10 Cancelled Movie Sequels (That Could Still Happen)
5. Mad Max: Fury Road 2
Cancellation
Yet another blockbuster that has a devoted fanbase despite not being a massive financial hit, 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road is an interesting case in that it won six Oscars, and was generally hailed as one of the finest action movies of all time.
Why would you not want to build upon that goodwill with a sequel?
Well, the answer is... legal issues. Even before Fury Road came out, director George Miller had discussed his plans for future instalments, and while he definitely does want to make them (he has two stories to tell: one about Max, and the other about Furiosa, Charlize Theron's Fury Road character), production on a sequel went dark due to a legal battle between Miller and Warner Bros.
Miller reportedly sued the studio over "unpaid earnings" from Fury Road, making it impossible for the two parties to collaborate on a new movie. At this stage, any further Mad Max instalments seemed pretty much doomed.
Why It's Not Dead
Fortunately though, there does seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel.
In summer 2019, Miller told IndieWire that the dust had mostly settled on his legal battle with the studio, and just a few weeks ago, we learned that the filmmaker had met with Anya Taylor-Joy about a role in the Furiosa project.
While it's not clear if Fury Road will ever get a direct sequel, it does seem like we'll get another Mad Max movie - whatever form that takes - in the future.