Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

[Micael]

I saw it in IMAX yesterday, it’s an excellent nutty action movie to kick off the summer with. Anya Taylor-Joy does a great job shouldering the part of a younger Furiosa. I was even more impressed by Chris Hemsworth as Dementus though, I think he may have managed the performance of a lifetime here. To the the point that I was questioning if it even was him, despite knowing that it was.

So, if you’re on the fence on whether to go see it or not, I say go for it. It’s a worthy Mad Max installment and I’m a bit sad that the early box office numbers seems to be below expectations.

[Nathan45]

The issue with these movies is the budgets are out of control. Even if they are good they have to be break out hits to be profitable. Stuff I've read on this indicates the studio is going to lose a lot of money on it.

[Micael]

Yeah, there’s going to have to be some reassessment for future movies as far as the budgets go. The pandemic has had a lasting impact (as well as some other things), but I find it regrettable as the culture of going to movie theaters have been shook to its core. I’m concerned that it will become a niche rather than a mainstream activity going forward.

[kdahm]

What they need is a director who specializes in controlling the budget. One who can make films quickly for not much money, and some of which are being viewed decades later. Is there anyone in Hollywood like that.

Well, shit, they're boned. Roger Corman is dead.

[jemhouston]

You also need the studio to say no. From what I heard Kathleen Kennedy asked and got money to shoot expensive scenes for Indian Jones and the Dial of Destiny and never used them. That's a repeated pattern, shooting, reshooting enough to a make another movie, and still end up with steaming pile of dung.

[Poohbah]

Last two movies I went to the theater for were absolute crap.

ISS and Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.

[Nathan45]

Have the guys who made Godzilla minus one (claimed 15 million USD budget ) run things.

[Bernard Woolley]

It’s a great film. Really enjoyed it. Taylor-Joy and Hemsworth were brilliant.

Does a lot of interesting world building and fleshes out the character of Furiosa very well. I really do hope that George Miller can manage another Mad Max film. Personally, I’d love to learn more about what happened between the end of the first film and 2.

[Nathan45]

So based on comments here, I caught it, and I have to agree with everyone. Excellent action movie, worth the premium to see on the big screen. My thoughts are very similar to the Critical Drinkers review here. Not a preachy movie, Furiosa is not a Mary Sue, and well acted all around with really nice action.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjUz0XF8498

My main criticism would be that the whole intro was 1. Well done. 2. WAY too long. This is a movie that should never have been over 2 hours for the theatrical cut, at least if you wanted it to make money, cut that intro down to 15 minutes, leave the rest for the directors cut. I simply don't believe movies have to be this long. Casablanca was 85min long, and if you wanted to remake it into a modern movie with a ton of action set pieces (Which God help me, they are going to do someday) you would only need a extra 35 min to add them. Two hours. Unless its Oppenheimer, that is enough.

As noted in this thread, pretty good movies are failing badly lately. I'd attribute that to a perfect storm, everyone knows they will be streaming soon, (And many people have no moral problems with pirating due to how much steaming services cost), inflation has made everything expensive and forced people to be more careful with luxury items, and the budgets are setting these movies up to fail. Furiosa's budget is listed as anywhere from 170-230 million, taking a median of 200 million and a 75 million dollar marketing budget (not included in the listed budget and often forgotten about) and the typical Studio/Theatre split, this had to make 500 million worldwide to break even, that was never going to happen. This is a Mad Max movie, not Star Wars, honestly even a Star Wars movie would struggle to be profitable on that budget. On the flip side of that, being a Mad Max titled movie without Mad Max is a very small part, if any, of the box office failure. (Fury Road made about 10x as the previous movies in the series at 376 million and basically broke even)

Oh well, on the plus side, AIs will likely be able to make movies in the style of directors we like on the fly within 30 years. So we have that to look forward to.

[gtg947h]

As noted in this thread, pretty good movies are failing badly lately. I'd attribute that to a perfect storm, everyone knows they will be streaming soon, (And many people have no moral problems with pirating due to how much steaming services cost), inflation has made everything expensive and forced people to be more careful with luxury items...

I think it's been about 10 years since I went to the movies, and honestly thanks to streaming I have next to no desire to ever set foot in a theater again. Why pay a crapton of money for a ticket (and forget snacks, that's absurd, voth in dollars and calories) to sit around a bunch of strangers and not be able to pause the movie if I have to piss, or stop it and resume the next night if I get sleepy*? I'll just wait till it comes out on Prime or D+, or maybe buy it if it seems worth it.

I'm sure I'm not the only person who thinks like this. Makes me wonder how much longer studios will be budgeting around ticket sales...


* wife and I generally don't make it more than an hour or so at a time before we get tired. It takes us over a week to do our annual LotR extended cut viewing...

[jemhouston]

That is the question. When movie theaters become extinct, one less communal experience is available for us to gather regardless of our differences.

[MikeKozlowski]

...The last one I saw in the theaters was Ghostbusters: Afterlife, which was worth the effort. We wanted to see Frozen Empire, but even with the theater discount card it was going to be north of fifty dollars for the two of us, including snacks. Just not gonna happen, I'm afraid.

Saw Barbie a few weeks ago, and I A) found it it funny, witty and interesting, and B) nowhere near worth what I would have had to pay to see it in a theater.

Mike

[Bernard Woolley]

Cost me £20 each to see both The Fall Guy & Furiosa in an IMAX. Felt it was good value.

[1Big Rich]

Have the guys who made Godzilla minus one (claimed 15 million USD budget ) run things.

Seconded

[jemhouston]

Star Trek: TOS rules, maybe Roddenberry, Gene Coon, or Bob Justman (can't remember)

On Creativity

1. Unlimited Time / Unlimited Budget no problem

2. Limited / Unlimited Budget some problem

3. Limited time / Limited Budget that's when creativity happens.

Star Trek Wrath of Khan, remember the tracking shot following the Photon Torpedo down the rails. The set wasn't designed with that in mind, and it would thousands to rebuilt. The producers figured out how to do it for a few hundred.

Hollywood has so much money, they forgot how to be creativity. They think they just need to throw money, see what sticks, and the audience will love it. We don't

[Leander]

Absolute brilliant film.
Dementus was wonderful, best bad guy I've seen in a while!