It has been about a year and a half sinceMad Max: Fury Roadtook the world by storm and the love for that movie is still very palatable. But as time continues to press on, fans of the rejuvenated franchise are getting more and more eager to see another installment ofGeorge Miller’s post-apocalyptic franchise. StarTom Hardyhas offered an encouraging, if frustrating, update on the state of theMad Max: Fury Road sequels, the first of which is supposed to beMad Max: The Wasteland.
Tom Hardyrecently spoke withThe Wrapin anticipation of his new FX seriesTaboo. The subject of the highly-anticipated follow-up toMad Max: Fury Roadcame up and the actor offered an update, saying the movies appear to be on track, but he has no idea when they are going tostart shooting. Here is what he had to say aboutMad Max 5.
“Yeah I believe so! I don’t know when that starts, but I believe that’s in the books. There’s a couple of those floating around. I’m waiting for the call to come. It was so good, man.”
Every core member of theMad Maxfranchise seems to be on board.Charlize Theronhas publically said she wants to play Furiosa again and directorGeorge Millerhas stated that there are plans for more installments but he has been pretty non-committal in terms of a timeline. NowTom Hardymakes it clear that he is on board and seems fairly eager, but still, it is very unclear when the nextMad Maxmovie will actually get rolling. Interestingly enough,George Millerdoesn’t have any nonMad Maxrelated projects announced, so aside from him not wanting to rush into another crazy production, it is hard to know what exactly is holding things up.
There have been quite a few reports suggesting that the next installment, tentatively titledMad Max: The Wasteland, would be aprequel. Some reports surfaced late last year that the movie is in the pre-production phase and was gearing up for a shoot in Australia, but that turned out to not be true.George Millerhas said there are two moreMad Maxmovies planned, but the idea of a long, grueling eight-month shoot didn’t seem overly appealing to him after wrapping upMad Max: Fury Road. Here is what he had to say about it in an interview early last year.
“We’re talking to the studio [Warner Bros] about it as we speak, but which one of the two stories will happen next, I’m not so sure. I want to do a small film without special effects before I do any of that, just to do it quickly. We shot Fury Road for eight months… that’s a lot. Every day in the heat and the dust, doing these stunts, it’s very wearing. We’ve got two more planned, but at some point in the future.”
Mad Max: Fury Roadwas a success no matter how you look at it. The movie did well enough at the box office, earning $378 million worldwide, but it was the critical reception that really helped make the fourth installment of theMad Maxfranchise a big success.Mad Max: Fury Roadwas named the best movie of 2015 by many critics and racked up a very impressive ten Academy Award nominations, and wound up bringing home six Oscars. For what it’s worth, it was also the best-rated movie of 2015 on Rotten Tomatoes. So with all of that factored in, Warner Bros. is surely eager to get the ball rolling on a sequel or two.
George Millerdoesn’t seem to be overly busy, but his name keeps coming up for big projects, like a few DC Comics movies such asMan of Steel 2. If he does wind up doing something like that, it will delay aMad Max: Fury Roadsequel even further. Not to mention thatCharlize Theron, who is playing the villain inThe Fate of the Furious, andTom Hardyare both in very high-demand, so lining up their schedules will be tough. Not only that, butGeorge Millerisn’t getting any younger, so if the 71-year-old director really wants to make a couple moreMad Maxmovies, it seems like sooner would definitely be better.
