How Much Space and How Many Jams Are in ‘Space Jam’: A Study

A good movie title should tell us everything we need to know. Dolores Claiborne is about Dolores Claiborne, The Talented Mr. Ripley alludes to Tom’s talent for cons and murder, Mr. Holland’s Opus literally ends with Mr. Holland conducting his opus, and the slight difference between Star Trek and Star Wars is profound: the former is about boldly exploring space, and the latter is about blowing up planets. It’s all in a title. A title should tell the truth.

So that brings me to Space Jam, an undisputed masterpiece of the basketball/animation film sub-subgenre and a cornerstone of millennial culture. Much has been written about Space Jam since it slammed and jammed its way into theaters in November 1996, but has anyone taken the time to analyze the film’s title? Does Space Jam accurately describe the cinematic experience of watching Michael Jordan run a team of toons through basketball drills? To get to the bottom of this long unaddressed Hollywood conundrum, I rewatched Space Jam (now streaming on Hulu, BTW) and counted how much time the film spends in space or indulging in a jam.

A clarification on the interpretation of “jam” used for this study is apparently needed, since my co-worker and reigning Decider jock Josh Sorokach pointed out that the “jam” in Space Jam technically refers to the act of dunking a basketball and is not a reference to totally slammin’ tunes. Space Jam includes both kinds of jams. The game is decided by a toon-tastic jam courtesy of a stetchy Michael Jordan. But obviously the title Space Jam was a double entendre, alluding to dunks and the hyped-up songs the blew up boomboxes courtesy of the Jock Jams CD anthology starting in 1995. Music was a major part of Space Jam. That soundtrack sold 6 million copies in the United States! The jams were crucial!

That out of the way, let’s get to the hard-hitting truth: how much time in Space Jam is actually spent in space, and how much is spent with a jam pumping?

Wow. Are you floored? The ratio of space to jam is completely lopsided! A movie with “space” in the title spends almost no time in space! What we get is two and a half minutes spent on Moron Mountain, the alien amusement park that wants to turn the Looney Tunes and Michael Jordan into attractions. That’s it! All of the basketball takes place in Toontown, not Moron Mountain. That is ridiculously little outer space in a movie for a movie with “space” in the title!

The jam half is spot-on, though. Not only are there many dunks, the movie is packed with Grade-A jams from the soundtrack and beyond. In fact, a staggering 11:08 of Space Jam (12% of its runtime) is spent on the opening and closing credits with hits from the soundtrack blasting (“Come on and slam, and welcome to the jam!“). Beyond the credits, which let the Quad City DJ’s run loose for three minutes, you hear 74 nonstop seconds of Technotronic’s “Pump Up the Jam” (which wasn’t on the soundtrack, a major pop culture tragedy of 1996) and you hear 2:41 of Barry White crooning “Basketball Jones.” While 20% may seem like a low number, I gotta stress that there are 11 separate needle drops during the course of this very short movie, not including the credits.

I’ll note that this study does not consider R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly” to be a “jam,” and minutes spent with that song playing have not been taken into account. You’re over, R. Kelly. The default hit single from the Space Jam soundtrack is now Seal’s cover of the Steve Miller Band’s “Fly Like an Eagle,” which was always the better song TBH.

In conclusion, Space Jam is not an accurate title for this movie–and I have the science to back it up. Almost no time is spent in outer space! The movie, which spends 41:39 (almost 48% of the movie!) in Toontown, should have been called Toon Jam. If that was the title, then a huge slice of that unaccounted for pie would be filled in. Or, since Toon Jam is clearly a lesser title, all of the basketball scenes should have taken place on Monster Mountain. Give the Monstars the home court advantage, it would’ve upped the already considerable stakes! That would have increased the percentage of the film set in space to a respectable and title-worthy 31%.

Sorry, Space Jam fans, but the film’s title does not accurately describe the content. When it comes to an accurate title, Mr. Holland’s Opus totally dunks–or jams–on Space Jam.

Stream Space Jam on Hulu