It’s time to kick ass and chew bubble gum because a Duke Nukem movie is in the works from the team behind Cobra Kai. For those too young to recall, Duke Nukem helped popularize the first-person shooter video game genre. Gamers delighted in the game’s violence, fast-paced action, and cheeky commentary from the game’s muscle-bound main character. Meanwhile, parents thought the title was corrupting the minds of young people. The parents were half right.
Legendary Entertainment is behind the Duke Nukem movie project after picking up the rights from Gearbox. The creators behind Cobra Kai, Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg, are producing.
Exploding onto personal computers in 1991, Duke Nukem was a product of Apogee Software, later called 3D Realms. The third game in the franchise, Duke Nukem 3D, launched in 1996, paving the way for a new era of three-dimensional first-person shooters. Duke Nukem Forever hit shelves in 2011 but received mediocre reviews.
Duke Nukem revolves around the titular hero, who programmers modeled after 1980s action heroes like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dirty Harry, and John Wayne. Armed with lots of guns and one-liners, Duke Nukem fights an alien invasion in Los Angeles while traversing strip clubs, moon bases, spaceships, and more.
Legendary’s Duke Nukem movie does not have a writer at this time. The film also has no director, but the studio is open to a member of Counterbalance taking the helm. Gearbox had a Nukem movie in development with John Cena eyeing the lead role, but the project fell apart about four years back. The latest Duke Nukem project is part of Hollywood’s mission to adapt popular video games into blockbuster films. Eli Roth is directing a Borderlands movie featuring an all-star cast, and it’s not about to stop there.
What do you think about Legendary setting up a Duke Nukem film? Who do you think should play the title character? I think John Cena is too on the nose, especially now that he plays Peacemaker. Feel free to hit us with your opinions in the comments section below.