Here's why the Mad Max: Fury Road sequel is delayed

Given the massive and unexpected success of 2015's Mad Max: Fury Road, the sequels seemed pretty much inevitable.

After all, director George Miller has already revealed that he has two new scripts ready, and Tom Hardy is attached to return to the franchise.

However, any prospective sequels will not be revving up anytime soon, chiefly because Miller is suing Warner Bros. over unpaid earnings.

Details have emerged (via Sydney Morning Herald) from a New South Wales Supreme Court ruling that Miller's studio Kennedy Miller Mitchell is suing the studio over what they claim is an unpaid bonus.

According to Justice David Hammerschlag, the $7m bonus itself was dependent on the production coming in under $157m – after certain costs were excluded – with Miller and co believing they are owed that money due to unforeseen circumstances during production.

While Warner Bros. are claiming that the production went over budget, thus making them ineligible for the bonus, Miller's company argue that the studio made "a series of decisions which caused changes and delays to the production".

On top of that, it is reported that the deal included a clause that said Kennedy Miller Mitchell would be given the chance to finance the project should Warner Bros. seek a deal with a new co-financier.

Miller's company argue that Warner Bros. breached the deal by entering into a deal with RatPac Entertainment – run by James Packer and Brett Ratner at the time – for 12.5% funding.

Miller and partner Doug Mitchell said in a statement: "After all the hard work and success of the film, the studio failed to honour its obligations. Simply put, we are owed substantial earnings for diligent and painstaking work which spanned over 10 years in development of the script and preparation and three years in production of the movie."

"That hard work resulted in a picture which found wide acclaim globally… We would much prefer to be making movies with Warner Bros than litigating with them but, after trying for over a year, we were unable to reach a satisfactory resolution and have now had to resort to a law suit to sort things out."

However, Warner Bros. said they "disagree and will vigorously defend against these claims".

In short, don't expect to enter The Wasteland anytime soon.

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