Sci-Fi Prequel Rejected At The Box Office Is A Netflix Hit

By Jonathan Klotz
| Updated 1 hour ago

Roaring into theaters almost a decade after the last film in the franchise, Furiosa: The Mad Max Saga it became one of the most disappointing releases of the year, at least in terms of the box office. Those who saw it on the big screen knew it was a wild ride that dared to do something different with the post-apocalyptic franchise, which is so iconic that it has defined an entire genre for decades. Now that Furious available on Netflix, it’s finally finding the audience it deserved in the first place.

Rise of Furiosa

Set years before Fury Road, Furious is the origin story of Charlize Theron’s breakout character, and thanks to both films now live on Netflix, you can transition seamlessly between them and enjoy a wild five-hour thrill ride. The prequel does away with Max himself entirely, outside of a brief cameo, and instead focuses on Furiosa’s childhood and her rise as Immortal Joe’s Imperator. By shifting the focus ever so slightly, fans also get their best look yet at how society has crumbled in the post-apocalypse reminding us that life is now short, cruel and extremely violent.

Dementus, played by Chris Hemsworththe leader of the Biker Horde, personifies the ethos of the post-apocalyptic society as he is brutal, cruel and motivated thanks to the violent deaths of his own family. That’s why they both kill Furiosa’s mother and then take the young girl under their wing as a surrogate daughter. Furiosa is there may be more appreciation at a slower pace Netflix now that viewers are finally seeing Hemsworth’s performance, one of the best of his career, instead of learning about it from memes on social media.

Halfway through the film, we finally get to see Anya Taylor-Joy as an adult Furiosa, learning how she survived first in the ranks of Dementus’ horde and then Immorten Joe’s stronghold before finally moving. Furiousas a prequel, presses hard to explain more of Fury Road than fans ever expected, from the obvious, like how she loses her arm, to the more subtle, like what Joe’s lieutenants were doing before the events of the Tom Hardy film.

Finally Free From Warner Bros.

Before Furiosa is released on Netflix, it was a hit on Max, but there are more potential eyeballs for it at most streaming service in existence than on the Warner Bros. abuse service. Warner Bros. is a big part of the reason why the film was so poorly received in the first place; after all, a director George Miller wanted to film it right after he was done with Fury Road, but the studio played hardball. A legal battle over his salary from the award-winning 2015 film ensured that it would be years and almost a decade before the prequel ever hit theatres.

Furious joined in Netflix’s top ten by fellow refugees Max, Dunes: Part II a Godzilla x Kong: The New Empireas David Zaslav’s company decides to continue licensing Warner Bros. projects instead of using them to sell Max subscriptions. It was just the latest in a long series of mistakes that the studio took with them Furiously, but finally, by removing themselves from the process, Warner Bros. has ensured that the film becomes popular. Sure, the company lost nearly $100 million in theaters, but thanks to Netflix’s vast reach, it will become a cult classic.