Director George Miller remains hopeful he will get an opportunity to make sequels to his hit Mad Max: Fury Road. Back in 2015, the filmmaker wowed audiences with his revolutionary action film, which grossed $378.8 million at the worldwide box office. Perhaps more surprisingly, the genre thrill-ride was one of the year’s most acclaimed critical darlings, making it all the way to the Oscars with nominations in prestige categories like Best Picture and Best Director. Ever since Fury Road premiered, viewers have been eager to take a trip back to the apocalyptic wasteland. Miller has expressed interest in helming more installments, though he would like to work on a smaller film before diving into that undertaking.
All has been relatively quiet on the Fury Road sequel front for a while, however, with the biggest updates being star Tom Hardy revealing he’s game to return should another Mad Max move forward. Nothing official has been announced yet, but Hardy isn’t the only member of the creative team raring to go again. Miller, who has scripts for followups written already, would like to see a couple more films come into fruition.
In an interview with The Independent, Miller discussed the process that lead to a trio of Mad Max screenplays being completed during Fury Road’s development (Fury Road itself and two sequels). If everything comes into place, one day we can see those other movies:
Though Fury Road was a crowd and pundit favorite, Warner Bros. hasn’t been too quick to forge ahead on the sequels. The studio currently has a lot on their plate with the DC Extended Universe adding new installments regularly, four more Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them films to make, plus the MonsterVerse that combines King Kong with Godzilla. Obviously, none of these franchises are cheap to make, so it’s fair to wonder how many resources WB has at their disposal. Fury Road sported a production price tag of $150 million, and since the studio is reportedly aiming to green light fewer films as they focus on their established brands, there may not be enough money to go around. As beloved as Fury Road is, another Mad Max may not be high on the priority list at this point in time.
“We dug down deep into the subtext, the backstory of all the characters, and indeed the world…and without really thinking about it, we wrote two other screenplays just as part of the bible of the stories. Somewhere, if the planets align, there will be two other films.”
Of course, Fury Road spent years in development hell before it was released, so the same could happen for the next ones. There’s obviously a sizable audience for the material, so WB would be foolish to just write off future Mad Max films. Hopefully, one day the studio will find a spot for it in the ever-crowded schedule, placing sequels in a position to thrive amidst the various tentpoles coming out. With all the interest in more Mad Max, Miller should be able to make his dream come true some day.
We’ll keep you updated on Mad Max sequels as more information becomes available.
Source: The Independent
