After four weeks in cinemas, "Mad Max: Fury Road" has already gone past the $300M mark at the worldwide box office. The movie, which stars Tom Hardy ("Inception," "The Dark Knight Rises") and Charlize Theron ("Snow White and the Huntsman," "Prometheus"), is looking to get into international territory in the coming weeks.
Currently tapping a total of $320 million, Deadline reported that this does not include the upcoming release of "Mad Max: Fury Road" in China, which remains unscheduled as of this writing. The goal is not impossible, seeing as how it has been well-received in South Korea and continues to be played in several countries, including Australia, Mexico, France, the United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, Brazil and Spain.
"Mad Max: Fury Road" had recorded a budget of more than $200 million for production and marketing. It is expected to rake in more profits once the movie hits other targeted countries outside the United States.
The success of the film is not only due to its insane storyline and actors, but also the special effects that made the scenes alive. It appears that Andrew Jackson, visual effects supervisor for "Mad Max: Fury Road" had been very much interested in using practical effects instead of the easy-cut CG that could deliver a similar effect.
In fact, FX Guide reported that there were scenes wherein Jackson had opted for using real areas, such canyons, and real vehicles to create more realistic movement of the camera. The report featured a number of comparison shots between the actual shot and the finished product laden with visual effects.
All in all, the team had to craft visual effects that totaled to 2,000 shots to achieve the richness of the film. But according to Jackson, the beauty of this is that they can say that "Mad Max: Fury Road" has very little CG in the film.
Retaining an element of realness in the plate, regardless of having to put visual effects for the most part of the frame, is something that merited avoiding CG trade-off for what the artists have done for the film. This was done in key areas, such as using real vehicles in the car chase scene to making Theron wear a green sleeve to shoot her character Furiosa's missing left arm.
"Mad Max: Fury Road" is still showing in several countries worldwide. For gamers who are looking to extend the adventure, there is also a "Mad Max" videogame from developer Avalanche and published Warner Bros., set to release on Sept. 1.