Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga revealed a different side of the apocalyptic wasteland, but the movie did divert from the path of its predecessors in a way that likely hurt the franchise. While the Mad Max movies may be very well known, the movies have never been enormous earners at the box office, aside from Mad Max: Fury Road (via The Numbers). The early movies were successful because not only were they extremely cheap to make, but they delivered an outstanding return on investment. For instance, the first movie was made on a budget of $200,000, and it earned just shy of $100 million at the worldwide box office.
Compared to the modern entries, Mad Max: Fury Road was able to rack up an impressive $368 million at the box office, but the budget was considerably higher at $150 million. However, Furiosa barely managed to scrape back the production costs of $168 million, which means the film was definitely a big loser for the studios who made it. And while it may have always been heading in that direction, there is one clear difference to the original trilogy, where Furiosa may have made a mistake.
Furiosa Required You To Have Watched Fury Road
Unlike All Other Mad Max Movies
The original trilogy all contained one central connection, Max Rockatansky. This character was the thrilling adventurer who lived in the middle of a desolate future dystopia, riding fast cars, and fighting bizarre rivals with various mutations. However, while the movies followed similar visual styles, and the tones matched, the story wasn’t actually connected. Anyone could watch the second or third movie, and enjoy it without the context of the other films.
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Of course, Max, played by Mel Gibson, was the star of the show, and he returned in each film, but it didn’t matter what order viewers watched the movies in to still enjoy and engage with the stories individually. Meanwhile, Furiosa was intrinsically linked to Mad Max: Fury Road. Yes, Furiosa is a prequel, so the movie actually offers up context to expand on Fury Road, but there’s no escaping the connection between the films. And for most franchises, this is expected, but Mad Max clearly started out with a different set of rules.
Furiosa Was Always Going To Be A Difficult Sell Due To Fury Road’s Box Office Performance
The Box Office Was Never Going To Be That Big For Furiosa
While having the stories connect is clearly not a problem when it comes to modern day franchises, there is an issue when it comes down to timing. Most sequels, and certainly the most successful franchises, tend to release new movies on a regular basis. Whether that means one movie every three years, or three movies every year, a franchise’s success is often determined by how often it can put out solid new movies. Furiosa came out nearly ten years after Fury Road, which was simply too long for the films to have a meaningful connection and still keep the audience hooked.
Of course, nostalgia can create a higher demand, as seen with huge box office hits like Top Gun: Maverick, but Fury Road already used up the nostalgia points the series had banked. The original movie came out 35 years earlier, and with the proposition of bringing back the titular hero, Mad Max: Fury Road managed to pull back every enthusiastic fan of the series, and many who had since fallen in love with the movies. But Furiosa did not feature the titular hero, it came at an awkward time, and it failed to generate any real excitement or enthusiasm.
The Next Mad Max Movie Needs To Be As Standalone As Possible
Mad Max Has Some Work To Do To Bring The Audience Back
But beyond these potential pitfalls for Furiosa, Mad Max movies became something very different during the course of the first three films. They were wacky, had a clear and distinct visual style, and they worked as independent, exciting movies. Whether someone tuned in to see the original, or Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, they could be sure that they were in for a wild and thrilling ride. Furiosa may have had great visuals, but it wasn’t what fans of the franchise had grown to love.
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So, if the franchise is ever going to return to the wasteland, the story should do two things. One, it needs to feature the hero. Max Rockatansky made the movies what they are. As compelling and interesting as Furiosa’s story may be, these movies were never about her story. And two, the movie needs to act as a standalone entry. It should not be tied up with the other movies, but it should seek to simply tell an exciting original story, with one hero and one setting as the previous movies did. If the next Mad Max movie can do that, it is likely to succeed over Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga financially, and in terms of its reception from the audience.
A prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa is an action-adventure film that tells the origin story of the headstrong and fearless Furiosa. Set shortly after the beginning of the “end of the world,” Furiosa is kidnapped and brought before a powerful warlord, now forced to work for him. To find her way back home, Furiosa will adapt to the new harsh and arid world as she grows into the Furiosa she becomes known to be.
- Director
- George Miller
- Release Date
- May 24, 2024
- Studio(s)
- Warner Bros. Pictures
- Distributor(s)
- Warner Bros. Pictures
- Writers
- George Miller , Nick Lathouris
- Character(s)
- Furiosa , Dementus , Praetorian Jack , Young Furiosa , Rictus Erectus , The Organic Mechanic , The Bullet Farmer , Immortan Joe
- Runtime
- 148 Minutes
- Budget
- 168 million
- Main Genre
- Adventure