Duke Nukem is coming to a much bigger screen near you now that Dimension Films has acquired the movie rights to the video game phenomenon from Larry Kasanoff and his Threshold Entertainment.

In his feature film debut for the Miramax genre label, Duke assumes the role of Earth's best defense against all form of alien threat;he takes on the dangerous mission of traveling into deep space to intercept analien ship on a collision course for Earth.

But while high on testosterone action, Duke Nukem: The Movie will go relatively easy on the blood splatter. According to Dimension, the big screen adaptation is conceived as an action-adventure franchise in the PG-13 vein of films like The Mummy and Men In Black

Duke Nukem is said to be among the most profitable video game properties of all time, generating nearly $1bn in revenues since being designed by 3-D Realms. As a franchise character, Duke is also said to boast 100% name recognition among the game's target audience.

Producer Kasanoff himself isno stranger to this realm. As the producer of Mortal Kombat , he can claim to have been the first to have successfully taken a video game to film, producing it all media and creating a $4bn franchise that also included a film sequel. He was formerly president andco-founder with James Cameron of Lightstorm Entertainment, where he supervised production of Terminator 2: Judgment Day and executive produced True Lies