After five movies, the Mad Maxfranchise may take a trip to the glorious land of television.
A new video from Mad Max Bible alleges an HBO Max show will be the final franchise project for creator George Miller, and may in fact be the long-awaited third of his desired trilogy: The Wasteland, set a year before 2015’s Fury Road. Miller has been open about wanting to tell Max and Furiosa’s stories across three films, with the final one once again putting Tom Hardy in the role as brooding post-apocalyptic hero. Things seemed to hinge on the success of Furiosaback in 2024, and once it turned out a box-office disappointment, it seemed like it wouldn’t happen.
But according to this Bible episode, this supposed episodic series will have Nitram writer Shaun Grant wrap up the story Miller intended to tell. Bible further noted Miller’s attempted to bring The Wasteland to life multiple times since ’80s, first a show, then as a video game. Miller first mentioned the game in 2008, and it was to be a collaboration between him and God of War director Cory Barlog, who’d left Sony Santa Monica at that time. That game fell apart, and Barlog became a consultant for what would eventually become the Max game developed by Avalanche Software that released in 2015, and which Miller isn’t too fond of.
That Mad Max could go to TV isn’t too surprising to hear: Warner Bros. already has shows for Duneand It, and one for The Conjuring in the works. The post-apocalypse is one sci-fi genre it doesn’t have a show for, and a decent-sized name like Max’s would draw in some viewers. If it’s actually happening, we’ll likely learn more about it in the months (or years) to come.
While it wasn’t able to exactly light the box office on fire, George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road prequel Furiosa has lately gathered some considerable adulation among film fans.
The Anya Taylor-Joy starrer is going to be available on streaming on August 16, streaming service Max announced. The post-apocalyptic spectacle was theatrically released in May and opened to strong reviews, but failed to gather steam commercially over time and settled for a relatively small worldwide gross of $172 million, barely exceeding its reported budget of $168 million.
The commercial underperformance has thwarted Miller’s plans of extending the franchise, most notably with the project titled Mad Max: Wasteland, which was expected to continue the story of the movie series’ protagonist, Max Rockatansky. Miller had expressed his desire to tell “other stories” from the Mad Max universe at Cannes, but Tom Hardy, who played the gritty and pessimistic titular character in Fury Road, is not that confident about the franchise’s future.
Furiosa follows Taylor-Joy’s character as she wades through several hardships to eventually rise to the position of The Imperator, an important lieutenant in Immortan Joe’s (Lachy Hulme) army. She is initially taken away from the Green Place of Many Mothers by the tyrannical warlord leader Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), and how she frees herself from his clutches on the back of her sheer willpower and combat skills forms the crux of the story.
The film also stars Tom Burke in his breakthrough role as Praetorian Jack, with John Howard, Angus Sampson, Nathan Jones, and Josh Helman returning to reprise their characters from Fury Road. Hugh Keays-Byrne’s unfortunate death led to the character of Immortan Joe being recast, with Lachy Hulme taking up the mantle. Australian actress Charlee Fraser, who had a meaty role in Sydney Sweeney-Glen Powell romantic comedy Anyone But You, plays Furiosa’s mother, Mary Jabassa.
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It’s another bummer of a weekend at the summer of box office, where overall domestic revenue looks to be down 69 percent — no, not a typo — from a year ago as Hollywood and theater owners continue to grapple with a lack of big event pics. And year-to-date revenue is now down 24 percent […]
These fabulous things are here to podcast historic! Mal and Jo rev their engines to give you their reactions to Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (30:07). But before that, they assess their hype at an all-time high with some light prep for The Acolyte, premiering next week (05:22).
Be sure to check out tickets for the Ringer Residency in Los Angeles this summer!
Hosts: Mallory Rubin and Joanna Robinson Senior Producer: Steve Ahlman Additional Production: Arjuna Ramgopal Social: Jomi Adeniran
Everyone knows the magic of George Miller is his practical effects. The Max Max filmmaker loves to do actual stunts and capture them in-camera, and the results are masterful. But what maybe not everyone knows is that Miller’s films, in particular Mad Max: Fury Road and the new Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, have a ton of visual effects. Like, a lot.More than you can possibly imagine. He just doesn’t use them only in obvious ways.
Spoilers of the Week: August 12th
“In Fury Road, in [Furiosa], there are hardly any shots that haven’t been manipulated digitally,” Miller told io9. “For instance, changing the sky. When Steven Spielberg shot Jaws, the sea was changing all the time. If you look at that film one moment it’s choppy, one moment it’s flat. You don’t need to do that anymore.”
So basically every shot in both Fury Road and Furiosa has some kind of digital changes to it. But, for the most part, it’s subtle stuff. The Furiosa scene Miller pointed to was “The Stowaway,” one of the film’s middle chapters and also its longest, most sprawling action sequence. In it, Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) tries to escape the Citadel but instead finds herself in an epic battle versus a group of Wasteland pirates.
“When you’re doing extended sequences like ‘The Stowaway’ sequence, that was shot over 78 days. It’s a 15-minute sequence but the skies are consistent,” Miller said. “So we took what we thought was a good sky and we can reproduce that sky right through the story. So some shots have the real sky because the real sky looked really good. But in the next shot, it might have been where it was a completely different sky so we were able to match that. You can do that.”
The film clearly has other digital effects too but Miller is mostly a fan of the ones that are invisible and keep everything smooth and cohesive. It’s a huge game-changer. “If you were shooting Jaws again today, the sea would be consistent,” He said. “Even meticulous filmmakers, guys like David Lean when they shot Lawrence of Arabia—obsessively, meticulous with their camera and lighting and so on—you can see where they shot different times of day and so on. You can avoid it now to some degree. It’s a much smoother experience.”
‘It’s Visual Music’ Director George Miller on His Filmmaking Style
‘It’s Visual Music’ Director George Miller on His Filmmaking Style
Visually, Furiosa might be a smooth experience but the experience overall is anything but, in the best possible way. It’s now in theaters.
Nearly 10 years ago, George Miller brought the Mad Max franchise blasting back to relevance with Fury Road. The film wasn’t just well-liked, it was basically a game changer for plenty of moviegoers and delivered them something they’d never really seen at the time. And of the many things to love about Fury Road, people fell greatly in love with Charlize Theron’s Imperator Furiosa, who is more of the film’s true protagonist than Tom Hardy’s Max.
