George Miller Says “There’s Certainly More Stories” In The ‘Mad Max’ World – Cannes

“There’s certainly more stories there,” George Miller said Thursday, answering a question about whether there are more Mad Max movies on the horizon.

The question came during the afternoon Cannes Film Festival press conference for Miller’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, which had its world premiere screening the night before.

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“Maybe because in order to tell the story of Fury Road, we needed to know about Furiosa and Max in the years before,” said the Oscar-winning filmmaker.

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“I’ll definitely see how this goes,” he added, meaning the box office for Furiosa. The Warner Bros/Village Roadshow production opens May 24, with a four-day domestic opening outlook sitting at around $50 million.

Producer Doug Mitchell praised Warner Bros for “the risk” they took on making Furiosa, which was in the works for 10 years. “It’s a massive film, it’s very expensive to do that, and Warners to take a risk supported by the Australian government … hopefully audiences will embrace it.”

Interestingly enough, Mad Max: Fury Road received a B+ CinemaScore.

RELATED: Anya Taylor-Joy Reveals Why She Felt So Alone While Making ‘Furiosa’ – Cannes Studio

Mitchell also talked about the idea of safety first before great cinema in regards to the full-tilt action in the film.

“We wake up with the reality that we can hurt somebody,” the producer said. “Our priority led by George is not to injure anybody. The second responsibility is to make the film.”

Miller has said that there’s a script for another Max Max movie, The Wasteland, and while he’s mum on it, it sounds like another prequel. One source close to the film hinted to Deadline that we have yet to see the backstory of Immortan Joe; that storyline has been fleshed out, and it wouldn’t be a shocker if that’s next in the wings.

RELATED: ‘Furiosa’s George Miller On Why Prequel Was A “Pretty Smooth Shoot” Next To ‘Fury Road’; Filmmaker In “Wait And See” On Next Installment ‘Wasteland’ – Cannes Studio

Miller wrote Furiosa before Fury Road and showed that script to Charlize Theron. It was part of the reason why he got her to sign on to that 2015 film, which racked up 10 Oscar nominations and won six. In regards to using her in this prequel, it wasn’t an option given the fact that Furiosa is told over the character’s ages of 8 to 18. Miller wasn’t impressed with the younger age tech that was out there used in The Irishman, hence the reason why he went with Alyla Browne as the younger Furiosa and Anya Taylor-Joy as the older.

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Fury Road cost close to $190 million and grossed over $380M at the global box office. Furiosa cost $168M, so the bar is a high jump for profitability. So far, Rotten Tomatoes reviews are solid at 88% fresh — a much better reception for Furiosa out of Cannes this year than Disney’s early blast-off of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny a year ago, when that early promo move helped to put a nail in the pic’s box office fortunes.

Furiosa received a near eight-minute standing ovation at its premiere in the Grand Lumiere Theatre last night.

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