Mad Max: Fury Road, the fourth film in Aussie director George Miller’s much-loved post-apocalyptic series, has been charging along in Namibia since July of this year. According to The Hollywood Reporter, production’s taken a minor detour and the film is now several days behind schedule:
And Warner Bros. is making sure the problem doesn’t escalate. Studio head Jeff Robinov flew to the Africa set a few weeks ago to evaluate the film, which sources say had fallen at least five days behind schedule.
And to chart a course correction, producer Denise di Novi has been dispatched to the set to supervise. Warner Bros., in confirming Di Novi’s involvement to The Hollywood Reporter, is calling her a “studio representative” who will serve as the eyes and ears of Warners as production continues.
A $100-125 million production shooting practical car stunts outdoors in a far-away African desert. With temperatures that threaten to reach 104 degrees F up to 300 days of the year. What could go wrong?
This should come as a surprise to no one. If you’re a fan of George Miller’s finished films, just know they regularly fall behind schedule and rise over-budget (Happy Feet 2‘s last minute race to release date is legendary). Fury Road seems par for the course for a visionary director who’s accustomed to fighting for what he wants. While troubling, I can’t imagine this news having any bearing on the finished film; especially if Warners already recognizes a problem and is working to stop the bleeding. I’m more concerned with Fury Road‘s status as a franchise revival that’s also a fourth entry in the series. History has proven it bad jujube indeed*.
Mad Max: Fury Road sees Tom Hardy inheriting the title role from Mel Gibson** and is, as of right now, still on track for a 2013 release.
*See, Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, Terminator: Salvation, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls, AVATAR IV
**(Potential Spoiler) Check out the final name on this cast list. Curious if this has been confirmed anywhere…
3 comments
LAND OF THE DEAD is arguably the rare film that escaped from the “franchise revival” curse IMO, and there are still plenty of zombie fans out in the world ready to lynch me for even saying that out loud.
I think you’re right. But even that film’s the weakest of the franchise. Unless we’re counting diary.
Is M:I — Ghost Protocol considered a franchise revival? Because that’s a fourth film that owned all of your asses.
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