The “Space Jam” sequel starring woke NBA star LeBron James is on track to lose more than a hundred million dollars after being shut out from Communist China and scoring anemic numbers at domestic theaters.
The hit to “Space Jam: A New Legacy” is particularly bad news for James, who infamously pandered publicly to Communist China and turned his back on freedom protesters in Hong Kong.
Outkick founder and radio host Clay Travis summed up the damage to James, and the general silence from the media about it, Wednesday on Twitter:
“Despite LeBron James shutting up & dribbling for Chairman Xi, China still won’t allow Space Jam 2 to air, meaning the movie is likely to lose several hundred million dollars. Should be a massive story. LeBron bent the knee & China still spurned him. Yet media isn’t covering it,” Travis said.
“Space Jam 2 cost $200 million to make and market and will likely only make $60-70 million without China,” he continued. “Meaning LeBron’s movie will lose over a hundred million dollars, at least. China blocking the movie is a huge story. But no one is even discussing it in media. Strange.”
“LeBron ripped the first amendment in the US, declined to speak up for basic human rights in China, & shut up and dribbled for Chairman Xi all to get Space Jam 2 on in China,” Travis added. “And now LeBron won’t even talk about his movie being banned. Because he’s still afraid of upsetting China.”
Despite LeBron James shutting up & dribbling for Chairman Xi, China still won’t allow Space Jam 2 to air, meaning the movie is likely to lose several hundred million dollars. Should be a massive story. LeBron bent the knee & China still spurned him. Yet media isn’t covering it.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) July 21, 2021
LeBron ripped the first amendment in the US, declined to speak up for basic human rights in China, & shut up and dribbled for Chairman Xi all to get Space Jam 2 on in China. And now LeBron won’t even talk about his movie being banned. Because he’s still afraid of upsetting China.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) July 21, 2021
John Nolte at Breitbart reported Saturday that the sequel “died at the domestic box office” its opening weekend, pulling “a pathetic $32 million opening.”
“By comparison, all the way back in 1996, Michael Jordan’s original cleared $27.5 million on more than a thousand fewer theaters,” Nolte emphasized.
Just to produce the flick, he said, it cost $150 million, “and that doesn’t include promotional costs, which easily puts it closer to $250 million.”
“Plenty of movies die a domestic death at the box office,” Nolte explained. “However, they can still become profitable and declare themselves a worldwide hit, thanks mainly to China’s mammoth box office market, which has saved many Hollywood blockbusters from financial catastrophe.”
James’ movie was denied a Chinese opening, though, despite his pandering to China. Most notably, James left then-Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morrey to dangle after he committed the grave sin of expressing support to Honk Kong protesters, The Daily Wire’s Megan Basham reported:
Last October, after then-Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morrey posted a tweet in support of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protesters, James was quick to provide aid and comfort to their totalitarian oppressors.
As The Daily Wire reported, James said, in a move that was widely perceived as an effort to stay in the CCP’s good graces, “We all talk about this freedom of speech, yes, we all do have freedom of speech but at times there are ramifications for the negative that can happen when you’re not thinking about others and you’re only thinking about yourself.” He added, “I don’t want to get into a … feud with Daryl Morey, but I believe he wasn’t educated on the situation at hand.”
Basketball fans then routinely taunted James, who has postured himself as a social justice warrior, for his ongoing silence in the face of China’s oppressive policies in Hong Kong and its humanitarian atrocities against its own Uyghur population.
Basham also highlighted the embarrassing reviews of “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” one of which likened the flick to a “corporate ad campaign.”