Australia is undergoing something they somewhat avoided last year, the pandemic hurting the entertainment industry in a major way compared to other nations. The country was mostly able to get a handle on COVID-19 cases finishing movie shoots such as “Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings,” “Mortal Kombat,” and more recently with Marvel‘s “Thor: Love & Thunder.” However, in the wake of the rise in cases there, productions that had been aiming to begin soon in New South Wales are either being delayed like George Miller‘s “Mad Max: Fury Road” prequel “Furiosa” (was going to shoot over the summer) or moving to other countries like Chris Hemsworth‘s “Extraction 2” heading to Prague, Czech Republic.
Those hiccups have led to a “Furiosa” being delayed by an entire year after the summer shoot didn’t come together.
Variety has now heard from Warner Bros. that “Furiosa” will see its release date pushed from June 23, 2023, to May 2024 during the Memorial Day weekend.
This isn’t terribly shocking after previous reports from Variety that pre-production on the film was bumped to the end of 2021 and expectations that cameras wouldn’t begin rolling until early 2022.
In the meantime, stars Anya Taylor-Joy (plays young Furiosa) and Hemsworth had been pivoting to other projects with “The Menu” and “Extraction 2,” respectively. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II has also been busy reprising the Black Manta role in “Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom” in England for director James Wan.
READ MORE: Tom Hardy Is Cool With George Miller Pivoting From ‘Mad Max’ To ‘Furiosa’
The film is a direct prequel to “Fury Road” expected to explore the wasteland warrior’s journey from The Green Place to The Citadel; it’ll also be the first film in the “Mad Max” franchise to pivot from the character Max Rockatansky played by Mel Gibson and Tom Hardy. Miller developed the project during the extended production delays on “Fury Road,” a film that originally was going to shoot in 2001 and didn’t get going until 2012.