Fury Road will either be a blockbuster or a bomb.

[pauli77]

Apples and oranges. Different type of fans altogether. I expect after the film comes out there will be a bigger swell in membership. The true test is which ones stay and which are just riding the hype. Many long time members have fallen silent, either avoiding spoilers or turned off by what they have seen. For the longest time the replica forum was the most active. Undoubtedly replicars for Fury Road are going to be more difficult due to their shear size, engineering, and expense.

It is difficult to gauge how well it will do financially. We have been waiting for this for so long patience has been exhausted and some have given up. Regardless of how it does, fans will be quite polarized. Some will love it and embrace it as Mad Max cannon, while others will hate it and proclaim it unworthy much in the same way as ThunderDome. It may be the greatest film of the year and still not be the highest grossing film of the year. Success is in the eye of the beholder.

I think what is interesting is that you point out that Max tapped into a car culture that was present at the time. Perhaps that was a large part of its success. Also, as you alluded to, the new vehicles seem too "chop shop monster" to really be replicated for practical purposes. To take this discussion in a slightly different way, even if the car culture that was present in the late 70s was still around now, would these cars and this film pull in that audience?

I'm not saying it particularly matters either way but since we're trying to guess how the film might do it's worth thinking about.

[Chase Bansi]

The car culture today is much, much different and more diversified. 70s and 80s were all about hot rods and muscle cars. Today there is more variety. The muscle cars are now classics, and there are large followings for tuners, slammers and low riders, as well as a monster truck crowd.
Notice I have not mentioned motorcycles. That is something that has not changed. Motorcycles have always held appeal for the truly rebellious individuals. Even amongst gear heads bikers (or bikies) have an outlaw image. Today they ride a greater variety of machines but all have a dangerous mystique to them.
Miller seems to be including all types of vehicles so there is something for everyone (although we haven't seen the bikes yet). To me that is marketing genius. In this case it has the ability to draw ticket sales from young, new drivers to grisly veterans that love to mash the pedal to the medal. Not a traditional mass market, but surely it will attract action fans that live vicariously through films.
Blockbuster? Maybe not. But I'm willing to bet it will be a hit.

[Mad Max RW]

You're forgetting about the millions of people who love all things post apocalyptic. There are many many fans of games like Fallout who will be dying to see this movie when the previews drop. That series would never have existed without Mad Max.

[kickherintheguts]

Regardless of the change in car culture I'd reckon to say as long as MM4 is a good action movie with plot twists and turns and a good story it'll be a success. From what we've seen so far it looks like a road warrior re-imagining and this definitely looks good to me.

One thing I noticed during a recent rewatch of MM2 is that there's very little time when the movie slows to where nothing is going on, they just keep going back to the road--each time it was different and more exciting. I think it's important to note this new Max movie looks to be doing the very same thing.

[Chase Bansi]

... Apparently it's an old Mel Gibson movie that I haven't seen...

This is something I've run into a lot lately when I try to tell people about the new film. I'm astonished at the number of people who claim they've never even heard of Mad Max or The Road Warrior.
Compare that to Star Wars (or Star Trek even), where everyone knows it, and most can at least name a character or quote a line from it.
Mad Max is kinda like Doctor Who, either you know it and love it or never heard of it. There are not many on the middle ground.

[chrisjames61]

... Apparently it's an old Mel Gibson movie that I haven't seen...

This is something I've run into a lot lately when I try to tell people about the new film. I'm astonished at the number of people who claim they've never even heard of Mad Max or The Road Warrior.
Compare that to Star Wars (or Star Trek even), where everyone knows it, and most can at least name a character or quote a line from it.
Mad Max is kinda like Doctor Who, either you know it and love it or never heard of it. There are not many on the middle ground.

Yes, it was a niche film. Either you are a really big fan and have seen it numerous times and know every line. Or you turn the channel if you surf into it.....

[kickherintheguts]

This is something I've run into a lot lately when I try to tell people about the new film. I'm astonished at the number of people who claim they've never even heard of Mad Max or The Road Warrior.

Man, I just assumed most people have seen at least The Road Warrior. Shows how out of touch I truly am. I'm starting to worry about all this.