Spoilers of the Week: August 12th
When Miller revealed he was following up Fury Road with a prequel focused on Furiosa, eyebrows were definitely raised, particularly when Anya Taylor-Joy was cast as a young version of the character. Then we got to see Furiosa’s first trailer, and it instantly became clear Miller was about to cook yet again. Now that it’s out, people have gotten to experience what’s been said in the weeks since its premiere at Cannes: Furiosa: A Mad Max Sagais the real deal, and a more than welcome return to mad, mad car-heavy wasteland.
While not quite the revelation that Fury Road was, or at least not in the same way, critics and audiences have been fairly high on Furiosa. Amid criticisms of the pacing and visuals, those who like it really like it, particularly its cast and 15-year scope that makes it feel like the post-apocalyptic epic it’s been marketed as. With the summer movie season in full swing, this film will probably end up as the highlight for many once all is said and done.
If you saw Furiosa, let us know what you thought about it. Did it live up to whatever expectations you had, and wht do you want out of Miller and Mad Max next? Tell us in the comments below.
The newly released Furiosahas the world blazing with Mad Max fever. Some are celebrating the occasion by rewatching 2015’s Fury Road, if not all four movies. Others are thinking about what could’ve been, particularly as it pertains to the 2015 Mad Max game from Just Cause creator Avalanche Studios.
Spoilers of the Week: August 12th
During a recent interview with Gaming Bible at Cannes, franchise director George Miller talked about the game, which he isn’t too hot on. He was candid in calling it “not as good as I wanted it to be.” To him, it failed because the team had to “give all our material” to Avalanche instead of being involved directly, and “I’m one of those people that i’d rather not do something unless you can do it at the highest level, or at least try to make it at the highest level.”
If he had his way, another Mad Max game would happen, but one with Hideo Kojima at the helm. The Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding creator has openly been a fan of Fury Road since it came out, and Miller called him the perfect guy to take on that endeavor. “I’ve just been speaking to him,” the director added. “[But] he’s got so much fantastic stuff in his own head that I would never ask him.” (Kojima, for what it’s worth, saw Furiosa at Cannes and called it a “masterpiece.”)
Avalanche’s Mad Max game launched months after the release of Fury Road, and is in fact set in between that and Beyond Thunderdome. The game got solid reviews when it launched, but the big thing that did it in was releasing on September 1, 2015… aka, the same day as Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. When two fairly big games go up against one another on the same day, there’s typically a loser, and in this case, it was ol’ Max Rockatansky.
Here’s where things get a little murky, though: putting Mad Max out on that date was apparently out of Avalanche’s hands. Christofer Sundberg, who co-founded the studio in 2003, revealed on X that Warner Bros. wouldn’t budge when he suggested the game shift from its September 1 release. As a result, “they blamed us for the bad sales and cancelled a bunch of awesome DLC that was just sitting there waiting to be released.” To this day, he admits that he doesn’t know why WB was so adamant about it.
Sundberg also took Miller’s thoughts on his game to task, alleging that WB tried to force Mad Max into a linear game when Avalanche’s bread and butter is big, open-world titles. A year into development, the studio was told to convert it into a non-linear game, and he chalked up Miller’s comments to “complete nonsense and [it] just shows complete arrogance. […] Mad Max was a hell of a great game, the potential was missed due to political nonsense.” And if Kojima did try a stab at making a Max game, he thinks it’d be a “completely different experience.”
In the years since its release, Mad Max has been looked back on fondly and achieved a bit of cult classic status. To date, it’s playable on both PC and consoles via backwards compatibility. Maybe with the franchise being the hot topic of the weekend, the game will see a little more love over the next few days.
Furiosa has landed! The latest installment in the Mad Max series revisits some unforgettable characters, like Immortan Joe’s sons: Scabrous Scrotus, Corpus Colossus, and Rictus Erectus. Those are their actual names! Isn’t Mad Max great?
So who are these fine young fellows? Let’s focus on the youngest of Immortan Joe’s adult sons, Rictus Erectus (Nathan Jones).
Warning: this article contains spoilers for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is a prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road, focusing on the abduction and early years of Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy). As Furiosa grows up in the Wasteland, she’s buffeted between the feuding warlords Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme) and Dementus (Chris Hemsworth).
Rictus Erectus is identifiable in Furiosa and Mad Max: Fury Road by his imposing height and shaved head. He’s also the least smart of Joe’s sons. In Fury Road, his main duty is chasing down Furiosa and Joe’s stolen war rig in order to get his father’s wives back. One of those wives is pregnant, and Rictus is devastated when, dying, she delivers a stillborn baby boy.
Rictus Erectus isn’t a nice guy in Fury Road. In Furiosa, though, he reveals a newer, more revolting side of his character.
In Furiosa, Furiosa is taken to Immortan Joe’s citadel as a child, where she lives at first among Joe’s wives. Furiosa doesn’t even have time to worry about the day when Joe himself will inevitably start using her as a breeder. Rictus takes a liking to her first. Knowing he’s going to come after her, Furiosa shaves her head and turns her hair into a wig. When Rictus takes her and starts to play with the bells in her hair, she uses the wig to slip out of his grasp and run away. From then on, she disguises herself as a mute boy, and grows up as a mechanic in Joe’s empire.
As for Rictus? He eventually gets his comeuppance in Fury Road, going out in a blaze of glory, when Furiosa (Charlize Theron), Max (Tom Hardy), and the war boy Nux (Nicholas Hoult) defeat Joe’s forces once and for all.
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And while there’s nothing wildly surprising in the film, especially since we know what happens immediately after, we do love the ending a lot and figured you might want to dive into it a bit after seeing the film. Major spoilers follow.
All of Furiosa leads up to the character (Anya Taylor-Joy) finally getting face to face with Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), the maniacal warlord primarily responsible for ruining her life by kidnapping her and killing her mother. The showdown happens, Furiosa is victorious, but we then see multiple versions of the exact conclusion. It’s Miller’s wink at legend and storytelling. An acknowledgment that what’s real and what’s told are not always the same, especially in mythology.
What’s fascinating here is that the legends of how Furiosa defeated Dementus are way less exciting than the truth. What Furiosa actually did to Dementus wasn’t simple and straightforward. It was brutal. It was, in fact, epic, and proves that her legend is merely a fraction of her reality. She’s a mythical creature but in real life, she’s even better.
So what happens? Well, all throughout the movie, we see that Furiosa carries a seed with her. It’s a seed given to her by her mother as a reminder of her home. It’s her most prized possession because it’s not only from her home, it also represents the possibility of renewal.
