Box office success is rarely a fair measurement of quality. Major motion picture audiences are fickle, hard to pin down, and frequently willing to spend cash on trash. The modern blockbuster market faces an awkward transition as its most reliably profitable names and concepts fall flat. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is one of the saddest examples of a follow-up project underperforming. It’s an excellent film, so why aren’t audiences gathering their gangs and storming their local theaters?
The two highest-grossing films of 2024 so far are both tentpole blockbusters from Warner Bros. Dune: Part Two leads the pack with a haul of $282,144,358. Its closest competitor is Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, boasting $195,682,315. Both films are still in theaters in many regions, despite one of them being available to stream on HBO Max. Both are also excellent, though for very different reasons. Furiosa has a few things in common with the year’s current winners, but its current box-office performance is far less impressive.
Furiosa is falling behind expectations
|
Director |
George Miller |
|---|---|
|
Writers |
George Miller and Nico Lathouris |
|
Stars |
Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Ayla Browne, Tom Burke, and Lachy Hulme |
|
Release Date |
May 24, 2024 |
|
Runtime |
148 Minutes |
|
Budget |
$168 Million |
|
Rotten Tomatoes Score |
90% positive from 280 critics |
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga expected $40–45 million from domestic and worldwide theaters on its opening weekend. It dropped into a semi-competitive Memorial Day weekend alongside The Garfield Movie and Sight. The film earned $32 million in the US and Canada and $32.8 million everywhere else. The film won Memorial Day weekend with that time of the year’s lowest first-place finish since 1995. The previous winner was Casper, which made $43.2 million total when adjusted for inflation. This underperformance came alongside rave reviews from critics and audiences. Everyone who sees this movie seems to love it, but a substantial chunk of the potential audience stayed home. The film still has time to make up its initial deficit, but the opening weekend is critical for any major blockbuster.
Prequels often underperform
If George Miller had pitched another Mad Max as a promised follow-up to Fury Road, society would likely be looking at a different conversation. Many of the problems facing Furiosa come from the fickle nature of box office crowds. People don’t like taking risks at the theater. Almost anything can spook them into staying home. These issues consistently grow worse today due to widespread financial insecurity and the abundance of streaming entertainment. Furiosa felt like a safe bet, but it isn’t a continuation of Fury Road. It ends where that instant classic began. Perhaps more importantly, it isn’t a film about Max. The awkward bolting of the subtitle “A Mad Max Saga” to the film feels like a desperate attempt to guarantee that even the least-engaged viewer couldn’t miss the connection. Since the film doesn’t drive the plot forward, many will feel comfortable skipping it or waiting for the home release.
Audiences hate recasting
Anya Taylor-Joy took on the role of Furiosa after Charlize Theron originated the character in Fury Road. Alyla Browne portrays young Furiosa throughout most of the film’s first half. Taylor-Joy is a massive star, as is her co-star, Chris Hemsworth, but the absence of previous actors seems to scare off many potential viewers. This may be a remnant of earlier eras, where both a prequel and a recast spinoff suggested a massive downgrade in quality. Sadly, a lot of viewers aren’t interested in a prequel starring a new performer.
Fury Road didn’t do as well as it seemed to
The idea that Mad Max: Fury Road was a once-in-a-lifetime hit is revisionist history. The film is a masterpiece. It’s one of the best blockbusters ever made. It won several massive awards and changed the face of action cinema. That well-earned reputation can make it feel like a massive financial success, but it simply wasn’t as impressive as it should have been. Mad Max: Fury Road made $380.4 million on a $154-185 million budget. Contemporary analysts suggested that it lost $20–40 million in its box office run. It didn’t crack the top 20 highest-grossing films of 2015. Fury Road finished second on its opening weekend after Pitch Perfect 2. History forgets that detail, because Fury Road will stand the test of time as one of this millennium’s finest action films. Furiosa is on a similar path, for better and for worse.
What does this mean for future Mad Max sagas?
George Miller has clearly stated that he’d like to keep making Mad Max movies until his body stops working. He has another prequel planned, but his future ideas could be endless. Ideally, Miller will get to continue exploring the Wasteland in several future installments. Unfortunately, the box office math could prevent him from continuing. Furiosa boasted a bigger budget than Fury Road, but the questionable opening weekend seems to place it on the same financial path. There’s something to be said for these films as loss-leaders. They may not set the world on fire at the box office, but they capture awards and bring long-term respect to the studio. That could get another Mad Max made, but the future might depend on Furiosa‘s next few weekends.
Furiosa seemed uniquely positioned to succeed in the modern market, but its differences from its predecessor could have spooked a fickle and risk-averse mainstream audience. The next Mad Max may suffer with a lesser budget or ditch the prequel idea to try to draw in crowds. Either way, here’s hoping that George Miller gets to keep the wasteland alive in as many films as he can handle. Furiosa may not be earning its keep, but it deserves a much better showing. Just like Fury Road, Furiosa is awaited, and it should ride to Valhalla shiny and chrome.
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