In New Ad NBA legend Kareem Abdul-jabbar has decided to reprise his role as Roger Murdock in the 80s comedy 'Airplane!' for a set of commercials.

The commercials are for the Wisconsin Department of Tourism and Kareem is joined by former co-star Robert Hayes, who played Ted Striker in the original film.

The reunion is complete by David and Jerry Zucker, along with Jim Abrahams who directed and wrote the film, as they return to direct the ads.

The satirical comedy film is about an airplane crew that all become ill during flight and the only passenger able to land the plane is an ex-pilot who is afraid to fly.

The basketball icon cemented his legacy as a member of the 'showtime' Los Angeles Lakers championship team of the 80s where he won six MVP awards, but the 7-foot centre began the first six years of his career at the Milwaukee Bucks.

Now the Hall-of-Famer repays Wisconsin for making his NBA dream come true, and the footage of him returning to the cockpit "will be blended with seasonal aerial footage of Wisconsin for three separate ads" according to the Milwaukee Business Journal.

The commercials "were shot in the original cockpit from the iconic 1980 comedy at the Air Hollywood Studio in Los Angeles, and will debut at the Wisconsin Governor's Conference on Tourism next March in Lake Geneva", reported Fox.

In the 1980's original film Kareem is seen wearing a Lakers jersey as the plane begins to crash but in these commercials he will wear the more appropriate Milwaukee Bucks jersey and it will hopefully be just as funny.

A member of the company's PR team posted a preview shot on their twitter account.



Kareem is reprising his comedic role as Roger Murdock from the film 'Airplanes!'