A reboot of The Toxic Avenger has been planned and backtracked for several years. At one point, even Arnold Schwazenegger and Steve Pink from High Fidelity were announced to participate in this. In 2020, Peter Dinklage landed the lead role, and development has moved forward in earnest, making it clear that Tromaville’s biggest star will be returning to the screens.
The Toxic Avenger is about a certain New Jersey nerd, Malvin Junko, who falls into a vat of toxic waste and is transformed into a kindhearted and ultimately heroic monster. In addition to the film franchise, the Toxic Crusaders animated series , and the comic book series, the title character, affectionately known as “Toxie”, has been Troma’s mascot for years, used on merchandise and title cards.
The first photo from this production has finally hit the web, published together with the news that Toxic Avenger will be the opening film of Fantastic Fest 2023 , on September 21.
The original rumor was that Toxic Avenger was going to be a PG-13 movie with a tone not too dissimilar to the 90s Toxic Crusaders animated cartoon, but later comments from the cast and crew seem to suggest we’re getting an R rating after all.
In an interview with Empire, Dinklage had this to say about the upcoming title:
This is not a remake. I just like making guerrilla films. Those movies – they just made them, no matter what. They just did it because they love to do it. Some of them are not the best, but some are great fun. When you make videos too clean, it can distance the audience. I think these Troma movies definitely immersed viewers in toxic waste.