Anya Taylor-Joywill square off against Chris Hemsworth on streaming before the summer ends. Yes,Furiosa: A Mad Max Sagais scheduled to start streaming a week from today, onFriday, August 16,and the action adventure will be available onMax.Taylor-Joy’s titular character and Hemsworth’s tyrannical Dr. Dementus faced off against one another back in May, butFuriosasurprisingly turned out to be one of the biggest financial disappointments to come out during the 2024 summer movie season at the box office.
With a reported production budget of $168 million (perVariety), and that doesn’t include marketing and advertising costs,Furiosastruggled mightily both at home and overseas. Director George Miller’s latest big-screen installment set in the Wasteland only made $67.5 million domestically, according toBox Office Mojo.And while the film did fare far better internationally ($105.3 million), theMad Max: Fury Roadprequel only managed to amass a worldwide total of $172.8 million.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
A prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa is an action-adventure film that tells the origin story of the headstrong and fearless Furiosa. Set shortly after the beginning of the “end of the world,” Furiosa is kidnapped and brought before a powerful warlord, now forced to work for him. To find her way back home, Furiosa will adapt to the new harsh and arid world as she grows into the Furiosa she becomes known to be.
By comparison, the aforementionedFury Road(2015), which starred Tom Hardy as the iconic vigilante and Oscar winner Charlize Theron as the older version of Furiosa, made $154.3 million in domestic receipts alone and eventually brought in $380.4 million globally. Despite failing during its theatrical release, though,Furiosa: A Mad Max Sagahas a good chance of succeeding on streaming thanks to the overwhelming praise it received from both fans and critics.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Sagadisappointed at the box office,but the Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth-led flick clearly charmed both the critics and fans. Cinephiles coming right out of movie theaters gaveFuriosaa solid “B+” CinemaScore during its opening weekend, in which it matched up against Chris Pratt’sThe Garfield Movieover the Memorial Day holiday. And fans gave the film a much similar rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
At the time of this writing,Furiosaboasts an 89% RT audience score against 1,000+ verified ratings. And the critics seemed to enjoy director George Miller’s return to the Wasteland even more. Registering a Tomatometer rating of 90% (407 reviews), more professional critiques than not overwhelmingly praised theMad Max: Fury Roadprequel.
Tom Hardy Reveals His True Feelings for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Even though Tom Hardy hasn’t seen Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the actor believes the movie is “bound to be special” thanks to George Miller.
So, while the box office numbers might not have reflectedFuriosa’sstellar storytelling and action-heavy set pieces, the film is likely to find quite a large audience on streaming. Perhaps most telling of all is the fact that Academy Award winnerCharlize Theron herself approved ofFuriosa.
Even the titular star ofMad Max: Fury Road,Tom Hardy, believed Hemsworth and Taylor-Joy’s Silver Screen match-up as the revenge-seeking Furiosa and the power-hungry Dr. Dementus was destined to be a success. Hardy has officially gone on record with his opinion of the prequel, even though the actor hadn’t watched it at the time of the interview. Hardy said (perVariety):
“I’m sure that Furiosa will be a tremendous success,as rightly George, Anya and Chris well deserve.I’m a huge Mad Max fan and Fury Road fan and Furiosa fan.I haven’t seen the film,but I know it’s bound to be special because it’s come from George.”
Hardy continued (below):
“Fury Road was a great experience, and it absolutely was one of the most important things that ever happened to me in my career, ever.I’m grateful for that. And I think George Miller is a genius, and the whole crew with everybody was amazing.I learned an awful lot on that film.”
Furiosa: A Mad Max Sagabegins streaming Friday,August 16onMax.For those who just can’t wait a week, or saw the film in theaters and loved it,Furiosais available to rent or buy on all the usual VOD platforms, includingFandango at Home,at the time of this writing.
