Scott Miller recently had an interesting plan that never came to fruition, but who knows how successful the concept could have been?

Big Trouble in Little China was directed by John Carpenter and was released in the US in July 1986. It has since become a cult movie and has inspired many games over the years. Mortal Kombat would not have been born as we know it if it weren’t for the martial arts in Carpenter’s film. However, a few decades later, the co-creator of Duke Nukem (who was also the founder of Apogee) wanted to do something with the movie.

Miller recently took to Twitter to share some slides of his concept for the spin-off, which was never made. It’s been several years since he submitted plans to Fox’s film division, which revealed that the game would have continued the events of the movie, so the story of Jack Burton, played by Kirk Russell, would not have been completed. According to Miller, the idea would have been similar to his work on Duke Nukem 3D, resulting in a fast-paced, humorous first-person action game.

When I was talking to FOX's film division several years ago, I put together a pitch for making a game based on Big Trouble in Little China. I saw Jack becoming a really cool, long-term game character. pic.twitter.com/m17gEKGPX3

— Scott Miller – Apogee/3D Realms Founder ☢️ (@ScottApogee) July 21, 2024

A slide listed several elements from the movie that were used in the game. Chinese black magic, Jack Burton’s vehicle, bullet time, and wizard aliens from outer space would all have made an appearance. The latter was designed by Miller based on a Burton quote, as the character said in the movie, “A man would have to be a fool to think we’re all alone in the universe.

According to Miller, the concept was considered by 20th Century Fox, but Disney came along and the Mouse Empire absorbed the film division in 2019, which it then shut down. While the movie wasn’t a huge success in theaters, people’s opinions of it have changed over time, and on more than one occasion, we’ve seen familiar movies continue on in the form of games. Such was the case last year with Teyon’s Robocop: Rogue City, which brought Robocop back into the spotlight.

Source: GameSpot