The seed doesn’t factor into the final fight but it becomes crucial right after. Instead of just killing Dementus, we see that Furiosa somehow figures out a way to use his body as the soil to give life to the seed. He becomes part of its roots, forever stuck in agony, as the seed slowly sucks the life out of him and transforms into a beautiful fruit tree. Basically, Dementus becomes the basis for Furiosa’s rebirth. It’s an inexplicable, but brutal and fascinating fate for Hemsworth’s character. One ripe—pun intended—with meaning.
Furiosa then picks a piece of fruit, brings it to Immortal Joe’s wives, and leads them to a War Rig where, in Mad Max: Fury Road, we’ll see them attempt to escape. The film goes right up until to the next movie. Then, in the end credits, it even shows a little Fury Road highlight reel just as a reminder.
So Furiosa ends with the character becoming a Wasteland legend and linking up perfectly with the next film. In terms of endings, it doesn’t get much better than that.
What did you think of Furiosa’s ending? Did you see it a different way? Let us know below.
Hosts: Charles Holmes, Van Lathan, Jomi Adeniran, and Steve Ahlman Senior Producer: Steve Ahlman Additional Production Support: Arjuna Ramgopal Social: Jomi Adeniran
Furiosa: A Mad Max Sagais finally out! But after you stagger out of the theater, you may be jonesing for some more post-apocalyptic mayhem. Luckily, the film industry has provided it in abundance!
Here are ten movies that are similar to Furiosa. Some are obvious—they take place in deserts or feature highway battles—but others have more subtle commonalities with George Miller’s unhinged vision of the future. I’ve ranked them in a rough order of how closely they resemble Furiosa. Enjoy!
1. All the other Mad Max movies (1979-2015)
(Warner Bros.)
I’m getting this one out of the way first. If you haven’t seen Mad Max: Fury Road yet, then what are you doing with your life? Watch that one first, and then get ye to the Thunderdome to watch the original Mad Max trilogy.
2. Death Race 2000 (1975)
(New World Pictures)
I’m not talking about the Death Race franchise that started in 2008. Screw those movies. For the real Death Race experience, you have to go back to 1975’s Death Race 2000. If at all possible, watch it without knowing anything about the plot (but maybe ask a friend to give you a trigger warning). I was lucky enough to do so, and I had to pick my jaw up off the floor once the race got going. So worth it.
3. Tank Girl (1995)
(Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios)
The last time I saw Tank Girl was about 25 years ago, so I have no idea how it holds up. Apparently critics hated it, but as a product of the ’90s alternative comics scene, I remember it fondly. Lori Petty plays the titular Tank Girl, who drives a tank in a post-apocalyptic desert wasteland. Malcolm McDowell is the villain!
4. Waterworld (1995)
(Universal Pictures)
So I’m not going to sit here and claim that Waterworld is a good movie. It is not, in fact, a good movie. But sometimes you just want to live out your weird and unhealthy post-apocalyptic fantasies in a safe, nonjudgmental space! Anyway, the polar ice caps have melted, the world is now a waterworld, and Kevin Costner has gills.
5. Six-String Samurai (1998)
(Palm Pictures)
In Six-String Samurai, a guy who thinks he’s Buddy Holly roams the post-apocalyptic wasteland around a radioactive Las Vegas, fighting bad guys with a guitar and a sword. Whatever mental image you just formed of this movie is probably accurate.
6. The Road (2009)
(Dimension Films)
In The Road, Viggo Mortensen plays a dad trying to get his son to the ocean in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. You’ve probably noticed by now that post-apocalyptic wastelands are a recurring theme in this list.
7. Snowpiercer (2013)
(The Weinstein Company)
Who’s up for a post-apocalyptic wasteland? Except this time, it’s ice! Nothing but snow and ice! Thanks to a boneheaded attempt to stop global warming, all of humanity is now trapped aboard a brutal, fascist train that traverses a landscape too cold to survive in. Snowpiercer rocks.
8. The Book of Eli (2010)
(Warner Bros.)
In The Book of Eli, Denzel Washington plays a lone wolf roaming a post-apocalyptic wasteland. But he’s carrying something really important with him! Like Waterworld, this movie isn’t great, but sometimes you just want the vibes.
9. 12 Monkeys (1995)
(Universal Pictures)
12 Monkeys is a science fiction masterpiece, and although on the surface it seems very different from Furiosa, the two movies have some common elements: a brutal future, a repressive oligarchy, and a shattered soul just trying to survive. It’s so good.
10. The Northman (2022)
(Focus Features)
Look, I know The Northman is a stretch, but it popped up on a list of film recommendations that also included Mad Max, and you know what? I can see it. The Northman is a retelling of the original Hamlet story that takes place in the Viking Age, and it has all the elements that make Furiosa so great: a tough-as-nails protagonist hellbent on revenge, a violent and unforgiving world, and a layer of mythology that gives the plot some weight. No, there are no war rigs or brainwashed kids spraying silver paint in their mouths, but there are Viking raiders and Valhalla references.
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If there’s any movie/film franchise that’s more relevant to the moment, it’s Mad Max. Or, in this case, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Released almost exactly nine years after Mad Max: Fury Road, Furiosa serves as a prequel to the events in that film, detailing how its heroine (or anti-heroine, if you prefer) came to be in her current situation, searching endlessly for redemption. Even if most other people’s concern in The Wasteland is mere survival. As a History Man narrates, that’s all a person is reduced to when there’s nothing left and the social contract has been irrevocably broken. And yes, the usual soundbites commence the movie, giving viewers the indication that civilization collapsed due to, among other causes that are completely believable (especially at this juncture), war (both “general” and nuclear), ecocide and oil shortages.
Returning to New South Wales for filming (whereas Fury Road’s backdrop came courtesy of Namibia), just as it was for 1981’s Mad Max 2, director and Mad Max co-creator (along with Byron Kennedy, RIP) George Miller opens the Furiosa story with an overhead shot of a barely detectable green strip of land in the midst of an otherwise barren landscape. This, of course, is The Green Place that The Five Wives of Immortan Joe (Hugh Keays-Byrne) speak of so hopefully in Fury Road. When Max (Tom Hardy) asks Furiosa, “How do you know this place even exists?” she solemnly replies, “I was born there.” Max then rightly asks, “So why’d you leave?” It is in this next piece of dialogue that the premise for the prequel is set up as Furiosa states, “I didn’t. I was taken as a child. Stolen.”
