Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James starrer ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ has beaten ‘Black Widow’ in the box office within a week of its release, raking in close $32 million to become the first family-movie to rake in such figures since the entertainment industry was brought to a standstill due to the pandemic.

The sequel to the 25-year-old ‘Space Jam’, it shows the basketball star teaming up with Daffy Duck and other Looney Tunes characters for a high-stakes game against a rogue AI’s roster of powered up champions called ‘Goon Squad’.

The AI has trapped him and his son in digital space and what follows is their attempt at getting out of the trap.

However, despite its box-office success, the live-action animated movie has garnered some criticism. In response, the LA Lakers star tweeted a story on how the film has managed to beat Black Widow by Deadline this weekend and captioned it, “Hi Haters.”

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A barrage of harsh reviews

Despite its success, owing to LeBron’s presence, the film has garnered very harsh reviews from critics. The film was described as an “abomination” by The New York Post.

‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ has a 36 on Metacritic and a 31 on Rotten Tomatoes. Following the footsteps of the original Space Jam, this one doesn’t have a lot going on for it either. It was the Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan that made it something to be remembered by millennials and not its actual plot and cinematography.

The sequel has millenials and Gen-Zs rooting for it in a similar fashion, with perhaps the credit of its success in the box office down to the popularity of the basketball star. James turned around the fate of the movie just like he has always lived up to the hype placed on him.