When Does "Space Jam" (1996) Take Place?
"Space Jam" is a comedy mixed live-action/animated film written by Leo Benvenuti, Steve Rudnick, Timothy Harris, Herschel Weingrod, and Joe Pytka and released November 15th, 1996.
It takes place in the year:
We know this because it depicts the short time in Michael Jordan’s sports career that he played professional baseball, which only lasted from April of 1994 AD to March of 1995 AD and, early in the film, a basketball game is depicted between the Phoenix Suns and the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. The two teams did play a game there on Sunday, January 29th, 1995 AD. The main action of the film only follows a period of days or weeks before and after this game.
1995 AD
We know this because it depicts the short time in Michael Jordan’s sports career that he played professional baseball, which only lasted from April of 1994 AD to March of 1995 AD and, early in the film, a basketball game is depicted between the Phoenix Suns and the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. The two teams did play a game there on Sunday, January 29th, 1995 AD. The main action of the film only follows a period of days or weeks before and after this game.
(As the director and co-writer Joe Pytka said in an interview in 2016, "He played himself, and remember, a lot of the film is based on his life, so there were realistic references there.")
Additionally, before the opening credits, there is a prologue that takes place in 1973 AD and is labeled with a time setting title card reading, "Summer 1973".
After the opening credits, there is another prologue depicting the moment Michael Jordan announced at a press conference that he was quitting basketball and turning to baseball. This happened on October 6th, 1993 AD.
This episode of Secret Base Nation's Rewinder examines its exact setting.
