Furiosa's Box Office Failure Shouldn't Hold Back The Next Mad Max Movie

Deep down, every Mad Max fan dreams of experiencing The Wasteland in all its glory – with more Max and more action – but Furiosa’s poor box office numbers may have just shattered those hopes. Still, the rumored prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road shouldn’t be ruled out entirely, and it deserves to be made despite all the commercial odds stacked against it.

From the very start, it was an unspoken rule that the next Mad Max film would only be feasible if Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga turned a solid profit. Even with great reviews and positive word of mouth, the Anya Taylor-Joy starrer only grossed about $173 million against its nearly equal $168 million budget. By reportedly missing the break-even point by $75 to $95 million, the chance of The Wasteland being made seems unlikely – but is it really over?

Mad Max: The Wasteland Depends On Furiosa’s Awards Run

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Director George Miller had made it clear on numerous occasions that his next steps on any new Mad Max project, especially The Wasteland, would depend on Furiosa’s public reception. Emphasis should be on “reception” rather than box office results, which makes it still viable for the film to see the light of day. However, given the expensive action sequences likely to feature in The Wasteland, possibly surpassing Furiosa in scale, it would take a miracle for Warner Bros. to greenlight another prequel. In this case, the “miracle” is just code for the upcoming awards season, which could turn the tide in Miller’s favor.

Furiosa was a critical darling, with a 90% Rotten Tomatoes score, a seven-minute standing ovation at Cannes, and praise from major critics, with RogerEbert.com calling it “one of the best prequels ever made.” Warner Bros. should leverage this acclaim with a strong awards campaign, targeting the Golden Globes, BAFTAs, and ultimately the Oscars (where Fury Road won six). The film has a solid chance of nominations in categories like acting for Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, along with technical achievements in editing, sound, and production design. A strong showing at these events could put Miller and future Mad Max projects back in good books with primary funders like the government-owned Screen Australia.

Calling it Blade Runner 2049 might be a stretch, but Furiosa could mirror how the film’s critical acclaim and awards turned it into an influential sci-fi masterpiece, despite losing money for its producers. This led to future projects like the upcoming Blade Runner 2099 TV miniseries, and also helped director Denis Villeneuve sign on for both Dune movies with Warner Bros., which wouldn’t have been possible without the momentum of Blade Runner 2049. Similarly, Mad Max: The Wasteland could attract producers once Furiosa’s positive reviews translate into awards.

Is The Wasteland Max’s Backstory Before Fury Road?

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Another key factor in bringing The Wasteland to life is the strength of its story, and more importantly, how much Mad Max fans would want to see it. In Hollywood, a finished script is currency, and George Miller seems to have something of that sort in hand. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he confirmed that the writers had outlined backstories for both Max and Furiosa during the preparation for Fury Road. Furiosa’s story made it to the screen first, and The Wasteland is expected to explore how Max was captured and taken to the Citadel to be used as a human blood bag.

In doing what we did in the preparation of Mad Max: Fury Road, we also wrote what happened to Max in the year before we encounter him in [that film]. Well, we are certainly working on it. And as I say, we wrote that basically as a novella, and now we’ve got a chance, we will get that into a screenplay form, and then we’ll take it from there.

The storyline of the rumored prequel is expected to take place just before Fury Road, and Miller has confirmed it to be a year-long saga packed with action. Max would be joined by a young mother, and the events that follow might explain his sudden hallucinations of the little girl in Fury Road. Similar to Furiosa’s ending, this is a Max-centric character prequel that would lead into the storyline of the iconic 2015 film. However, it’s unclear whether Tom Hardy will return as Max Rockatansky or if he’ll be replaced by a younger actor, as Charlize Theron was in Furiosa.

When Fury Road first hit theaters, Miller confirmed more Mad Max projects were inevitable, with Tom Hardy was attached to star in at least three more. But now, the future of the post-apocalyptic sci-fi franchise hangs in the balance, much like what its veteran director had faced after Beyond Thunderdome. Miller had to wait 30 years to make Fury Road for a variety of reasons. Let’s hope the next Mad Max film doesn’t take another 30 years to arrive.

Release Date

May 14, 2015

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Director

George Miller

Cast

Tom Hardy , Charlize Theron , Nicholas Hoult , Hugh Keays-Byrne , Rosie Huntington-Whiteley , Riley Keough , Zoë Kravitz

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Runtime

120 minutes

Studio

Village Roadshow Pictures, RatPac Entertainment, Kennedy Miller Mitchell

Writers

George Miller , Brendan McCarthy , Nico Lathouris

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Rotten Tomatoes Score

94%

Streaming Service(s)

Max

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