Back in July, it was reported that 2023’s Toxic Avenger remake had been suddenly pulled from release. At the time, it was claimed by an unnamed producer that the movie was borderline unreleasable and “too far out there,” and we haven’t heard anything since then. It’s to the point not even its stars are in the loop about its situation.
Talking to ComicBook, leading man Dinklage plainly told the outlet that since he’s not a producer on the film, he’s not up to date on why the movie got pulled or if it’ll get any kind of wide release. Nonetheless, he’s holding out hope it “[has] its day in the toxic sun. I do want it to get out there into the world because it was a really big hit at Fantastic Fest in Austin.” He was equally high on director/writer Macon Blair, who he called “incredible. He’s one of my favorite people and favorite artists.”
Toxic Avenger is a remake of Michael Herz and Lloyd Kaufman’s 1984 Troma film, and stars Dinklage as a health club janitor named Winston. After being diagnosed with a terminal illness his boss doesn’t want to pay treatment for, Winston tries to get some payback and ends up falling into a vat of toxic waste that deforms him and gives him super strength, which he decides to use to become the titular hero. The movie, which also stars Elijah Wood, Taylour Paige, and Kevin Bacon, seemed to get good enough reviews coming out of Fantastic Fest, even as they acknowledged that it probably won’t be to everyone’s taste.
Given some of the more convenional duds that’ve come out lately, though, it’s hard to imagine this Toxic Avenger remake couldn’t find some kind of audience. If the increasingly messy Megalopolis is getting a shot on the big screen after also being slapped with the “too weird” allegations, it can’t harm theaters to give this one a shot too.
