Sometimes, even the most well-crafted movie doesn’t sell theater tickets. The publication Collider proved this by releasing a list of the “20 box office flops that nobody saw coming.” The ranking, published on May 6, featured quality movies that didn’t do all that well revenue-wise, like Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), Joker: Folie à Deux from 2024, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World released in 2010, 1994’s The Shawshank Redemption, and Fight Club, released in 1999.
According to Collider, the fifth Mad Max film, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, released in 2024, was the most surprising “box office flop.” The publication reported that the Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) prequel, focusing on Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy), wasn’t as popular as the franchise’s previous films.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, which has a score of 90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, grossed a total of $174,375,791 with a budget of $168,000,000, as reported by Box Office Mojo. Meanwhile, Mad Max: Fury Road had a worldwide gross of $379,436,354 with a budget of $150,000,000, per Box Office Mojo.
‘Mad Max’ Director George Miller Shared Why Anya Taylor-Joy Was Cast to Star in ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’
George Miller, the co-creator and director of the Mad Max film franchise, discussed Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga in a 2024 interview on the Happy Sad Confusedpodcast. Miller shared how Taylor-Joy was cast to play Furiosa, who was originally played by Charlize Theron in Mad Max: Fury Road.
He said that Taylor-Joy was recommended to him by director Edgar Wright after she starred in his 2021 film, Last Night in Soho. According to Miller, Wright showed him a cut of Last Night in Soho in 2019, which convinced him to hire Taylor-Joy for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.
“I had this very strong, I mean, response to what she did, as so many people did. There’s something just very powerful, she has a very powerful presence,” said the Australian filmmaker, now 81.
