Furious failing at the box office could actually be a blessing in disguise for the franchise, as it could lead to a Mad Max television series. George Miller began the long-running apocalyptic series in 1979 and developed the world in five Mad Max films. Mel Gibson played the titular desert dweller in the first three films, but after a 30-year hiatus, Tom Hardy played the character in Mad Max: Fury Road. 2015 Fury Road it breathed new life into the series and proved that there are more stories to tell in the desert.
After Mad Max: Fury RoadMiller began planning the next entry in the saga. For the fifth film in the series, Miller surprisingly moved away from the Max character and focused on Furiosa, who was previously introduced in Fury Road. The story of Furious follows the titular character after she is kidnapped from her home and forced to work for warlord Immortan Joe. While assessments for Furious were excellent, the film was unfortunately a box office failure. After Furious box office failure, the future of Mad Max franchise is uncertain.
The next Mad Max story should be told on TV after Furiosa's box office failure
The Mad Max franchise would be perfect for a TV show
Mad Max: Fury Road was a huge critical success in 2015 and also had a respectable box office haul, especially considering the franchise had been dead for 30 years. Therefore, Fury Road proved that people were still interested in new Mad Max films. This led to Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga receiving the green light. However, Furious did not do as well as its predecessor at the box office. Furious grossed just $173,775,790 at the worldwide box office on a whopping $168 million budget (via Mojo Box Office).
|
All Mad Max films |
RT Critic Score |
|---|---|
|
Mad Max (1979) |
90% |
|
Mad Max: The Road Warrior (1981) |
93% |
|
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) |
81% |
|
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) |
97% |
|
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024) |
90% |
Before Furious failure, Miller was planning a sixth entry in the series, which would have been titled Mad Max: The Desert. However, the status of the project is now unknown following the disappointing box office performance of Furious. There's a chance Miller will never be able to make another Mad Max film again. Therefore, he should pivot and instead develop a Mad Max television series. This wouldn't be completely out of the question for the franchise, as Miller had already considered making a Mad Max TV show in the 1990s.
Why the 1995 Mad Max TV Show Project Never Happened
George Miller ended up leaving the TV show Mad Max
While the first two Mad Max films were a huge critical success, the third film in the series, Mad Max beyond the Thunderdomestruggled most with critics. Additionally, Mel Gibson became a huge movie star and had an increasingly busy schedule. These factors led Miller to take a break from the franchise in the mid-1980s. This break would ultimately last 30 years, but there was a brief period in the 1990s when Miller thought about developing a Mad Max TV program.
In the 90s, looked at a list of his intellectual properties and decided that Mad Max would work well as a television series. Eager to capitalize on the marketing potential of Mad Max franchise, Warner Bros. immediately pitched the idea to Miller. However, Miller was not convinced. The filmmaker was interested in the potential of a long story set in the world of Mad Maxbut was hesitant to return to the franchise. The hiring of Rua do Pulo 21 showrunner Eric Blakeney finally convinced the director that a Mad Max the show was worth developing.
Miller and Blakeney began work on Mad Max show, but many of his ideas were considered too intense for TV. Miller didn't want to change his view of Mad Max franchisewhich was always quite graphic. Therefore, he finally decided to abandon the project. However, the abandoned Mad Max television series led Miller to meet comic book artist Brendan McCarthy, who he eventually co-wrote Fury Road with many years later.
George Miller clearly has more Mad Max stories to tell after Furiosa
George Miller has significantly expanded the Mad Max franchise since Fury Road
Miller clearly wasn't interested enough in returning to the Mad Max franchise to ensure the 90s television show happened, but he miraculously returned to the series with Fury Road. After the franchise was stagnant for three decades, Miller directed what is arguably the best film in history. Mad Max series. After your experience developing and directing Fury RoadMiller was clearly inspired enough to work Furious. In preparation for the launch of Furious, Miller has expressed interest in making another Mad Max film.
It would be a shame if Miller was never able to pitch any of his story ideas to the Mad Max series on screen again.
Therefore, It's clear that Miller has more stories to tell in the world of Mad Max. In addition to the proposed sixth film in the series Mad Max: The DesertMiller has also been a part of several comics set in the world of the series. These comics continued to flesh out the desert seen in Mad Max films. It would be a shame if Miller was never able to pitch any of his story ideas to the Mad Max series on screen again.
Would Mad Max work on the small screen after five theatrical films?
A Mad Max TV show would be very exciting
Although it would be disappointing if Miller never managed to make his Mad Max: The Desert film, the small screen is potentially a better home for the franchise. The story of Mad Max: The Desert would feature Max's returnand show it in another adventure in the series' post-apocalyptic world. Whether Tom Hardy returns or the role of Max is recast again, it would be great to see the iconic character on screen again.
A television series would allow audiences to spend more time with Max than ever before, which would likely make him an even more popular character. In addition to Max, Miller is clearly interested in centralizing Mad Max stories about other characters, just as he did with Furiosa. The structure of a potential television show would allow Miller and other writers to focus specific episodes on different characters, fleshing out the world. Therefore, a Mad Max the television show could work incredibly well after five films, and there's immense potential in the project.