15
2015
2015 · George Miller · Australia/USA
Mad Max: Fury Road
ActionScience Fiction 120 min Landmark Digital Revolution
In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a group of women escape a tyrannical warlord in a war rig, aided by a drifter.
Budget
$185M
Box Office
$380M
ROI
2.1×
Why It Matters
2,000 shots in 120 minutes — all physical. Miller shot in the Namibian desert for 120 days. The greatest pure action film ever made.
Historical Context
The year of #BlackLivesMatter and surging feminist discourse — this film turned out to be a feminist action epic that split the internet.
Historical Forces at Play
Great Recession · 2008
The financial crisis prompted a wave of class-conscious cinema: Margin Call, The Big Short, and eventually Parasite were all responses to the same structural wound.
Black Lives Matter · 2014
The movement legitimized and amplified Black cinematic voices. Jordan Peele, Barry Jenkins, Ryan Coogler, and Ava DuVernay all rose to prominence in this cultural moment.