The Hollywood Reporter (opens in new tab) says Duke Nukem, essentially the most infamously failed musclehead in videogame historical past, is headed to the large display. The rights to a Duke Nukem movie undertaking have been picked up by Legendary Leisure, based on the report, whereas Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, and Hayden Schlossberg, the creators of the Cobra Kai tv sequence, are signed as producers.
In some methods, it is a pure match. Duke Nukem was initially created as a simplistic parody of Eighties motion heroes, in any case: He was all motion, ass-kicking, and half-witted one-liners, and the one factor greater than his weapons had been his biceps. The video games moved from 2D platformer to 3D FPS in 1996 with Duke Nukem 3D, a brilliantly good shooter that earned criticism for embracing the stereotypes a bit too enthusiastically. However despite its success, a brand new sport within the sequence did not come alongside till Duke Nukem Perpetually in 2011, which ejected the parody component and went all-in on “Duke is cool”: It was extensively panned, and tanked.
On the floor, that makes a Duke Nukem movie undertaking look like a dangerous proposition at greatest. I like ’80s motion movies, however I respect them with applicable ranges of consciousness and irony—and truthfully, I do not suppose there’s any macho star from that period who’s even remotely as douchey as Duke. I certain would not need a Duke Nukem motion movie performed straight.
However the involvement of Heald, Hurwitz, and Schlossberg makes me suppose that there is a likelihood it might work. Cobra Kai (opens in new tab), which airs on Netflix, is a sequel to the Karate Child movies from the ’80s, which can be a horrible thought on its face. But it is critically acclaimed and a industrial hit due to the way in which it subverts these authentic movies: Characters are extra developed and complicated, unhealthy guys battle to be higher (a few of them, anyway), and thru all of it there is a refined acknowledgement of the important ridiculousness of the entire thing: Why are Ralph Macchio and William Zabka nonetheless so desperate to beat the shit out of one another 40 years later?
It isn’t exhausting to think about the same strategy being taken with Duke, and I feel it could possibly be very efficient. And it is not as if the idea of an anachronistic, not-too-bright “hero” compelled to grapple with the realities of a world that is left him behind is a brand new and recent idea: Mike Myers used it to show himself right into a famous person with the Austin Powers trilogy.
A Gearbox rep confirmed that The Hollywood Reporter report is correct, however didn’t touch upon whether or not it is going to be instantly concerned within the undertaking. A author and director for the movie haven’t but been signed.
