Don't they both pretty much only take projects they have a personal interest in? I think Elijah said something about not really caring if something he was a part of didn't do well, he wanted to do them regardless, simply because it was interesting or fun.
It should be noted that this movie premiered two years ago. There are claims that the movie couldn't get a distributor because of the gore and claims of it being "unreleasable", etc. Which is the kind of thing that makes me suspect there's more going on.
I can remember watching the original when I was a kid, I was never really a fan of Toxic Avenger or of any Troma films really but I'm definitely going to check this out.