Anya Taylor-Joy’s Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga broke one of the Mad Max franchise’s oldest rules 44 years after Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior created it. Furiosa was a unique movie for the Mad Max franchise in a number of ways. For example, it was the first of the Mad Max movies to not feature Max Rockatansky, save for Max’s short cameo in Furiosa. It was also the second film in the franchise to recast a main character, after Anya Taylor-Joy took over the role from Charlize Theron. One of the ways Furiosa changed Mad Max history actually saw it break The Road Warrior‘s rule.

Prior to Mad Max: Fury Road, The Road Warrior was almost indisputably the best film in the franchise. The Road Warrior was better than the original Mad Max, and it introduced several of the most iconic things that the franchise is now known for, from the apocalyptic world to the outrageous costumes its characters wore. Since The Road Warrior holds such a coveted place in Mad Max, it’s surprising that Furiosa broke one of its oldest rules, but the newest film did so anyway, 44 years later.

Furiosa Is The First Mad Max Movie You Need Previous Knowledge To Watch

The First Four Mad Max Movies Stand Alone, But Furiosa Is A Direct Prequel To Fury Road

Ever since 1982, when The Road Warrior was released, each installment of Mad Max has been essentially a standalone movie. Despite being a sequel, The Road Warrior didn’t actually require viewers to have seen Mad Max first. Audiences didn’t need to know why Max went mad in the first place or what he did before he started wandering the Wasteland to understand that he was a broken and slightly insane man. The Road Warrior simply picks up in the middle of Max’s story and lets the audience glean information about Max as the movie continues.

After The Road Warrior set the precedent of not requiring previous knowledge of the franchise to understand new movies, the rest of Mad Max ran with it. Both Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome and Mad Max: Fury Road start off in a similar way to The Road Warrior, where they instantly introduced newcomers to both Max and the apocalypse. Audiences could basically pick up any of the four Mad Max movies and watch it regardless of where it took place in the Mad Max timeline. It wasn’t until Furiosa that Mad Max required viewers to have seen the previous movies to understand the newest installment.

Since Furiosa is a direct prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road, it doesn’t spend much time introducing returning characters and elements from the earlier movie. If someone who hadn’t seen Fury Road first watched Furiosa, they’d likely be confused by who Immortan Joe is, what Gastown and the Citadel are, and many of the peculiarities surrounding the War Boys. Because it relied on Fury Road to explain some of the basic parts of its world and characters, Furiosa was the first Mad Max film that didn’t function as a standalone movie.

Furiosa’s Connections To Mad Max: Fury Road Made It Even Better

Furiosa Perfectly Tied Into & Enhanced Fury Road’s Amazing Story & Worldbuilding

Even though they kept Furiosa from being a standalone movie, the film’s connections to Fury Road actually made it better. There are so many parts of Furiosa that feel like a love letter to fans of Fury Road. Seeing the iconic Mad Max villain Immortan Joe again was a treat, getting more insight into the Bullet Farm and learning how Furiosa came to work at the Citadel was fascinating, and finding out how Furiosa lost her arm was absolutely priceless. Furiosa added so much backstory and character development to her story that it actually ended up retroactively making Fury Road even better, which seemed impossible.

Furiosa Being A Prequel To Fury Road Made It A Bigger Box Office Risk

Furiosa Required Audiences To Be Familiar With Fury Road – A Movie That Was Only A Moderate Box Office Success

Having so many deep references and connections to Fury Road wasn’t completely an advantage, though. When Fury Road came out in 2015, it only made about $380 million (via Box Office Mojo). Even though it’s become a cult classic and is widely regarded as one of the best action movies of the 2010s, Fury Road didn’t attract a huge number of viewers. Furiosa took a mᴀssive gamble by requiring its viewers to see a movie that was only a moderate success at the box office, and it drastically limited its audience by being a direct prequel to Fury Road.

Unfortunately for Furiosa, that gamble didn’t pay off. Infamously, Furiosa bombed at the box office, and secured just $173 million against a budget of $168 million. There were several factors that went into Furiosa‘s box office failure, but the fact that it limited its audience to viewers who had already seen Fury Road was certainly one of them. If it had followed The Road Warrior‘s example and been a completely standalone film, there’s no telling how well Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga could have done at the box office.