So it is that we see how she was stolen and who stole her: a gaggle of goons from a gang known as the Horde of the Biker Warlord Dementus. Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) initially seems like a man who is more or at least as powerful as Immortan Joe, for the goons that happen upon The Green Place and snatch Furiosa (after we see her snatching a peach from a tree—in a moment that has decided “Eve in the Garden of Eden” overtones) are extremely eager to please him with this discovery. Not just of a geographical location that possesses “copious bounty,” but of a young girl who isn’t riddled with health issues from malnourishment. Furiosa (played at this age by Alyla Browne) endures the kidnapping with the aplomb and cool-headedness we’re used to seeing her with as an adult, trained from an early age, it appears, to expect such a scenario, even if she was sheltered by the idyllic cushion of The Green Place. Besides, she knows her mother, Mary Jo Bassa (Charlee Fraser), is quietly and doggedly pursuing her, picking off the members of Dementus’ gang that have stolen her until only one remains. That one, unfortunately, manages to get back to the “base camp” and tell Dementus about this place of “abundance” as Furiosa is paraded as being a product of that environment.
Hanging back to watch and wait from afar, Mary Jo knows that Furiosa will never give up the secret of where The Green Place is. She’s been conditioned far too well for that, knowing that to trust anyone outside of The Green Place, let alone this pack of war-mongering men, is the last thing that would be beneficial to her. No, instead, she bides her time, waiting for the moment when Mary Jo will appear to rescue her. When she does, Mary Jo makes the mistake of believing a misogynistic woman when she tells her she won’t tell a soul that Mary Jo has reclaimed Furiosa. Two seconds later, the woman is doing just that, alerting the proverbial media to Mary Jo and Furiosa’s escape, giving Dementus and his gang plenty of notice to catch up to them—which of course they do. Although Mary Jo tries to give Furiosa a fighting chance by telling her to take the motorbike and go off on her own to get back home, she can’t bring herself to leave her mother behind. Especially after she hears shots fired in the distance. Though her mother was the one shooting the gun, she ends up being captured and mounted, Jesus-style, to a tree, with Dementus burning her feet like she’s a witch.
When Dementus sees that Furiosa has come back to watch the “fun,” he promises her that he’ll let her mother live if she tells him where the place of abundance is. Furiosa says nothing (also likely aware that Dementus isn’t exactly the “man of his word” type and would probably kill Mary Jo regardless of her giving him the location of The Green Place). Forced, instead, to watch her mother’s torturous death. In the days that follow, Dementus’ History Man (George Shevtsov) advises Furiosa to make herself invaluable to Dementus rather than playing the sullen, bereaved part she’s fallen into. But Furiosa knows that by sheer virtue of not being a mutant, she’s less likely to be fucked with. And it’s true, Dementus sees her as something of a “special creature.” One he seems “affectionate” toward (or as affectionate as someone like him can be). If for no other reason than because he does know she’s liable to be “useful” to him somewhere down the line. And in a post-apocalyptic world, being useful is the name of the game more than ever.
As Furiosa, who has remained in a mute state ever since being captured, watches Dementus in diabolical, erratic action, she appears to be processing all the information she can glean in order to know how to proceed next. Calculating what the best move will be (like Elizabeth Harmon in The Queen’s Gambit—another Anya Taylor-Joy project). At one point in their odyssey, Dementus and his gang see red smoke shot in the sky by a flare gun. They approach the source to find one of Immortan Joe’s War Boys prattling on about The Citadel. When he speaks of it as a place with everything one could need, Dementus presumes it to be The Green Place that Furiosa hailed from. Thus, he gets the War Boy to take them to The Citadel, where he rolls in with big dick-swinging energy, assuming he can just take over the place by telling the maltreated masses that they have a choice—that they don’t have to follow an abusive leader and can choose him instead. He who insists he’ll give them as much food and water as they want. It’s a scene that feels familiar in terms of how political leaders bulldoze their way into power with promises of being “better” or “different” from a previous “ruler,” only to end up being more or equally cruel and incompetent.
But Dementus was very much overestimating his clout when he arbitrarily showed up on Immortan Joe’s turf, with The Citadel being the only so-called port in the storm of The Wasteland besides Gastown and The Bullet Farm. As such, there’s no way Immortan Joe would ever let it go—especially with so many War Boys willing to die in a fight to defend his reign over it (in many ways, they’re like Islamic extremist suicide bombers).
Taken aback by the counter-ambush against him and his crew, Dementus is totally unprepared when most of his gang is killed off. Unwilling to accept a powerless state, however, Dementus gathers a new gang of men together and hatches a plan to take over Gastown as leverage to negotiate with Immortan Joe for more rations. Allowed into The Citadel for these negotiations, Immortan Joe catches sight of Furiosa in the background of Dementus’ crew, demanding that she becomes part of their trade deal. So it is that Furiosa’s path is detached from Dementus’ (at least for a while). But that hardly means she’s free of nefarious men who are obsessed with her.
After being placed in Immortan Joe’s “special area” for wives, one of his sons, Rictus (Nathan Jones), becomes fascinated with her in a way that pretty much screams “pedophile.” As though anticipating a scuffle with him or some other creep that might try to do something to her, Furiosa shaves her head but refashions the hair back on it as a wig, of sorts. This way, when Rictus ends up pulling on her hair after demanding to know what the tattooed constellation on her arm means (it’s a map back to The Green Place), the whole thing comes right off and she’s able to run like hell into the night. As far as Rictus can tell once he manages to catch up to the place he saw her escape, Furiosa has “disappeared.” In reality, she’s merely clinging perilously to the bottom of a platform until she can scurry back up again when no one is around (granted, Miller never deals with actually showing how she managed to fully escape undetected).
A number of years pass (as the “wig” that has fallen on an ever-changing tree branch indicates) until Furiosa grows into a young woman (allowing Anya Taylor-Joy her time to shine). Only she’s posing as a War Boy so that she can not only learn how to tinker with and build one of the War Rigs, but as a means to plan her escape from The Citadel. Taking notice of the main commander of the War Boys, Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke, in his most commercial role yet since Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir), Furiosa clocks him as the one to watch. Or watch out for. After all, he’s clearly the sharpest tool in the shed, therefore the person most likely to catch on to her scheme. Which is to conceal a motorcycle and enough rations for her journey back to The Green Place on the War Rig for the next ride to Gastown. On the way, the rig is attacked (in the manner and style viewers grew accustomed to seeing nonstop throughout Fury Road) by Dementus’ band of followers, who manage to exterminate all the War Boys tasked with defending the rig. Jack and Furiosa, as the only survivors, are left to kill the remaining gang members. In the midst of the brutal battle, Furiosa’s true gender is revealed to Jack.
