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Mad Max Fury Road 2 is still delayed but there's some hope yet

Photo credit: Warner Bros Pictures
Photo credit: Warner Bros Pictures

From Digital Spy

Mad Max: Fury Road is one of the best movies ever made, and that's the hill we're going to die on. Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron made their post-apocalyptic debut in the fourth film of George Miller's series in 2015, and since then we've been clamouring for a follow-up.

Fury Road came out 30 years after the previous instalment, starring Mel Gibson. Though the wait was long, it was certainly worth it.

But the last five years have been relatively quiet when it comes to Fury Road's sequel, and fans are beginning to wonder if we'll ever see Max and Furiosa again.

Photo credit: Warner Bros.
Photo credit: Warner Bros.

Much of the delay was down to a legal dispute between Warner Bros, the studio behind Mad Max: Fury Road, and George Miller's production company, Kennedy Miller Mitchell. The suit comes down to, of course, money.

According to The Hollywood Reporter: "First, the director alleges he was promised a $7 million bonus if the final net cost of Mad Max: Fury Road didn't surpass $157 million. Warners is pointing to certain costs (which Miller objects to) that should be included in the calculation as meaning the film went over budget.

"Second, Miller accuses the studio of breaching a provision of the contract that provided that if a co-financier was sought (as was the case when Ratpac Entertainment jumped aboard), Miller's company would have first opportunity to provide co-financing."

Photo credit: Warner Bros Pictures
Photo credit: Warner Bros Pictures

There was a bit of back and forth over where the suit would be tried, with Warner Bros trying to move it out of Miller's native Australia. But as of summer 2019, the Supreme Court of New South Wales ruled that the dispute would be arbitrated in Australia.

However, all is now quiet on the Australian front. In a July 2019 interview Miller said: "We’re still solving, we’ve got to play out the Warners thing, it seems to be pretty clear that it’s going to happen."

He added: "The chaos has stabilised and it’s become extremely positive as the dust seems to have settled after [the Warner Bros AT&T merger]." The merger finally went through in June 2018, so we're not sure what the continued hold-up is.

Photo credit: Warner Bros Pictures
Photo credit: Warner Bros Pictures

So, where does all this information leave us? Unfortunately, not with a lot. Miller is currently working on Three Thousand Years Of Longing starring Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton.

More recently, Miller told Deadline: "I’m not done with the Mad Max story [but] I think you have to be a multi-tasker. There’s certainly another Mad Max coming down the pike after [Three Thousand Years Of Longing]. We’re in preparation on that as well."

Rumours began surfacing in early February 2020 that Mad Max 5 (provisionally titled Mad Max: The Wasteland) would begin filming in Australia as early as autumn 2020. These are wholly unsubstantiated, and given Miller's comments about not being a multi-tasker, we doubt they're true.

Photo credit: Warner Bros Pictures
Photo credit: Warner Bros Pictures

That doesn't mean that a swift production couldn't start. As we've reported, the two (yes, two!) Fury Road sequels have already been written. Tom Hardy is also on board for both, as is Charlize Theron for her own Furiosa story.

Keep your eyes glued on this space as updates, however few and far between they might be, are released. Fingers crossed we're not waiting another twenty-five years...

Mad Max 1 , 2, and 3 are on NOW TV, and Mad Max: Fury Road is available on Amazon


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