Mad Max: Furiosa Production Shut Down Due to COVID

The long-awaited Mad Max: Fury Road prequel Mad Max: Furiosa started shooting earlier this summer, though Daily Mail reports that the production has been suspended due to director George Miller testing positive for COVID-19. With the film currently shooting in Australia, the outlet notes that Miller is able to isolate at his home in Sydney and that production is expected to resume next week, with the delays not expected to take a major toll on the overall production, with no reports about other members of the cast or crew testing positive having emerged. Mad Max: Furiosa is currently expected to land in theaters on May 24, 2024.

Warner Bros. describes the new film, "As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland they come across the Citadel presided over by The Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home."

As compared to other setbacks the franchise has suffered during production, this delay marks one of the more innocuous ones.

For more than two decades after the release of Mad Max Beyond Thundersome, Miller had expressed his desire to develop both Fury Road and Furiosa, with a number of high-profile names rumored to be attached to the project for years before it officially went into production in 2012. After shooting for six months in Namibia, reshoots took place nearly a year later in Australia. 

The ambitious and intense nature of the adventure also required an extensive post-production process, with the studio requesting that Fury Road secure a PG-13 rating to make the experience as accessible as possible to younger audiences, only for a studio cut and a Miller cut being tested with audiences, with Miller's cut performing better than the tamer version. Additionally, stars Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy had a number of tense encounters and conflicts while filming, resulting in many reports of a "troubled" shoot. 

When Fury Road did finally hit theaters, it was a tremendous success, going on to earn more Academy Award nominations that year than any other film.

Stay tuned for details on Mad Max: Furiosa before it hits theaters on May 24, 2024.

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