2015's Mad Max: Fury Road earned $378.9 million in worldwide box office takings against a $157 million production budget, was nominated for 10 academy awards, and was met with universal critical acclaim. Director George Miller's return to the Mad Max franchise after a 30-year hiatus saw Tom Hardy take on the role of Max Rockatansky from Mel Gibson, starring alongside Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Hugh Keays-Byrne, and Rosie Huntington-Whitely. Following the overwhelming success of Fury Road Miller confirmed that he planned to return to the franchise sooner rather than later with claims of multiple possible sequels in development. Considering Warner Bros. poor run of late with their misfiring DCEU movies one would expect that the studio would be keen to develop and produce less divisive and critically panned movies, yet according to report from Australian newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald the studio is jeopardizing the possibility of any sequels to Mad Max: Fury Road ever being produced, over the relatively measly fee of $7 million dollars.
According to the SMH, Fury Road director Miller is claiming that Warner Bros. owes him a $7 million (US) bonus for finishing the movie under budget. Miller's production company Kennedy Miller Mitchell have taken Warner Bros. to court in New South Wales claiming that the final net cost of the movie came to $154.6 million from an allocated production budget of $157 million. However, Warner Bros. is claiming the final net cost of the movie was $185.1 million, and that as such the agreed $7 million bonus cannot be paid.
Of course, there are more to and fro's in the claims from either side in this bitter court battle, including whether the case should be heard in New South Wales or in Los Angeles, all of which can be seen in SMH's linked article. But ultimately what this boils down to is Warner Bros. refusing to pay $7 million, a relatively small fee for a Hollywood studio whose movies bring in countless hundreds of millions of dollars in profits. Considering the money the sequels to Mad Max: Fury Road could potentially make in worldwide box office earnings the $7 million bonus Miller is claiming he is owed seems like small change in comparison, and will likely be recuperated many times over when said sequels are released.
