Originally published June 18, 2017. Updated April 15, 2018.
It’s been twenty years since the possibility of a live-action Duke Nukem movie was first mentioned, and after several failed attempts, it seems that Hollywood is ready to take another crack at bringing the cult video game character to the big screen.
“We’re working on Duke Nukem,” said Gearbox Software CEO Randy Pitchford at E3 (via Dark Horizons). “I can’t announce it, but it’s blown my mind, there’s been a lot of production companies have come at us. We’re putting together a deal right now with a major motion picture studio; I’ll tell you off the record if you want to know. It’s the exact right people that should be doing a Duke Nukem film and we’ll see what happens. It’s unbelievable, I think that’s very likely a thing.”
Plans for a Duke Nukem movie first emerged in the late 90s under Mortal Kombat producer Lawrence Kasanoff but failed to attract the necessary funding. Max Payne producer Scott Faye then attempted to get a movie off the ground in 2008, but again it found itself stuck in development hell. Meanwhile, the video game franchise relaunched in 2011 with the release of Duke Nukem Forever, which spent 15 years in development.
