The Toxic Avenger may look like a bloodbath from the trailer, but it’s a movie with a message: Corporations will destroy your humanity, turn you into a raging monster, and also pollute the earth. But the new reboot of the cult classic has another politically relevant subplot. Pre-transformation, Toxie (Peter Dinklage) is diagnosed with a terminal illness, and like many Americans has to fight with insurance just to get treated. Inspired by his plight, The Toxic Avenger team announced that rather than do any more marketing stunts for the movie (which premieres August 29), the rest of the movie’s marketing budget towards erasing medical debt for those most in need.
Cineverse, the distributor behind The Toxic Avenger, has partnered with the nonprofit Undue Medical Debt, which “[buys] debt in bundles, millions of dollars at a time at a fraction of the original cost” in order to eliminate the debt for “households that earn less than 4x the federal poverty level… or whose debts are 5% or more of annual income.” The Toxic Avenger has pledged to wipe out at least $5 million in medical debt, and for every $1 million the movie makes at the box office, Cineverse will wipe out another million in debt.
“We spent hours brainstorming how to close out the campaign and, while sending Toxie to the moon was appealing, no idea came close to combating unexpected medical debt for families,” Cineverse SVP of Marketing Lauren McCarthy said in a statement via press release. “The Toxic Avenger had his entire life upended by crushing medical costs so, as Toxie says, ‘Sometimes you have to do something.'”
“As the medical debt crisis continues to grow we’re grateful for this partnership with The Toxic Avenger film, which is not only funding debt relief but also shining a light on the human impact of a broken system,” Marisa Clemente, Vice President of Philanthropy at Undue Medical Debt, said in a separate statement. “We are always looking to team up with real-life superheroes who support our mission—including movie lovers, who now have an easy way to enjoy a reimagined classic while supporting financially and emotionally burdened families.” You can check out the campaign at Undue Medical Debt here.
