space Jam through its Family Entertainment division on November 15, 1996. Warner Home Video released

12650-506: Was adapted into a graphic novel published by DC Comics through their imprint "Warner Bros. Family Entertainment Reading" that published the "Looney Tunes", "Tiny Toon Adventures", "Animaniacs" and "Pinky & The Brain" monthly comic books. The special issue was written by David Cody Weiss and drawn by Leonardo Batic. A licensed pinball game by Sega , a video game for the PlayStation , Sega Saturn and MS-DOS by Acclaim , and

12765-428: Was difficult to get most actors involved with Space Jam due to its odd premise: "I mean, they're going to work with an animated character and an athlete — are you serious? They just didn't want to do it." Before Wayne Knight was cast as Stan, his initial choices were Michael J. Fox and Chevy Chase , whom he had worked with on Doritos commercials; Warner Bros. rejected both actors. Jason Alexander also turned down

12880-455: Was done at a very quick pace by more than 700 workers from 18 studios in London, Canada, California and Ohio, starting January 1996 by the recently joined producers Ron Tippe and Allison Abbate . In trying to track the huge amount work done at the 18 studios, Tippe hung stills of all the shots throughout the Feature Animation faction's hallways, with completed ones marked in red. Features about

12995-483: Was informed about the project only months before the start of principal photography; in addition to being hired as director, he also revised the script, including writing a scene where Jordan hits a home run after he returns to Earth that was filmed, but ultimately never used. Spike Lee was also interested in helping Pytka with the screenplay, but Warner Bros. blocked him from the project out of dissatisfaction from how he funded Malcolm X (1992). According to Pytka, it

13110-502: Was one of the first-ever productions to be shot on a virtual studio . Jordan filmed in a 360-degree green screen room with motion trackers ; around him were green-suited NBA players and improv actors from the Groundlings Theatre and School serving as placement identifiers for the animated characters, with a CGI background replica of a real-life setting chroma-keyed in. Although Bill Murray initially came in only to work on

13225-534: Was very involved in the voice casting. Joe Alaskey , one of Blanc's successors since the latter's death, was put by Reitman through a set of auditions, which lasted for months until Alaskey grew tired of auditioning and backed out from the project. Billy West learned of Space Jam through Reitman on The Howard Stern Show , who was producing Stern's film, Private Parts . Reitman was impressed by West's voice talent and asked him if he could audition for Space Jam . West accepted, and after doing an audition, he landed

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