One of the true standout highlights of this past weekend’s STARBURST International Film Festival was handing out our Hall of Fame honour to Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman. And now, we’ve got an update on the long-gestating remake of Troma’s most famous property, The Toxic Avenger.

Courtesy of Variety, it’s now been confirmed that Legendary Pictures – who have a one-year option on giving Toxie a new lick of paint – has brought in Macon Blair to write and direct the redo. Now while this news is finally official, let’s just say we may have been given a heads-up on all of this from a certain Uncle Lloydie over the weekend…

As for Macon Blair, he’s actually best known for acting in the likes of Green Room and Logan Lucky, although his directorial debut I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore wowed audiences at Sundance back in 2017.

For those not familiar with The Toxic Avenger, the basic premise saw nerdy janitor Melvin Junko end up transforming into the hulking, deformed Toxic Avenger after one too many run-ins with local bullies (and some conveniently-placed chemicals). With enhanced strength, Melvin uses his trusty mop to brutally clean up the local streets. From there, there’d be three sequels, a ’90s cartoon series, and even a musical in recent years.

That last we’d heard on all things Toxie was that Troma and Kaufman were working on a fifth film, while Sausage Party’s Conrad Vernon was also putting together a big-budget remake effort. Unless Vernon is somehow involved in Legendary’s remake, it looks like his take on Toxie is now in limbo.

For this new Toxic Avenger effort, Lloyd Kaufman and longtime partner Michael Herz will be serving as producers, with the plan being for this to be the launching point for a new cinematic superhero franchise.

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