Despite how well the two have worked together to overcome the enemy, Furiosa still aims a gun at Jack and tells him to pull over. Alas, her gun is empty and Jack tosses her out of the vehicle. Left in the middle of nowhere (which is the crux of what The Wasteland is except for The Citadel), Furiosa resigns herself to walking. Just as she does, Jack returns to invite her to join him in rebuilding his battalion. This, of course, is a running theme throughout the Mad Max universe: rebuilding again and again, even though civilization—life—itself has broken down entirely. With that in mind, there comes a point when Dementus name-checks Darwin, and how showing weakness isn’t an option in a non-society such as this. Although the Darwinism element was always implied in the Mad Max movies, it’s never been so explicitly called out.
And yet, even in the face of survival being the sole concern—for there is little time to occupy one’s mind with anything else—Furiosa can’t help finding love in a hopeless place. For it’s apparent that her dynamic with Jack is one ever-shifting toward a romantic rather than platonic love (the latter variety seeming to be what she has with Max in Fury Road). With this part of Furiosa’s backstory offered up by Miller, it becomes mildly heartening to know that, no matter how bad or apocalyptic life gets, this innate human craving can’t be stamped out any more than the innate need to survive. Alas, it becomes immediately disheartening to know that anyone who finds out about such love—such hope—in a hopeless place will become enraged by another person having it as a result of their own jealousy. Their own desire to keep watching the world burn. Dementus is just one such exemplar of that asshole trope.
And so, when he catches and captures Jack and Furiosa in their bid to escape together back to The Green Place, he tells them that they “break his heart” for being foolish enough to have such hope. It is his job, he feels, to remind them that “there is no hope” in this world. That hate is what drives everything in conditions such as these. Thus, Dementus orders Jack’s slow, cruel murder while Furiosa is bound to the back of a rig, unable to do anything to prevent losing the only man she’ll ever love (like that). Dementus obviously has no idea who he’s dealing with though, and that he’s only fueling the flames of her burning for revenge.
In the final act, when she finally gets him alone and defenseless, Furiosa screams at Dementus to give her mother back, to give her childhood back (cue Taylor Swift singing, “Give me back my girlhood/It was mine first”). Dementus is unmoved, saying that his own family and childhood were ripped from him as well (this is where a shrink would spout that “hurt people hurt people”). He also goads her attempt at finding “peace” or “redemption” by killing him, reminding her that even after he’s dead, it still won’t bring Jack or her mother back. He tells her she’ll never find peace, and that the two of them are the same: dead already. Ghosts haunting The Wasteland in search of more and more pain just so they can feel something. Could that be, in the end, why Furiosa succumbed to the emotional dangers of falling in love? Knowing full well that it could only conclude in tragedy. That it was endlessly naive to imagine returning to The Green Place at all, let alone with Jack.
If that’s the case, and an inherent sense of masochism was the reason Furiosa allowed herself to become vulnerable enough to love someone, well, then at least viewers can take comfort in knowing that our post-apocalyptic selves aren’t so different from our apocalyptic ones.
Warner Bros. is keeping details under wraps, but here’s what we know about this character so far!
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is a prequel to 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road, exploring the early years of the titular Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy). Opening with Furiosa’s abduction from her childhood home, the Green Place of Many Mothers, Furiosa is a post-apocalyptic odyssey in which Furiosa grows up in the Wasteland and tries to make her way home.
The two trailers for the film show Furiosa’s struggles against Dementus and the fearsome warlord Immortan Joe (Lachy Hulme), with an abundance of motorcycle chases and explosions. They also include a couple of brief and intriguing shots of a character with his forehead painted black. In one shot, he and Furiosa sit with their foreheads touching. In another, Furiosa startles awake from a dream, and he calmly grabs the weapon in her hand.
This character is Praetorian Jack, and it’s clear from the forehead-touching scene that he and Furiosa are close.
We don’t know much about Praetorian Jack yet. However, Burke has opened up about him in interviews with various news outlets. As Immortan Joe’s war rig driver, Jack takes the young Furiosa under his wing, teaching her the skills that she’ll eventually use when she works as Joe’s Imperator in Mad Max: Fury Road.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Praetorian Jack is a “noble” and “heroic” character. Burke shares that he and director George Miller came up with a backstory for Jack. “George’s idea, which is alluded to in the script, is that Jack is very much from a military family,” Burke says, “and that they perhaps knew Immortan Joe before he was the Immortan Joe, and that there was a journey to the Citadel and a certain idea of what that life might be that was very different from what it turned out to be.”
So what is Jack’s connection with Furiosa? Are they mentor and mentee, or is there perhaps more going on? Audiences don’t have to wait long to find out. Furiosa hits theaters on May 24.
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Mad Max: Fury Roadwas a revelation when it released in 2015, and a lot of that can be owed to Charlize Theron’s Furiosa. Even with Max Rocktansky getting top billing, it’s more her movie than his, and we’ree now primed to get an origin story with the upcoming Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.
Spoilers of the Week | June 3rd
“Saga” is an apt word, it seems. In Empire Magazine’s new write-up on the prequel, the outlet reveals we’ll watch Furiosa—played here by Anya Taylor-Joy—throughout 15 years of her life. “The story is the saga of Furiosa,” explained director/co-writer George Miller, “and how she gets taken from home, and spends the rest of her life trying to get back. ”
In that first trailer, which calls the film Furiosa’s “odyssey” of finding her way back, you get a sense of how much time will be covered. Not only do we see Furiosa as a young child and a young woman donning her black forehead paint for the first time, she also has both of her arms. That trailer ends on the sight of the Furiosa will come to know, prosthetic included, and it’ll be interesting to see how she gets to be an eventual enforcer for Immortan Joe. And while it may be a prequel, Miller has no intent of coasting on the almost 10-year goodwill of that previous movie. “It’s a different animal,” he said. “It’s an odyssey. No question.”
