‘Devil May Cry’, ‘Castlevania’ Showrunner Adi Shankar Acquires Screen Rights to ‘Duke Nukem’

El Muerto

El Muerto

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After creating adaptations of Castlevania and Devil May Cry for Netflix, showrunner Adi Shankar has now set his sights on the Duke Nukem series. Per an interview with Esquire, Shankar revealed that he has acquired the screen rights from current Duke Nukem rights holder Gearbox Software.

When asked about his vision for the series, Shankar replied that it's a middle finger to everybody. "When Duke Nukem blew up, a bunch of people sat around trying to turn it into a brand, when it's just a middle finger. Duke Nukem can't be made by a corporation, because the moment a corporation makes Duke Nukem, it's no longer Duke Nukem. I don't intend on having anyone tell me what to do on this one."

Shankar didn't elaborate any further on his acquisition, but did drop a bit more info on what other projects he currently has in the works. "I got video games in production. Obviously more Devil May Cry. I'm being approached with different IPs and companies that want to work with me."

As for Duke Nukem, it will be a challenge for Adi Shankar to bring the character back to the mainstream after the series has been dormant since the "spectacle" that was 2011's Duke Nukem Forever. What this development means in regards to the film adaptation of the series by Legendary announced back in 2022 also remains to be seen.
Source
 
Only positive thing I see here is that if this thing ends up being total trash I will be able to put the blame on Randy.
 
El Muerto said:
After creating adaptations of Castlevania and Devil May Cry for Netflix, showrunner Adi Shankar has now set his sights on the Duke Nukem series. Per an interview with Esquire, Shankar revealed that he has acquired the screen rights from current Duke Nukem rights holder Gearbox Software.

When asked about his vision for the series, Shankar replied that it's a middle finger to everybody. "When Duke Nukem blew up, a bunch of people sat around trying to turn it into a brand, when it's just a middle finger. Duke Nukem can't be made by a corporation, because the moment a corporation makes Duke Nukem, it's no longer Duke Nukem. I don't intend on having anyone tell me what to do on this one."

Shankar didn't elaborate any further on his acquisition, but did drop a bit more info on what other projects he currently has in the works. "I got video games in production. Obviously more Devil May Cry. I'm being approached with different IPs and companies that want to work with me."

As for Duke Nukem, it will be a challenge for Adi Shankar to bring the character back to the mainstream after the series has been dormant since the "spectacle" that was 2011's Duke Nukem Forever. What this development means in regards to the film adaptation of the series by Legendary announced back in 2022 also remains to be seen.
Source
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I saw the voice actor of Duke, as far as I know, he's far from giving up his role just like Goku's voice actor.
 
This guy is narcissistic IP poison. Anything you care about that he is involved with is going to be ruined.

Reminder, he said this:
7TPserJ.jpeg
 
I only likes the first 2 season of Castlevania.

Everything else with this dude involved has sucked and I doubt this will be different.
 
I liked all of the first Castlevania show (Nocturne was done by a different showrunner).
I liked about 65% of Devil May Cry.

Much like the DMC show, I think he will lead the first half with a version of the main character that's about 75% there and then insert a side story into to make it feel like another straight to DVD-anime-movie in terms of feeling.

I also think for this show specifically, he will be out of his depth when it comes to fleshing out Duke Nukem. He could really use a comedic writer this time around.
 
"I haven't gone by that name in a long time. I was full of toxic masculinity back then, and I'm not proud of who I was. I still chew bubblegum though... but not in the office - my boss doesn't like it."
 
I don't know what to make of this, Devil May Cry was a guilty pleasure for me and I had fun with it. Fuck it, be good for watching with some wine in hand if anything comes.
 
Pejo said:
This guy is narcissistic IP poison. Anything you care about that he is involved with is going to be ruined.

Reminder, he said this:
7TPserJ.jpeg
Click to expand...


Did this imbecile really say this? The franchise isn't about you, fuckface.

The audacity to think that he was going to bring back DMC from the "dead", Lmaooooo.

You're not that important as you think you are, especially now with Kamiya back on good terms with Capcom.

That developer (who left Capcom recently) until DMC5, was a legendary Capcom senior, who developed multiple Street Fighter sequels, DMC from 3 till 5 and Dragon's Dogma 1 & 2.

That legendary team doesn't your fuckin hasbeen ass reputation to "bring back" DMC you deluded pretentious cockwomble.
 
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VolticArchangel said:
Did this imbecile really say this? The franchise isn't about you, fuckface.

The audacity to think that he was going to bring back DMC from the "dead", Lmaooooo.

You're not that important as you think you are, especially now with Kamiya back on good terms with Capcom.

That developer (who left Capcom recently) until DMC5, was a legendary Capcom senior, who developed multiple Street Fighter sequels, DMC from 3 till 5 and Dragon's Dogma 1 & 2.

