Furiosa: A Hit on Screen, A Miss in Marketing
Yes, Furiosa is a great film. I saw it in the theatre and as I couldn’t manage the time for the English viewing, I saw it in Hindi, and my brain did compare it to the ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ like a noob. But soon after I left the theatre, I started having flashbacks of chase sequences with their beautiful choreography and found myself agreeing with Legendary Game Developer Hideo Kojima. Yup, it does have a re-watchability. (As I post this, the movie has already hit OTT, but sadly, I don’t have time to watch it… #MBA_Life)
Let’s get straight to the point — why did Furiosa not make as much money as it should have? Many people have argued that:
“it’s because it didn’t feature Max.” — Cool, but Mad Max: Fury Road was also not about Max, these two films have always had their focus on Furiosa. With respect to her, Max has just been a side character.
“Oh, because they did not cast Charlize Theron, and audience did not accept Anya Taylor Joy as Furiosa.” — C’mon dude, it’s a story about her formative years, they HAD to recast the actress.
Then what went wrong?
Do people not like high-speed chases? No, that’s not the case. Otherwise ‘fast and furious’ wouldn’t have been a hit at all. Neither do Keanu Reeves’s classic ‘Speed.’
As a movie buff, I religiously follow a movie’s development since its inception to its final product. From the minute director announces the topic he/she is going to bring onto the screen till the movie hits the theatre, I’m constantly trying to figure out how it’s going to be, so I would know in advance whether to spend my money on it or not. I’m quite sure that’s how most people are, even if they are remotely interested in a movie. (Entertainment costs! Right?)
So, this is what probably cost the studio…
The marketing revolved around the stars and the mad max lore. Rightfully so, but it wasn’t what people were looking for. Yes, we love Anya and Chris alike, but their addition to this universe did not need a specialized treatment. Personally, I feel the director George Miller could have gone Wes Anderson way, utilizing every willing actor for even a minute role — practically no one would have said no… it’s a George Miller film! (Who wouldn’t like to see say, an A list actor just walking into the underground hole? Just saying!) But that’s where the affection for stars fades, in the end it’s a dystopian film based on the inhumanity and craziness of bunch of Gas-addicts.
And that should have been the focus. Yes, the movie is called Furiosa, and it should have its all eyes and ears on her, yet people wanted to know the chase, the craziness, and the speed! When you take away the titular character from a movie, people like to watch the film for its other elements. For example, a 5-minute parachute chase released for free on YouTube would have done the trick. People would have known that this movie has the potential of Mad Max and would have visited the theatres to watch it. Don’t get me wrong, this film will be a huge OTT hit, and many people will feel sad for not going to the theatre in the first place.
The other thing, the Mad Max lore, is NOT that well known to the average audience. Most of the people were introduced to this franchise through Fury Road and very few of them went back to check out all the movies. For them fury road was a great standalone film. If the makers had acknowledged the history of Mad Max via a short film or had paid the homage to the older films publicly, more people would have grown interest in the franchise. Even if George Miller had inserted an animated history of how the world came to be like this, it would have ignited audience’s interest immensely.
It is in the news that Mad Max: A Wasteland is facing an opposition given the disappointment of Furiosa on box office. Any sane producer would think twice before investing such money into any film, but I believe they are forgetting about how much this morbid world still has to offer and what a massive force ‘Tom Hardy’ is.
I personally would prefer to see a limited TV series revolving around just the under-ground people and the War-Boys, depicting how they go in their day to day lives and how are they brainwashed to sacrifice themselves. Frankly the scene with the maggots in Furiosa caught me off guard to the point I closed my eyes in disgust, still, it remains the most insightful view into their lives. I believe the real Mad Max fans would agree with me.
- Saurabh