15 years is a long time—Fury Road, for comparison,took place over a couple of days—and as a result, Miller teased we’ll be seeing “many different locations.” Since this is meant to lead directly into its predecessor, he was asked if this meant there’d be a cameo from Tom Hardy’s Max at any point in the film. To that, all he said was the Road Warrior was “lurking in the background. I won’t give away too much about that.”
2023 was a great year for movies, but we’ve spent enough time talking about 2023. We’re done with her. It’s time to think about 2024 and all the new movies we can’t wait to see.
The new year is an opportunity to wipe the slate clean. For cinephiles, it’s a brief period of optimism; a chance to really mean it when we say we’ll keep up with new movie releases. And I do mean it, just like I mean it every year. Following the WGA and SAG strikes of 2023, the trades are predicting fewer new movie releases, which may very well be true. But there are still plenty of new movies hitting theaters this year for us to get worked up over—even if the year looks a little front-loaded at the moment.
Mean Girls (January 12)
(Paramount)
Despite not being marketed as such, Mean Girls is indeed a musical. Based on the Broadway production, which in turn is based on the 2003 comedy (which was based on a book!), Mean Girls features Renee Rapp reprising her stage role as Regina George alongside returning star and screenwriter Tina Fey. The new ensemble also includes Angourie Rice, Avantika Vandanapu, Bebe Wood, and Ashley Park. –Britt Hayes
The Book of Clarence (January 12)
(Sony Pictures Releasing)
LaKeith Stanfield actually has two movies hitting theaters on January 12: action-thriller The Beekeeper, co-starring Jason Statham, and The Book of Clarence. We’re a little more stoked for the latter, a biblical-era dramedy and the second film from Jeymes Samuel (a.k.a. British singer-songwriter The Bullitts). Stanfield plays the titular role, a man struggling to make ends meet for his family when he decides to follow in Jesus’ footsteps—at first as a scheme, but we know how these things turn out. –BH
The Kitchen (January 19)
(Netflix)
We all want to know what a Barney movie directed by Daniel Kaluuya will look like, and The Kitchen might give us something of an idea. Kaluuya makes his feature directing debut alongside Kibwe Tavares with this dystopian sci-fi set in a version of London where social housing is eliminated. Starring Jedaiah Bannerman, Kano, and Hope Ikpoku, The Kitchen looks like a real conversation starter. –BH
Miller’s Girl (January 26)
(Lionsgate)
Another one sure to get people talking is Miller’s Girl, an indie thriller that evokes the erotic thrillers and dramas of the ‘90s. Jenna Ortega stars as a college student who becomes intimately involved with her professor (Martin Freeman) during a creative writing assignment. After last year’s Fair Play, we’re eager to see another movie that navigates the complexities of gendered power dynamics. This one comes to us from first-time feature filmmaker Jade Bartlett, and gives Ortega a chance to explore her range. –BH
Argylle (February 2)
(Universal Pictures)
What is Argylle? No one knows. We’ve seen trailers for it. Maybe. We know it stars Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, John Cena, Samuel L. Jackson, and Dua Lipa. And also there’s a cat? Matthew Vaughn’s latest is, according the synopsis, about a novelist (Howard) whose books about a dashing spy (Cavill) begin resembling the actual doings of a real spy organization. It sounds a little like Le Magnifique, the wacky 1973 French film starring Jean-Paul Belmondo. –BH
Lisa Frankenstein (February 9)
(Focus Features)
It’s written by Diablo Cody. It’s the feature directorial debut of Zelda Williams (daughter of the late Robin). It stars Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse. It’s a Frankenstein riff set in the ‘80s. It’s called LISA FRANKENSTEIN for crying out loud. What more could you possibly need here? –BH
Madame Web (February 14)
(Sony Pictures)
We’ll finally get to see what happened when he was in the Amazon with her mom when she was researching spiders, right before she died! Madame Web is Sony’s latest attempt to expand its Spider-Man universe, this time with actual Spidey-people instead of villains and antiheroes people may or may not care about. (That said, I am so down for Venom 3 and the return of The Brock Report.) Starring Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, and Isabela Merced, Madame Web is a Valentine’s Day movie, apparently, because girls? –BH
Drive-Away Dolls (February 23)
(Focus Features)
The first solo effort from Ethan Coen (of the Coen Brothers), Drive-Away Dollsis an exciting film for a number of reasons. One, we’re getting Pedro Pascal in a Coen movie, but we’re also seeing a female-centric story from the filmmaker. Centered on Jamie (Margaret Qualley) as she goes through a break-up and her friend Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan), who’s helping her through it, the trailers make Drive-Away Dolls look like a return to the Coen antics we’ve come to love over the years. Getting to see Ethan Coen shine on his own (as Joel Coen has already done) is exciting! –Rachel Leishman
Dune: Part Two (March 1)
(Warner Bros.)
While I was tempted to mount a Jan. 6 on Warner Bros. to liberate Dune: Part Two from the vault (no jury would convict me), I’m glad I decided to remain a free woman so that I can see Denis Villeneuve’s epic sequel in a movie the-a-ter. Timothée Chalamet, fresh off Wonka, returns as ostensible chosen one Paul Atreides, leading the Fremen (including love interest Chani, played by Zendaya) in a revolt against the corrupt forces of the galaxy. –BH
Love Lies Bleeding (March 8)
(A24)
Rose Glass’ follow-up to the haunting Saint Maud is Love Lies Bleeding, a romantic thriller starring Kristen Stewart as Lou, a gym owner who gets it bad for bodybuilder Jackie (Katy M. O’Brian). Come for the lesbian crime thriller that’s giving off Bound vibes, stay for scary Ed Harris with a skullet. –BH
Imaginary (March 8)
(Lionsgate)
Last January, Blumhouse introduced us to M3GAN, who briefly became the Mariah Carey of horror. This year, Blumhouse seems to be hitting the same sweet spot (or trying to) with Imaginary. DeWanda Wise plays a woman who returns to her childhood home to discover that her imaginary friend is so pissed at her for moving away and growing up that it possesses the body of a teddy bear to get revenge. Sounds wild, let’s go. –BH
The American Society of Magical Negroes (March 22)
(Focus Features)
Actor and comedian Kobi Libii makes his directing debut with The American Society of Magical Negroes, which imagines a world in which the tired racist trope is crucial to the functioning of society. Justice Smith stars as a young man recruited by the eponymous society, comprised of Black people with magical abilities, each assigned to help a white person navigate life. Co-starring David Alan Grier, Aisha Hinds, Rupert Friend, and Nicole Byer, The American Society of Magical Negroes looks hilarious and maybe a little sweet, too? –BH
Mickey 17 (March 29)
(Warner Bros.)