However, I kind of doubt this new Mad Max film will fare as bad as say, the remake of The Thing(abomination/total waste of time) or John Carter (what a colossal disaster but hey, it's a Disney film what do you expect?).

Now I'm thinking maybe Miller threw in the five hot chicks in a desperate attempt to attract the Fast and the Furious crowd. I got to stop thinking about this, I'm getting a headache.

[pauli77]

This is something I've run into a lot lately when I try to tell people about the new film. I'm astonished at the number of people who claim they've never even heard of Mad Max or The Road Warrior.

Man, I just assumed most people have seen at least The Road Warrior. Shows how out of touch I truly am. I'm starting to worry about all this.

However, I kind of doubt this new Mad Max film will fare as bad as say, the remake of The Thing(abomination/total waste of time) or John Carter (what a colossal disaster but hey, it's a Disney film what do you expect?).

Now I'm thinking maybe Miller threw in the five hot chicks in a desperate attempt to attract the Fast and the Furious crowd. I got to stop thinking about this, I'm getting a headache.

I'm 26 and I find very few people who have seen Mad Max around or under my age. So this film has to stand on its own, there's no doubt in my mind about that.

I think the notion of having hot chicks in a film to sell it went out with the explosion of the internet (if you get me ). See Suckerpunch for an example of that failing to work lol.

I think people forget that it's a difficult genre to sell. If you think of the nihilism of the original Mad Max, can you imagine trying to market that now? Hopeful films are easier to sell, that's always been a problem for post apocalyptic fiction. Having said that, Road Warrior had an heroic narrative and that sell much easier, and that seems to be the way they're going.

It will all depend on the tone of the film for me. A darker and more dangerous film, mixed with the heroism of Road Warrior, will work well I think.

Sadly I don't think we're going to get a mix of Mad Max 1 and The Road...think that would only appeal to me lol.

[DetritusMaximus]

Nihilism (as we know it) isn't relevant to the younger crowd. The idea of the world ending or the complete collapse of civilisation isn't hanging over their heads like it was for us older folks. If anything, they probably have more interest in the 70's dystopias like Soylent Green and Clockwork Orange, worlds that are disrupted, decaying and falling apart, not blown apart. The mixture of a soft nihilism and the supernatural is what seems to be all the rage. Vampires, werewolves, superheros, zombies/plaque (the best of the bunch I guess), elements of magic/sorcery etc. broaden the audience for an apocalyptic film, but take it out of the realm of the possible 'real'. Even the martial arts flicks are getting further into defying the laws of physics. There is less and less that is relatable to the real world as we know it, more and more comic book/fairytale stuff.
Maybe it comes down to the fact that for those under a certain age the future will just suck more than the present and for us there was no future. It kind of does things to your perception of the world.

[pauli77]

Nihilism (as we know it) isn't relevant to the younger crowd. The idea of the world ending or the complete collapse of civilisation isn't hanging over their heads like it was for us older folks. If anything, they probably have more interest in the 70's dystopias like Soylent Green and Clockwork Orange, worlds that are disrupted, decaying and falling apart, not blown apart. The mixture of a soft nihilism and the supernatural is what seems to be all the rage. Vampires, werewolves, superheros, zombies/plaque (the best of the bunch I guess), elements of magic/sorcery etc. broaden the audience for an apocalyptic film, but take it out of the realm of the possible 'real'. Even the martial arts flicks are getting further into defying the laws of physics. There is less and less that is relatable to the real world as we know it, more and more comic book/fairytale stuff.
Maybe it comes down to the fact that for those under a certain age the future will just suck more than the present and for us there was no future. It kind of does things to your perception of the world.

I'd agree with all of this tbh.

The Road is a good example of presenting as real a depiction of a dead/dying world and how people survive in it but clearly it was too bleak to attract a significant audience. However, it was, in my opinion, an excellent film adaptation of a very moving novel. My suspicion is that we are going to get Book Of Eli crossed with Death Race (2008) and I guess whether you think that's a good thing or not is dependant on what you thought of those movies. I personally hated Book Of Eli and found Death Race a fun but very dumb watch but both made money and The Road did not which backs up what you're saying.