Mad Max is an Australian media franchise created by George Miller and Byron Kennedy. It centers on a series of post-apocalyptic and dystopian action films. The franchise began in 1979 with Mad Max, and was followed by three sequels: Mad Max 2 (1981; released in the United States as The Road Warrior), Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015); Miller directed or co-directed all four films. A spin-off, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, was released in 2024 and was also directed by Miller. Mel Gibson portrayed the title character Max Rockatansky in the first three films, while Tom Hardy portrayed the character in Mad Max: Fury Road.
The series follows Max, who starts the series as a police officer in a future Australia which is experiencing societal collapse due to war, critical resource shortages, and ecocide. As Australia devolves further into barbarity, gangsters kill Max's family and Max becomes a wandering drifter in the wasteland. He periodically encounters remaining pockets of civilisation, which rope him into their political machinations or personal problems. Max, who is habitually wary of others, frequently struggles to decide whether to help others or go his own way. Ultimately, he assists the survivors in the nick of time before departing into the wasteland once more. Most Mad Max films suggest that the characters of Max and spin-off character Imperator Furiosa have crossed over into the folklore of a survivor civilisation.
The series has been well received by critics; Mad Max 2 and Fury Road in particular have been ranked among the best action films ever made. The series has also had a significant influence on popular culture, most notably apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, and encompasses works in additional media including video games and comic books. In 2016, Fury Road became the first film of the Mad Max franchise to receive Academy Award recognition, winning six of its ten nominations.
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