Peter Dinklage’s ultra-gory Toxic Avenger movie is finally headed to theaters

Cineverse announced on Tuesday that it will release The Toxic Avenger later this year, in an unrated wide theatrical launch. The movie stars Game of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage as Winston Gooze, a lowly janitor who transforms into a mutant vigilante (known as “Toxie”) after a freak accident. Like many a superpowered protagonist, he becomes an unlikely hero, taking on everyone from gangsters to corrupt CEOs. And he does it all while armed with his signature mop.

The film, helmed by Blue Ruin star and I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore director Macon Blair, is a reboot of a 1984 cult classic. Per our reviewer Tasha Robinson, who saw it at Austin’s Fantastic Fest in 2023, it’s “gnarly, messy, and packed with goofy visual gags and fight scenes where the combatants get melted or mutated, sometimes exploding into wall-splattering showers of vivid, chunky gore.” So why, if this movie was viewable back in 2023, hasn’t it received a wide release yet? Essentially, it’s just been shelved this whole time. After locking in a 92% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes with a festival run in 2023, The Toxic Avenger failed to find a distributor, and it was starting to look like the film would never see the light of day.

All in all, it makes total sense for Cineverse: The entertainment company has already found a ton of success turning the Terrifier series into a horror franchise, with 2024’s Terrifer 3 becoming the highest-grossing non-rated film in U.S. history. “It’s so cool that folks will have the chance to see this in theaters,” Blair said in a statement. “[I]t’s a fun rowdy movie you wanna see with a crowd. Mutant hero smashes bad guys with a mop: perfect entertainment for the whole family!”