The culmination of this embarrassing marketing tactic occurs during the predictable “Big Game” in the finale. In an effort to possibly intimidate LeBron, the film’s villain — played by Don Cheadle, the only person on screen having fun — makes sure that the virtual court is surrounded by every known character owned by WB. But unlike, say, Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One, which deftly created Batman, King Kong, and The Iron Giant through digital wizardry, Space Jam: A New Legacy populates the backgrounds of scenes with bad cosplay versions of completely random WB characters. I did my best to scour the backgrounds during the game (because the action on the court was inconsequential), and I know I spotted Will Smith’s Wild Wild West character, the Adam West version of Batman, and the delinquents from Stanley Kubrick’s uncomfortable A Clockwork Orange standing courtside, cheering on LeBron James and the Looney Tunes gang.
