LeBron James continues to build upon his billionaire status forming partnership with his SpringHill Company with friend Drake and his Toronto-based DreamCrew Entertainment for a documentary called Black Ice, which, along with Uninterrupted Canada, will tell the detailed experiences of the National Hockey Leagues’ Black players.
With all the major players involved, Black Ice will also involve Adel “Future” Nur, as an executive producer. The feature is currently in production with Uninterrupted Canada taking the lead on the project, and chronicles the “history, influence and racial dimensions of Black players on the ice.”
According to Deadline, which broke the story, Black Ice will stretch from the creation of the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes through the modern-day NHL. Bell Media, a Toronto headquartered conglomerate, will air Black Ice exclusively in Canada via TSN, Crave and CTV platforms, while distribution in the U.S. are still being discussed.
DreamCrew Entertainment, which has already had successful ventures with HBO’s Euphoria and Netflix’s Top Boy, aims to dive deeper into the original programming category.
The SpringHill Company, founded by James and Carter, has ramped up its production activity of late, with output deals for TV and film at Disney and Universal, respectively. Its most recent release is this month’s Space Jam: A New Legacy, which stars James. The company has held talks recently with investors interested in taking a stake valuing the company in the $750 million range.
Hubert Davis, whose credits include the Oscar- and Emmy-nominated Hardwood as well as films like Giants of Africa, is directing Black Ice. “I was not only surprised but inspired to learn about the stories of the often overlooked and unheralded Black pioneers of hockey,” Davis shared in a released statement. “I think it is more important than ever before for all generations, particularly young people of color, to understand and see the diverse faces who have contributed and shaped one of the essential fabrics of our country.”
In recent years, the NHL and its Black Hockey players have finally started to see eye-to-eye, where the latter has begun to receive long over-due recognition for their contributions to the sport. In 2018, Willie O’Ree—the first Black player in the National Hockey League—was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame nearly six decades after breaking the color barrier.
A year after his induction, a documentary titled Willie that highlighted his pioneering journey was released.
