‘Duke Nukem’ Movie Brings ‘Assassin’s Creed’ Producer On Board To Make A ‘Deadpool’-Inspired Film
Virtually no one liked theAssassin’s Creedmovie, but that film’s producer,Jean-Julien Baronnet, is going to give another video game adaptation a try. Baronnet has been brought on to produce theDuke Nukemmovie, based on the popular video game series about a sexist meathead who shoots aliens with giant guns. Earlier this year, it was reported that Paramount and Platinum Dunes were working on the film, withJohn Cenaas a possible star. Paramount is no longer involved.
According toVariety, Gearbox Software is teaming with producer Jean-Julien Baronnet to make theDuke Nukemmovie a reality. Whether or not John Cena is still involved is unclear, but the Variety story says Baronnet and Gearbox have been “meeting with writers in recent weeks to start preparing a package for a potentialDuke Nukemfilm.” And they’ve clearly already figured out how to pitch the movie: by comparing the character toDeadpool.
“He’s a parody of 1980s action heroes and he’s like Deadpool in terms of being able to break the fourth wall,” said Gearbox VP Sean Haren. “We see a lot of humor in his confronting the values of today while trying to save the world.” Baronnet added: “Duke is exactly the kind of very blunt character that we need in the world today.”
Not so sure if that’s true, but hey, what do I know. There have been a few attempts to get aDuke Nukemmovie made in the past, dating all the way back to the 1990s. An early script involved aliens invading a strip club owned by Duke Nukem, but that version of the film never came to pass. Talk of a film resumed in 2001, only to die down again until 2008, whenMax Payneproducer Scott Faye was planning on making aDuke Nukemmovie. Then, nothing.
TheDuke Nukemvideo game series was created in 1991, beginning its life as 2d game before evolving into a 3D first-person shooter. There have been at least twenty (holy shit)Dukegames, includingDuke Nukem,Duke Nukem II,Duke Nukem 3D,Duke Nukem 64,Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown,Duke Nukem: Time To Kill, and the somewhat recentDuke Nukem Forever, which spent nearly 15 years in development hell before arriving to a lackluster response. The premise is more or less the same for all of these games: Duke Nukem, a super-bro who likes to steal quotes from John Carpenter movies, is tasked with fighting alien invaders who want to steal all the hot chicks of Earth. Video games! And now…movies?!
