Mad Max Fury Road was a huge critical and public success in 2015. A powerful reinterpretation of the 1982 classic. However, the sequel that was whispered in the mouth of the filmmaker has still not been officialized. The fault lies with a conflict between George Miller and the Warner Bros. production studio.
Initially, George Miller was promised a bonus if he stayed within the budget given for Mad Max Fury Road. Because of a difficult production, a move from Australia to Namibia, the budget exploded. But George Miller assures that it is not his fault. The Sydney Morning Herald reveals that he filed a complaint against the firm in his country of origin: Australia. With the help of Doug Mitchell , producer of the film, the director puts pressure on the firm:
"Warner made a series of bad decisions that resulted in big changes, delays, additional expenses that the studio should not have factored into its calculation. Otherwise, the plaintiffs, who fully respected the contract, would have finished the film on budget."
The contract also stipulated that in the event of a change of partners, Warner Bros. was to offer the duo to be co-producers first, but that an agreement was then made with RatPac Entertainment, the company of Brett Ratner and James Packer. The latter would have contributed 12.5% of the budget without George Miller and Doug Mitchell having been notified.
"Let's just say that we are owed money for this painful work, which took us more than ten years of development and three years of production. From this involvement was born a film that received an excellent reception all over the world. We would rather make films with Warner Bros than file a complaint against them, but we have been trying to find an amicable solution for a year and it does not work. So we appealed to the law to put an end to this case."
Warner Bros. reacted, vigorously defending itself against these accusations. The studio attempted to report the trial to California (request rejected by Australian authorities). Anyway, because of this money deal, George Miller does not seem in a hurry to direct the sequel to Mad Max Fury Road. The filmmaker initially wanted to focus on a smaller-budget, independent film. Business to follow…
