COBRA KAI Creators Bringing DUKE NUKEM To The Big Screen!

After acquiring licensing from game developer Gearbox, Legendary Entertainment confirmed to mainstream media outlet The Hollywood Reporter that a Duke Nukem film is in development with the masterminds behind Netflix's Emmy-nominated Cobra Kai.

The trio behind the successful Netflix series are creators Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg for Counterbalance Entertainment.

Counterbalance’s Heald additionally wrote the Hot Tub Time Machine franchise for MGM. Hurwitz and Schlossberg were also behind the comedic film franchise; New Line’s Harold & Kumar, as well as American Reunion. Along with the Counterbalance trio, joining the production will be Jean-Julien Baronnet, co-founder of Marla Studios. Baronnet previously worked on the film adaptation of Assassin’s Creed and Raving Rabbids.

Duke Nukem is a video game series named for its protagonist, Duke Nukem. Created by the company Apogee Software Ltd. (now 3D Realms) as a series of video games for personal computers, the series expanded to games released for various consoles by third-party developers. The first two games in the main series were 2D platformers, while the later games have been a mix of first-person and third-person shooters. -Wikipedia

Gamers of the 90s and 2000s could long remember there were always talks and rumors of a Duke Nukem feature film being in discussions or pre-production.

Names like John Cena, Joe Manganiello, and Vin Diesel were being pulled in and out of the project but never getting confirmation from studios or those behind the license. The idea for a DN movie was teased and pitched several times to as many as four different studios without a single one striking an agreement.

With today's social and political climate, the success of an over muscular, shoot first ask questions later, testosterone driven, " toxic masculine", one-liner character is highly questionable at best.

After all, Duke Nukem was originally created as a parody of 1980s action stars, stars like: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dolph Lundgren, and Sylvester Stallone. However, if doubling down on the parody of a parody, the Duke Nukem feature may see financial success through means of virtue, morality lessons, curious introduction for young fans of 80s and 90s nostalgia, and backed by a dedicated cult following.