LeBron James’ dream of Hollywood stardom — and box office riches — may be behind his controversial decision to speak out against supporting pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, experts said Wednesday.
The Lakers superstar — who sparked a firestorm of outrage by criticizing Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey for tweeting a pro-Hong Kong meme — is set to star in “Space Jam 2,” a long-awaited sequel to the beloved 1996 hit.
The follow-up is being co-produced by James’ SpringHill Entertainment company and is scheduled to hit theaters in July 2021.
The original “Space Jam,” which starred basketball legend Michael Jordan in a live-action/animated comedy featuring Bugs Bunny and other Looney Tunes characters, grossed more than $230 million in ticket sales, with more than $140 million raked in overseas, according to Box Office Mojo.
Former Universal Pictures co-chairman Brian Mulligan told The Post that the potential profits from “Space Jam 2” most likely figured in James’ attack on Morey, who the athlete on Monday accused of being “either misinformed or not really educated on the situation” in Hong Kong.
“The movie is perfect for China, which has more people playing recreational basketball than any other country,” said Mulligan, who now runs the Brooknol Advisors entertainment consulting firm in Los Angeles.
“And it would deny LeBron lots of money if it doesn’t play there.”
Former movie critic Sonny Bunch, who’s now editor-in-chief of the Cinestate film studio’s website, also suggested James was motivated by fear of “empty Chinese theaters.”
“James doesn’t just want to be the greatest baller of all time. He also wants to be a movie mogul,” Bunch wrote in a Washington Post op-ed.
China is the world’s second-biggest movie market, with the most screens of any country and box office revenues that went up 9% last year to $8.9 billion.
But the Chinese government heavily regulates the industry and has imposed an informal cap that limits the release of foreign films to about 34 a year, according to Bloomberg.
Earlier this year, China only allowed “Avengers: Endgame” to run for a month, limiting its take there to $615 million, according to the China Film Insider website.
Elsewhere, the Marvel superhero movie was in release for up to 20 weeks, leading to record-setting worldwide grosses of $2.8 billion, according to Box Office Mojo.
Meanwhile, anger toward James continued to fuel social media, including on Reddit, where a doctored photo that merged his face with an official portrait of the late Chinese dictator Chairman Mao Zedong scored a “Platinum Award” from the site’s users and comments including “Ch-Ch’ing Jame$,” “Mao Zebron” and “Chairman LMAO.”
US Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) also joined the chorus of lawmakers critical of James, telling TMZ that “kissing up to Chinese communists and tyrants and apologizing for murderers — that’s not a good look for the NBA.”