There’s almost nothing left to reboot, which is maybe why this news has just landed: Legendary Entertainment — the superpower behind or at co-behind the Christopher Nolan Batmans, The Hangover trilogy, the current King Kong and/or Godzilla movies, and even Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman, as well as countless other blockbusters — is coming for the Toxic Avenger, as per Deadline.
Who? Why, the scrawny nerd-turned-chemically embiggened vigilante hero of 1984’s The Toxic Avenger — the most well-known title from the campy schlock outfit Troma Entertainment. It’s been a while since we heard from Toxie. To be precise, it’s been since 2000’s Citizen Toxie, which arrived after two other sequels, an early ’90s animated spin-off, even a stage musical in the ’80s.
It was only two years back that the Avenger was allegedly being rebooted, courtesy of Sausage Party co-director Conrad Vernon. This appears to be a different beast entirely. (Or it could be the project just evolved.) In fact, with Legendary attached, it’s very likely this won’t be another cheerfully crude, happily cheap, carelessly offensive and gory production. In other words, it will actually have a budget, and it will actually seek to make a lot of money.
That said, it’s not like anyone would dare exhume the Toxic Avenger and not produce a very R-rated comedy. If Deadpool’s good for anything, it’s making it very likely that this probably big budget revival will stick to its guns. Besides, Troma top dog Lloyd Kaufman, who co-directed all four original movies, will serve as a producer, and he’s never, in four decades in the business, sold out. That said, it looks like Kaufman might come into this biggest single pay day of his life, and who deserves a big pay day more than Lloyd Kaufman?
(Via Deadline)