While the Mad Max movies have all been financially successful, only 1979's original can claim a Guinness World Record for its impressive box office performance. As the Mad Max franchise grew more financially successful, the budgets that were afforded to each sequel were larger and the scope of the movies became bigger. While 1979’s original Mad Max was a grimy, lo-fi revenge thriller that was only set in the future to save on production costs, 2015’s Fury Road was a big-budget blockbuster action extravaganza.
It looks like the Anya Taylor-Joy-led Mad Max spinoff Furiosa will continue this trend, with the Fury Road prequel being the biggest Australian production in the history of the country’s movie industry. However, this is a far cry from the humble origins of the series. The original Mad Max was made for a budget of only $350,000, and this minuscule price tag (along with the movie’s unexpected international success) resulted in director George Miller’s feature debut earning an impressive box office accolade. Thanks to the ever-increasing budgets of the Mad Max sequels, it’s not one that the series is likely to replicate any time soon.
Mad Max Became The Most Profitable Movie Ever
According to the Furiosa, Mad Max is set before the apocalypse, meaning the movie didn’t need to spend much money on creating an immersive, believable wasteland setting, unlike its sequels. Since its production cost only $350,000 and Mad Max made an astounding $100 million, the Guinness World Records awarded the movie the title of the Most Profitable Movie Ever after its global success.
However, it is not clear whether Mad Max has retained this title in the years since. The advent of the internet (along with the popularity of the found footage sub-genre) made it easier for filmmakers working with minuscule budgets to find distributors in the decades since Mad Max arrived in theaters. Every subsequent Mad Max movie changed the franchise’s style and tone radically, resulting in progressively bigger budgets for each movie. As such, the original Mad Max certainly remains the most profitable movie in the franchise. However, its record may have been beaten by other hits over the years.
Is Mad Max Still The Most Profitable Movie Ever?
Both The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity made more money with lower budgets, but no one has compared the three movies with inflation taken into . Since the Guinness World Records haven’t updated the record, it is tough to work out whether these found footage horror hits were technically more profitable than Mad Max. After all, $100 million in 1979 is a lot more in 2023, and the sheer size of Furiosa’s movie production proves that the franchise is still a major moneymaker. As such, although it is unclear whether Mad Max is technically still the most profitable movie ever, the sci-fi classic is a historically huge hit.