Three years after sweeping the Oscars with Parasite, Bong Joon-ho is finally back, and this time he’s returning to the science fiction genre. Based on a novel by Edward Ashton, Mickey 17 is set in the future, and stars Robert Pattinson as a worker clone sent on a mission to help colonize the ice world Niflheim. Not that you should need more reasons to watch after that description, but Director Bong’s latest co-stars Mark Ruffalo, Naomi Ackie, Toni Collette, and Steven Yeun. –BH
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (April 12)
(Warner Bros.)
Legendary’s MonsterVerse gets a little bigger with Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which brings back director Adam Wingard for the ultimate showdown. Two titans enter the ring (which is our planet, btw) and duke it out for … actually, I don’t really know why they’re fighting. This seems like an intersectional situation where they need to realize that people have been pitting them against each other and that they should just team up and kill us already. –BH
Civil War (April 26)
(A24)
Alex Garland is best known for dark, genre-bending sci-fi (Annihilation, Ex Machina) and horror (28 Days Later, Men), which makes his latest film something of a curiosity. Civil War is set in an imminent future in which the United States has dissolved into warring political factions, and follows the journalists (led by Kirsten Dunst) covering the conflict. Civil War might be Garland’s most ambitious film in more than one aspect; his work, while relatively grounded, doesn’t typically deal in current events. It also reunites the filmmaker with Devs stars Nick Offerman, Cailee Spaeny, and Stephen McKinley Henderson, and co-stars Wagner Moura and Jesse Plemons. –BH
Challengers (April 26)
(Amazon MGM Studios)
The minute we learned what Challengers is about, we were hooked. A movie in which Zendaya is married to Mike Faist but also sort of being in a throuple with Josh O’Connor? We’re in. Yes, there is tennis involved, but okay, whatever. The new Luca Guadagnino film was written by Justin Kuritzkes, the partner of Celine Song (who wrote and directed Past Lives, leading plenty of people to make comparisons to their relationship). There are just a lot of things going on with Challengersthat make it exciting, and we’ve been hyped about it since last summer! –RL
The Fall Guy (May 3)
(Universal Pictures)
What is better than Ryan Gosling behind the wheel of a car? Ryan Gosling as a stuntman—yes, again, but this time it’s funny. The Fall Guyis giving “What if Drive was sort of light-hearted and maybe a bit like The Nice Guys?” and I’m not exactly mad about it. Starring Gosling and Emily Blunt, we can just pretend like this is another Barbenheimer right? Written by Drew Pearce (Iron Man 3, Hotel Artemis), directed by David Leitch (John Wick, Atomic Blonde), and sort of based on the TV series of the same name, The Fall Guy has me stoked to see Ryan Gosling in a car again. –RL
Back to Black (May 10)
(Focus Features)
Amy Winehouse was a once-in-a-lifetime talent, with a soulful voice and indelible songwriting to match. Her life and her career were far too brief, cut short by painful struggles with addiction and an eating disorder, which exacerbated the pressures of fame and the demands of her work. Some of this was explored in the documentary Amy, which drew the ire of the late singer’s father, Mitch Winehouse, who felt he was unfairly represented. Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, Back to Black stars Industry‘s Marisa Abela as Amy Winehouse, whose estate cooperated with the production. While that means we’ll get to hear Winehouse’s music in the film, there’s a chance it might not dig as deep as some of her fans would like. All the same, Abela is fiercely talented and definitely looks the part, Taylor-Johnson is a fine director, and as a Winehouse fan, I’m eager to see how Back to Black shakes out. –BH
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (May 24)
(Warner Bros.)
George Miller’s long-developing Fury Road follow-up is finally upon us. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (that title couldn’t be more studio-mandated if it tried) features Anya Taylor-Joy in the title role and explores her life before Max—when a younger Furiosa was taken from the Green Place of Many Mothers by the sinister Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) to the Citadel, where she begins plotting her liberation. As far as I’m concerned, George Miller can do whatever the hell he wants. If Furiosa is half as good as Fury Road, we should count ourselves lucky. –BH
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (May 24)
(20th Century Studios)
In the tradition of the classic Planet of the Apes films, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes centers on a new main character, Noa (Owen Teague), a chimpanzee disillusioned by the apes’ corrupt leader, Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand) and his oppression of other apes. Set 300 years after the events in Rise, Dawn, and War for the Planet of the Apes, Kingdom is directed by Wes Ball (the Maze Runner series), and seems to be good enough to land him a gig directing the live-action Legend of Zelda movie for Nintendo. –BH
Ballerina (June 7)
(Lionsgate)
I’m absolutely torn on Ballerina. On the one hand, John Wick is an incredible franchise and Ana de Armas is inarguably talented and fun to watch. On the other hand, Ballerina—potentially the first in a series of John Wick spinoff movies—was directed by Len Wiseman, a guy with an underwhelming track record (Underworld, Live Free or Die Hard, Total Recall remake) that does not gel with the dynamic action of the Wick movies. THAT SAID: the ballerina assassin lore teased in the third Wick movie was like catnip to me, and if this thing is good, we might have a solid substitute for the Black Widow movie we should’ve gotten. –BH
The Watchers (June 7)
(Head of Zeus)
We’re getting two Shyamalan movies this year. Ishana Shyamalan, daughter of M. Night, is making her feature directing debut with The Watchers, based on the novel by A.M. Shine. Starring Dakota Fanning and Georgina Campbell, the horror film centers on an artist who gets stuck in a cabin in an Irish forest with three strangers and must contend with the mysterious creatures that stalk them each night. –BH
Inside Out 2 (June 14)
(Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Remember when a bunch of adults cried in a movie theater over Inside Out? Well, now we can do that again with Inside Out 2! Pixar is back with Riley and all the emotions in her head and this time, she’s got a new one: Anxiety (voiced by Maya Hawke)! As someone who very much wishes I had Inside Out when I was growing up, I can’t wait to see what the sequel has in store for Riley and how I will embarrass myself again in a theater, sobbing over a movie for children. –RL
Twisters (July 19)
(Warner Bros.)
