Reshoots for Mad Max: Fury Road

The forthcoming 'Mad Max' movie, 'Mad Max: Fury Road', is to head into three weeks of re-shoots, according to reports.

Initial filming for the film took place in the summer of 2012 in Namibia, and it was thought that the finished product would emerge around this Christmas or New Year.

That is now looking increasingly unlikely.

[First look at Tom Hardy as Mad Max]

It's thought that Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult and Zoe Kravitz will all be called back for the additional filming.

The reshoots are thought to be being done in Australia, which is perhaps for the best.

Namibia won't be rolling out the red carpet again after the production was accused of damaging parts of the Namib desert and endangering lizard and cacti species by the Namibian Coast and Conservation Management Group in March this year.

It was claimed the crew drove over untouched areas of desert, and then tried to erase the tracks by sweeping the areas smooth again.

It's the latest in a very long line of setbacks for the movie, which has spent decades in so-called 'development hell'.

[Mad Max 4 vehicles caught on camera]

George Miller, who directed all three original films with Mel Gibson, has been working on bringing a fourth film in the post-apocalyptic series to the screen, on and off, for nearly 25 years.

Once green-lit, it eventually began filming 18 months late and reportedly finished up over budget.

Other than a few on-set pictures, no footage from the film has so far been seen.

It may now find its release scheduled for summer 2014, but whether it makes that slot remains to be seen.

Check out the old school trailer for 'Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome' from 1985 below...