Far-out Fleet from Mad Max up for Sale in Australia

The Elvis (L) and Razor Cola convoy cars are just two of several outlandish vehicles used in the 2015 dystopian blockbuster film “Mad Max: Fury Road”, which are up for bids at Lloyds Auctions in Sydney. (AFP)
The Elvis (L) and Razor Cola convoy cars are just two of several outlandish vehicles used in the 2015 dystopian blockbuster film “Mad Max: Fury Road”, which are up for bids at Lloyds Auctions in Sydney. (AFP)
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Far-out Fleet from Mad Max up for Sale in Australia

The Elvis (L) and Razor Cola convoy cars are just two of several outlandish vehicles used in the 2015 dystopian blockbuster film “Mad Max: Fury Road”, which are up for bids at Lloyds Auctions in Sydney. (AFP)
The Elvis (L) and Razor Cola convoy cars are just two of several outlandish vehicles used in the 2015 dystopian blockbuster film “Mad Max: Fury Road”, which are up for bids at Lloyds Auctions in Sydney. (AFP)

If you need a ride fast enough to outpace the apocalypse, a rare auction in Australia is selling a menacing fleet of vehicles from “Mad Max: Fury Road” for any aspiring desert warrior.

Whether you’re a would-be marauder or just want to raise eyebrows at the drive-through window, the sale of 13 vehicles from the 2015 dystopian blockbuster has the goods.

“The first time I saw them, I’m pretty sure I heard one of the cars saying: ‘I need to be driven in anger,’” curator Geoff McKew of Lloyds Auctions told AFP in Sydney.

Among the vehicles is the gargantuan War Rig -- a hulking tanker driven by Charlize Theron’s character Furiosa -- and the Razor Cola, which went up against Tom Hardy’s “Mad” Max Rockatansky.

With offers closing on Sunday, the current owners will only sell all 13 together in an effort to preserve a piece of film history.

“They shouldn’t be sitting in storage; they should be out there and getting the respect that they deserve,” McKew said.

Although they certainly wouldn’t “go for cheap”, it was hard to put a price on the fleet, he added.

The vehicles are part of an armada of wild machines that burst onto the screen in the award-winning Fury Road, the fourth film in George Miller’s Mad Max franchise.

The movie’s success further cemented the cult status of the Australian action series and its title character, first played by Mel Gibson in 1979.

The sale has aroused interest worldwide, including from Las Vegas casinos and the Burning Man Festival, McKew said.

Sadly, none of the cars are street legal.

But McKew doubted that police would be daring enough to pull over a ride like the Gigahorse, molded out of two 1959 Cadillac Coupe de Ville and barely fitting into its temporary home at a Sydney warehouse.

“When I saw it start for the first time, I wasn’t sure if I was having a heart attack or a bowel movement,” he added.



‘Venom: The Last Dance’ Misses Projections as Superhero Films’ Grip on Theaters Loosens

 Tom Hardy poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film "Venom: The Last Dance" on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in London. (AP)
Tom Hardy poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film "Venom: The Last Dance" on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in London. (AP)
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‘Venom: The Last Dance’ Misses Projections as Superhero Films’ Grip on Theaters Loosens

 Tom Hardy poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film "Venom: The Last Dance" on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in London. (AP)
Tom Hardy poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film "Venom: The Last Dance" on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in London. (AP)

“Venom: The Last Dance” showed less bite than expected at the box office, collecting $51 million in its opening weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday, significantly down from the alien symbiote franchise’s previous entries.

Projections for the third “Venom” film from Sony Pictures had been closer to $65 million. More concerning, though, was the drop off from the first two “Venom” films. The 2018 original debuted with $80.2 million, while the 2021 follow-up, “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” opened with $90 million even as theaters were still in recovery mode during the pandemic.

“The Last Dance,” starring Tom Hardy as a journalist who shares his body with an alien entity also voiced by Hardy, could still turn a profit for Sony. Its production budget, not accounting for promotion and marketing, was about $120 million — significantly less than most comic-book films.

But “The Last Dance” is also performing better overseas. Internationally, “Venom: The Last Dance” collected $124 million over the weekend, including $46 million over five days of release in China. That’s good enough for one of the best international weekends of the year for a Hollywood release.

Still, neither reviews (36% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) nor audience scores (a franchise-low “B-” CinemaScore) have been good for the film scripted by Kelly Marcel and Hardy, and directed by Marcel.

The low weekend for “Venom: The Last Dance” also likely ensures that superhero films will see their lowest-grossing year in a dozen years, not counting the pandemic year of 2020, according to David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter for Franchise Entertainment.

Following on the heels of the “Joker: Folie à Deux” flop, Gross estimates that 2024 superhero films will gross about $2.25 billion worldwide. The only upcoming entry is Marvel’s “Kraven the Hunter,” due out Dec. 13.

Even with the $1.3 billion of “Deadpool & Wolverine,” the genre hasn’t, overall, been dominating the way it once did. In 2018, for example, superhero films accounted for more than $7 billion in global ticket sales.

Last week’s top film, the Paramount Pictures horror sequel “Smile 2,” dropped to second place with $9.4 million. That brings its two-week total to $83.7 million worldwide.

The weekend’s biggest success story might have been “Conclave,” the papal thriller starring Ralph Fiennes and directed by Edward Berger (“All Quiet on the Western Front”). The Focus Features release, a major Oscar contender, launched with $6.5 million in 1,753 theaters.

That put “Conclave” into third place, making it the rare adult-oriented drama to make a mark theatrically. Some 77% of ticket buyers were over the age of 35, Focus said. With a strong opening and stellar reviews, “Conclave” could continue to gather momentum both with moviegoers and Oscar voters.