What’s better than the 1996 film Twister? A sequel with Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, and Anthony Ramos. The original film starred Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt as part of a crew of scientists and storm chasers working together to launch Dorothy (a data-gathering device). What we’re getting with Twisters is a direct sequel to the film, and look, great. I don’t care what happens, it’s a sequel to Twister. We’re so in. –RL
Deadpool 3 (July 26)
(Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
Logan (Hugh Jackman) dealing with Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) is how our love of Reynolds as Deadpool began, so we are very excited for Deadpool 3. Any time there is a new Deadpool movie, we’re gifted with whatever nonsense Ryan Reynolds is up to, and we’ve been getting a whole bunch of treats because he is truly on one with this movie. Still, it’s just fun to know that Wade and Logan are back in action, and we can’t wait to see what director Shawn Levy and Co. have in store for us, especially now that Deadpool belongs to Disney. –RL
Trap (August 2)
(Carlos Alvarez, Getty Images)
M. Night Shyamalan’s latest co-stars his other daughter, Saleka Shyamalan, alongside Josh Hartnett and Hayley Mills (yes, of The Parent Trap fame). We know pretty much nothing about Trap, which isn’t likely to change until we see a trailer in the next few months. Speaking with NME, Shyamalan described it as “very unusual and very new compared to what I’ve been trying to do (recently).” The filmmaker has been on one heck of a run since returning with The Visit, and I can’t wait to see whatever the hell he’s up to with Trap. –BH
Alien: Romulus (August 16)
(20th Century Studios)
The latest installment in the Alien franchise comes from Fede Álvarez, the filmmaker behind Evil Dead (2013) and Don’t Breathe, and stars Cailee Spaeny and Isabela Merced. Spaeny recently revealed that Alien: Romulus is set between Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) and James Cameron’s Aliens (1986). Will Álvarez’s film bridge the differences between the two, sort of like Doctor Sleep did with the Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick versions of The Shining? That’s my only hope. Well, that, and more practical xenomorphs. –BH
Kraven the Hunter (August 30)
(Sony Pictures)
Am I the one person in this world determined to love and support Kraven the Hunterno matter what? Yes. That’s okay. Directed by J.C. Chandor (Triple Frontier), Kraven promises to bring to life one of Spider-Man’s greatest foes: Sergei Kravinoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). Famously, Kraven loves animals but also is a hunter (hence the name). How that is going to work without Spider-Man will be interesting, but I am just so excited to see my boy in live action that I don’t even care! Kraven is coming! –RL
Beetlejuice 2 (September 6)
(Warner Bros.)
We don’t need to relitigate the ups and downs of Tim Burton’s career, but suffice it to say, the visionary director has a little something to prove with Beetlejuice 2. But with Michael Keaton back as the ghost with the most and Winona Ryder reprising her role as Lydia Deetz (every goth girl’s platonic ideal) alongside Jenna Ortega, I’m optimistic for what this sequel could be. –BH
Saw XI (September 27)
(Lionsgate)
It’s wild that it took seven films for the Saw franchise to figure out how to course-correct the grievous error of killing off its main antagonist in the third film. Saw X was such a damn good time that I am fully back on the Saw hype train. Saw XI was almost immediately greenlit, and I can’t wait to see what silly prequel-sidequel-inbetweenquel nonsense is in store. –BH
Joker: Folie à Deux (October 4)
(Warner Bros.)
If you told us that we’d be excited about Joker: Folie à Deux after so many of us didn’t like the first Joker movie, I wouldn’t believe you. And yet I truly cannot wait to see Joker: Folie à Deux. I’m going to blame the Harley Quinn-and-Joker of it all. Todd Phillips’ sequel to Joker features Lady Gaga as Harley and is said to be a musical—all elements that make me increasingly more excited about this. –RL
Venom 3 (November 8)
(Sony Pictures)
I have but one request for Venom 3: Bring back The Brock Report. We need to see Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock back in VICE reporter mode, maybe with a little help from his sidekick and number one tater tot fan Venom. Venom 2 was a surprising success that managed to overcome the clownery of the first film’s post-credits teaser and deliver a superior sequel. With Venom 2 screenwriter Kelly Marcel back on board and also sitting in the director’s chair, we’re sure to get a little more of that goofy, gloopy magic. –BH
Gladiator 2 (November 22)
(Universal Pictures)
Ridley Scott is on a roll. The 86-year-old filmmaker is following up 2023’s Napoleon with another historical epic—a sequel to his own Gladiator, released in 2000. This time, Scott’s courting the fan girls with Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Denzel Washington, and Fred Hechinger. Just make a wall calendar, why don’t you! –BH
Wicked Part One (November 27)
(Universal Stage Production)
Wickedis being split into two parts, which means Part One will (probably) end with Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) singing “Defying Gravity” and leaving us gooped. So why are we excited? Because it is Wicked. For the record, Wicked does rule even if I do think it is an overrated musical. But with Jon M. Chu at the helm and a cast that includes Ariana Grande, Michelle Yeoh, and Bowen Yang, I can’t help but look forward to this one. –RL
Nosferatu (December 25)
(Focus Features)
The big holiday treat this year is Nosferatu, a new iteration of F.W. Murnau’s silent horror classic from Robert Eggers, the filmmaker behind The Witch and The Northman. Eggers’ retelling is set in 19th-century Germany and follows a young woman tormented by the ghastly vampire who is obsessed with her (relatable). Nosferatu stars Lily-Rose Depp, Willem Dafoe (but of course), Nicholas Hoult, Emma Corrin, and Bill Skarsgard as—who else?—the vampire Count Orlok. –BH
(featured image: TriStar Pictures / Warner Bros. / Focus Features / A24)
It’s time to return to the Fury Road in search of Valhalla in the new Mad Max spinoff, Furiosa. The prequel got its first trailer on Thursday that showed off the early tribulations of the future-Imperator. Furiosa is set for release on May 24, 2024.
As the name implies, Furiosa focuses on Imperator Furiosa, the main character from Mad Max: Fury Road originally played by Charlize Theron. This movie takes us back to her younger days and puts Anya Taylor-Joy (The Queen’s Gambit, The Menu) in the role instead.
Along with Taylor-Joy, the movie stars Chris Hemsworth as some kind of villainous master of ceremonies in the wasteland, and a Young Immortan Joe. The story appears to give us a full origin of Furiosa, from when she was taken from her family to when she joined up with Joe to lead the War Boys.
Returning to the franchise for the fifth time is also director and Mad Max creator George Miller, who is now 78 years old but clearly still kicking it. Miller co-wrote Furiosa with Nick Lathouris, who has been involved with Mad Max since the first movie in 1979 and also co-wrote Fury Road.
