FURIOSA star Anya Taylor-Joy has been called out by fans for her lack of star power amid the movie’s box office struggles.
During its second weekend at the box office, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga continued to be the bummer of the summer.
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The prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road, which cost about $168 million to make, bombed with its $10.75 million earnings, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Released on Memorial Day Weekend, Furiosa reached an estimated $32 million for its opener.
The action-packed movie made a nearly 60 percent drop from its first to second weekend.
Anya, 28, plays the younger version of Imperator Furiosa, originally played by actress Charlize Theron, 48, in Fury Road.
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Although Anya is an Emmy winner, critics took to X, formerly known as Twitter, and slammed the Queen’s Gambit actress for her lack of star power.
“A Mad Max movie without Max? Of course, it’s going to flop! Anya’s not mad enough!” one blasted, referring to The Road Warrior played by Tom Hardy, 46, and previously Mel Gibson, 68.
“Fury Road was all Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron! Anya Taylor-Joy doesn’t have that star quality!” a second trolled.
“Only liked it towards the end when [Anya] got her voice to sound so much like Charlize Theron’s!” a third argued.
“To be honest, this movie was unnecessary. We already had a Furiosa movie, and that was Fury Road,” a fourth person wrote.
“If Charlize Theron was in [Furiosa], then the results would have been different,” a commentator chimed.
NO MORE MAX?
According to THR, Warner Bros. has supposedly called it quits on continuing the Mad Max franchise.
Filmmaker George Miller, 79, who has directed all five Mad Max installments, had the concept for the sixth sequel.
Insiders told the publication that they agreed that the franchise’s fate is complicated by the box office numbers.
Sources stressed that a new Mad Max movie was not in the development process.
THE MAD MAX MOVIES
Find out what ideas writer/director George Miller had toyed with for a sixth Mad Max movie:
In 1979, audiences were introduced to Max Rockatansky (originally played by Mel Gibson) in the first Mad Max movie.
Max was a patrol cop keeping order on the decayed roads of apocalyptic Australia.
After his family is murdered, Max unleashes his wrath on the motorcycle gang who killed them.
Mel continued to play Max in the sequels, The Road Warrior aka Mad Max 2 and Mad Max: Thurderdome.
Tom Hardy took over the role of the title character in Mad Max: Fury Road.
In a blink-and-miss moment, Jacob Tomuri, Tom’s stunt double in Fury Road, briefly appears as the protagonist in Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, George and co-writer Nico Lathouris wrote the screenplays for Furiosa and the sixth sequel, The Wasteland.
The Wasteland would take place a year before Fury Road.
Max would find himself in action again protecting a young mother and daughter.
Warners is apparently proud of Furiosa, despite the sluggish numbers.
“IP like Mad Max and Ghostbusters is old, and they have the fans they’re going to have,” a theater chain executive told the outlet.
“If studios can budget to that, they might make some decent money.”
In mid-May, George told the press at the Cannes Film Festival that another installment depended on the box office results.
“I’ll definitely wait to see how this Furiosa goes before we even think about it,” the filmmaker said.
Furiosa received a seven-minute standing ovation from the audience and critics at Cannes.
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