The Mad Max series always had strong box office returns. Fury Road was no exception. Audience responded well to the cinematic spectacle Miller cooked up for them; Fury Road took in an impressive $375 million in North America and overseas, making it one of the top 20 highest grossing movies of the year worldwide. Audiences enthusiasm for Fury Road went beyond buying tickets. Fury Roads user score on the review aggregator website Metacritic.com is an impressive 8.6, indicating universal acclaim. The audience score on Rottentomatoes.com is a similarly impressive 86%. IMDBs members gave the film an exceptional 8.2/10 rating. Out of this year's other Best Picture nominees only The Martian can match Fury Road in terms of box office receipts and audience reception, but The Martian told a more crowd-pleasing story. Fury Road offered audiences a nightmare journey through a post-apocalyptic hell and they ate it up. The fact that a movie with hardcore R-rated content like Fury Road managed to be a mega-hit speaks to how well it told its story. Fury Roads superlative reception from critics and audiences alike make it the number one contender in this years Best Picture race. The praise is too strong to ignore.