Movies
‘Duke Nukem’: John Cena is Here to Kick Ass and Chew Bubblegum
Horror fans probably remember the Duke Nukem video games better than most being that it boasts a classic tagline ripped straight from John Carpenter’s They Live. Yes, Duke gives homage to Roddy Piper’s Nada when he exclaims, “It’s time to kick ass and chew bubblegum…and I’m all out of gum.” The game’s hotly anticipated sequel was an absolute disaster and left fans with a bad taste in their mouths. Thankfully, the franchise still has life with Paramount Pictures developing a live-action adaptation with WWE superstar John Cena!
The Nukem video games follow muscular adventures of its titular protagonist, who initially was a mash-up of action-hero tropes. The muscular cigar-chomping figure has been fighting aliens in order to save planet Earth since 1991, when the first game was released. THR, who broke the news, adds that Platinum Dunes (The Purge, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, Ouija, A Nightmare On Elm Street) will be producing the adaptation.
It’s still super early as there’s no director on board at this stage. A search for a writer will begin soon to develop a script for what is intended to be a starring vehicle for Cena. The project was previously set up at Dimension Films, although the rights lapsed. Paramount picked up the movie rights from Gearbox Software, the company behind the game.
Described as “Ted meets ET,” David Mikalson’s raunchy comedy Goblin is being brought to life over at A24, and Will Forte (“The Four Seasons”) is now in talks to star.
Deadline first reported the news this afternoon.
Kenneth Branagh has been cast to voice the titular Goblin in the upcoming A24 movie, with the character said to be “green-colored” as well as “anatomically correct.”
Skyler Gisondo (Superman) is reportedly playing the Goblin’s human best friend.
The mysterious project sounds a bit like films including A Gnome Named Gnorm and more recently, Frankie Freako, though it’s important to note that it’s not billed as a horror movie.
Deadline details, “After [Mikalson] hatched the idea to make an outrageous buddy comedy about a goblin, using a practical puppet and operating outside the Hollywood system, his script quickly got him a rep team. While others might have eyed the raunchy comedy as a writing sample or planned to wait to see the micro-budget version Mikalson has been directing in Kentucky, A24 jumped all over it. The hot indie essentially has agreed to finance a full feature.”
“There was a lot of interest, but A24 came with what Mikalson really wanted, after spending all his money crafting the puppet title character: they acquired the movie and agreed to let him make it with a significantly increased budget than what he had left after creating the anatomically correct title character,” Deadline’s report goes on to explain.
What does the titular Goblin actually look like? Well, a cake that Mikalson had whipped up for his reps might give us our first look at what to expect. Deadline explains the photo you’ll see down below, “Take a look at the cake he commissioned with Marc Gravelle at Cake Art in West Hollywood, to present to his reps as thanks for making his dream come true.”
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