After finally, officially being announced last September, Space Jam 2 is gearing up for production this summer. There has been a lot of talk over the years of doing a sequel to Michael Jordan's 1996 movie, which features a blend of live-action and animation, with the former NBA star playing basketball alongside the Looney Tunes. That talk finally materialized, with LeBron James taking on the lead role in the long-awaited sequel, which will finally begin filming in just a few months.

The current star of the Los Angeles Lakers was recently doing an interview in front of a large crowd during the NBA's All Star Weekend. At one point, LeBron James was asked what he has coming up, at which point he reminded the crowd that he's going to be in Space Jam 2. They went nuts, but he also dropped in that filming is set to begin this summer. Here's what he had to say.

"I've got Space Jam. I'm gonna be in Space Jam 2. We start filming that this summer."

In addition to starring in the sequel, LeBron James also serves as an executive producer through his SpringHill Entertainment production company. James has been trying to break into Hollywood while his NBA career is still going strong, but is setting up his future quite nicely. He's also attached to produce a Friday the 13th reboot, as well as a House Party remake. Space Jam 2, meanwhile, will be produced by Ryan Coogler, director of the Oscar-nominated blockbuster Black Panther, with up-and-comer Terence Nance (Random Acts of Flyness) on board to direct. In an interview with Vice earlier this year, Nance hyped up the project, without giving away anything specific.

"Pretty sure [it's] going to disrupt everything. I'm excited about what that movie can be."

The original Space Jam was directed by Joe Pytka and centers on Michael Jordan, who is currently playing professional baseball and isn't in the NBA, teaming up with the Looney Tunes to take down the evil Monstars in a game of basketball. It has remained quite popular over the years, as many 90s kids feel rather nostalgic about it. Despite not being a huge critical success, the movie did very well commercially, grossing $230 million worldwide, making it the highest-grossing basketball movie ever made.

LeBron James has had some acting experience previously, having starred in the comedy Trainwreck, in addition to doing voicework in projects like Smallfoot. That gives him a slight advantage over Michael Jordan heading into the sequel. For his part, it doesn't look like James will be busy with the NBA playoffs this year, unless something changes, since the Lakers are underdogs to make the postseason. The good news is, that will give him more time to focus on this. Space Jam 2 does not yet have a release date set. Feel free to check out the interview clip from The Crossover Twitter account below.