Scott Miller, the co-creator of Duke Nukem and founder of Apogee Software and 3D Realms, has revealed that he once tried to pitch Fox on the idea of a video game based on John Carpenter's 1986 film Big Trouble in Little China.
Big Trouble in Little China was released in cinemas back in 1986 and memorably starred Kurt Russell as the truck-driver-turned-reluctant-hero Jack Burton, who embarks on a quest into the mysterious underworld of San Francisco's Chinatown district to stop an ancient sorcerer named Lo Pan (played by James Hong) from breaking a centuries-old curse.
As you may already know, the film was a commercial failure back when it was originally released but has since gone on to generate a sizeable cult following over the last few decades, through subsequent home releases and word of mouth. This is one of the reasons why Miller saw some potential in creating a game based on the film decades later, along with his belief that Jack could become "a really cool, long-term game character".
As Miller stated on Twitter, he pitched Fox on "an all-new story but with a similar style" to the original film. This would have been narrated by Egg Shen (a character who was famously portrayed in the film by Victor Wong) and was set to include Chinese black magic, Jack's 18-wheeler truck "The Pork Chop Express", the Lord of Death gang, and sorcerer aliens from space (inspired by Jack's line: "A man would have to be some kinda fool to think we're all alone in this universe.")
It would have been developed as a first-person shooter similar to later Duke Nukem games and would have also incorporated a bullet-time mechanic (based on another classic Jack Burton line: "It's all in the reflexes").
However, as Miller went on to claim, "When Disney began the deal to buy FOX, all such deals had to be put on hold and it never got revived after Disney got control."
Interestingly, this isn't the first adaptation of a John Carpenter film that Miller has revealed he's pitched to Fox. Back in April of this year, he revealed he also tried to get an Escape From New York MOBA off the ground, but that project also hit a dead-end due to Disney's acquisition of Fox.
You can read more about that one here.