With all the useless sequels being made these days in cinema, a "Mad Max: Fury Road" sequel is one of the few that would make actual, concrete sense to greenlight. George Miller was apparently in pre-production on "Mad Max: The Wasteland" and even had Tom Hardy signed up to do two more films. That is until Miller sued his studio Warner Bros. for not paying him a bonus that was contractually obligated by contract.
Producer Kennedy Miller Mitchell and the director claim that the WB owes a lot of money to Miller's production company, specifically $7 million for coming in under budget during the production. The WB claims they actually went over budget. I'm sure there are paper documents that can prove the truth, no? The problem is reshoots cost $31 million. However, Miller’s production company says the deal was to not include these costs in the cost of the film, thus the claim of going under-budget.
To be fair, Miller owns the rights to the Mad Max characters. They're his. So, while we might not see any more films, we also won't see any blatant cash grabs banking on the franchise name alone because Miller lost out. Miller's got two scripts ready to go. "Fury Road" was a massive hit. Warner Brothers are literally sitting on a blockbuster franchise and they won't make it because they're bickering over $7-10 million. At the other end of the argument, you could say Warner Brothers has plenty of franchises, despite the colossal failure of the DCEU. Miller has Mad Max and both he and his cast will be aging irreversibly as those sequels are delayed on and on again as this lawsuit continues. Warner also has to watch out not to set a bad precedent where their producers and directors can sue them quickly into submission every time a contract dispute emerges. So it makes plenty of sense. Both sides have plenty to win if the sequels are made, but plenty to lose if they concede the lawsuit. So the game of chicken is on.
Speaking of chicken, Miller himself ain't no spring chicken, he's 73-years-old, the further these sequels are delayed the more unlikely he would have the stamina and willingness to embark on making a "Mad Max" sequel, which, by all accounts, is a gueling experience. The amount of detail to have to put into these movies is not like, say, John Huston, in his final years, directing a chamber piece via wheelchair ala "Prizzi's Honor" and "The Dead."