Peter Dinklage doesn't know if his well-reviewed Toxic Avenger remake will ever be released

A few years back, we heard that Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage was going to star in a remake of The Toxic Avenger, a 1984 cult classic low-budget gross-out horror/superhero film from Troma Entertainment, who specialized in that kind of thing. Dinklage plays a janitor who falls in a vat of toxic acid, gets powers, and takes revenge on the '80s-style bullies who tormented him. The teaser trailer came nearly a year ago and looks pretty fun:

The movie debuted at Fantastic Fest to exellent reviews; there are 25 up on Rotten Tomatoes and they're overwhelmingly positive, giving the movie a score of 92%. There's also some decent star power involved; in addition to Dinklage, the movie stars Kevin Bacon and Elijah Wood. So why haven't we seen a proper trailer or heard of a release date?

“I’m not a producer on it. I don’t know,” Dinklage told ComicBook.com when asked about it. “I do want it to get out there into the world because it was a really big hit at Fantastic Fest in Austin, and Macon Blair, the writer/director… He’s incredible. He’s one of my favorite people and favorite artists. So hopefully it will have its day in the toxic sun.”

According to The A.V. Club, there's been some industry gossip going around about the movie. “If it had great reviews then maybe the forecast would be a little rosier, but there isn’t much potential," an anonymous producer allegedly told World of Reel the other month. "It’s too niche. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if we see it on Tubi a few years from now.” I'll point out again that a 92% score on Rotten Tomatoes means really good reviews, but don't mind me.

Meanwhile, on Twitter, someone suggested that “distributors considered it wasn’t safe enough to market, so no one has picked it up." Filmmaker Adam Masnyk retweeted this and added some context. "This is factual," he wrote. "This is what we (I work in movie product licensing) were officially told as well regarding it."

It's always a little disappointing to hear this kind of inside baseball talk and realize that the movie business is about business first. I don't know if it's smart business. The whole idea of studios opting not to distribute a film because it's a bit unorthodox discounts the possibility that unorthodox is what people are looking for, and that they could have on their hands the next big thing people didn't know they wanted until they see it. And while I don't know the budget, I guarantee this cost far less than the average big tentpole action movie, so why not pitch it into a few theaters and see what happens?

I know it's more complicated than that, but that's my two cents. Hopefully it'll get a proper release date sooner or later.

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