That legendary team doesn't your fuckin hasbeen ass reputation to "bring back" DMC you deluded pretentious cockwomble.
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adi-shankar-devil-may-cry.gif
 
This can only work as some sort of crass and gory animated show that leans fully into its juvenile and macho humor imo. They need to own the cringe.
 
The Rock was once rumoured to be Duke many years ago. Never happened of course. How time has passed.

Duke is a weird IP now to be adapted. If you don't stay true to the source material and character and decide to make it "pc" then you are dooming it from the get go.

I am no screen writer but I have thought about the idea of making a Duke movie before. You have to lean into it though. Make it an action comedy type movie. I would make Duke the hero he is meant to be from the games who saved the world from the aliens.

Start the story out with an action set piece in the 90s. Throw some sort of time jump in there so you can then set the story in modern times (Duke was frozen, or whatever) so now the aliens are back after 3 decades and the world needs Duke again.

You can play with the character being from an era previously gone. Duke can make commentary on the current world view through his eyes. Staying true to the character. Poking fun at PC culture and even Duke himself can be made fun of through other characters (modern eyes).

But it would be a total action movie throwback to the 80s. A love letter too.
 
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Dude's going total cringe retard on X right now and he's going to get ratioed to hell and back with his scorched Earth rage baiting attitude:
 
Pejo said:
This guy is narcissistic IP poison. Anything you care about that he is involved with is going to be ruined.

Reminder, he said this:
7TPserJ.jpeg
Click to expand...
For further context:



Around 2:03:12

He's implying that when he first signed the DMC Netflix deal years ago, the latest game was the very divisive DmC. Since DmC in 2013, the I.P. was essentially dormant for years.

[Added context from the video]: He prefers making shows on dormant I.P. or dead I.P. to attempt to revive interest in said I.P. so that Capcom might make a new game. He mentions his love for games like Dino Crisis and Viewtiful Joe, which are both seen as dead franchises.

So he thought he would come in and breathe life into a franchise that was essentially seen as 'dead' or 'dying', i.e. Devil May Cry. Then suddenly announced DMC 5 and he was bummed out because he said he should have worked on another I.P. of theirs that was in a more dormant/dead place.

Final note: This post isn't a defense force, just further context with video evidence.

While I like the idea of him trying to revive interest in dead I.P. I feel that he goes about it too abrasively with his writing choices, which ends up clashing with fans of these franchises. Basically I think he needs to spend less time on the internet trying to 'own' people with his works and instead make something more memorable, like his first gaming animated series, Castlevania.
 
This will either be really funny and terribly received by the modern audience or just fucking terrible.

Edit: Scratch the above... I just the other posts and this guy looks like a wet lunch.
 
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It's not like Apogee/3dRealms knew how to finish DNF, so them acting all high and mighty is weird. They still seem to exist in some way, but haven't done anything for years now.
No idea about this guy and his works, but Duke could work well if they lean into the ridiculous somewhere between Last Action Hero and Mars Attacks. Good luck finding a bodybuilder that can act though. Maybe Alan Ritchson could fit.
 
crackajack said:
It's not like Apogee/3dRealms knew how to finish DNF, so them acting all high and mighty is weird. They still seem to exist in some way, but haven't done anything for years now.
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For context, this Apogee Entertainment isn't the same company from back then. This one was founded (or re-founded i guess) in 2021 by one of its the original creators. Their current output is actually pretty good, having launched Wizordum most recently and Turbo Overkill last year, with Total Chaos in the pipeline.

Edit - these games:





 
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It's going to be specially embarassing and cringe to see Netflix not only wokifying another IP, but this time Duke Nukem. It will feel specially cringe.


March Climber said:
For further context:



Around 2:03:12

He's implying that when he first signed the DMC Netflix deal years ago, the latest game was the very divisive DmC. Since DmC in 2013, the I.P. was essentially dormant for years.

[Added context from the video]: He prefers making shows on dormant I.P. or dead I.P. to attempt to revive interest in said I.P. so that Capcom might make a new game. He mentions his love for games like Dino Crisis and Viewtiful Joe, which are both seen as dead franchises.

So he thought he would come in and breathe life into a franchise that was essentially seen as 'dead' or 'dying', i.e. Devil May Cry. Then suddenly announced DMC 5 and he was bummed out because he said he should have worked on another I.P. of theirs that was in a more dormant/dead place.

Final note: This post isn't a defense force, just further context with video evidence.

While I like the idea of him trying to revive interest in dead I.P. I feel that he goes about it too abrasively with his writing choices, which ends up clashing with fans of these franchises. Basically I think he needs to spend less time on the internet trying to 'own' people with his works and instead make something more memorable, like his first gaming animated series, Castlevania.
Click to expand...


Capcom shouldn't have allowed this guy use their IP. IP dormant after DmC? Lol! DMC4 was the best selling entry in the series, selling with its two editions twice the DmC sales. And DMC5 already sold even more.
 
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