RE: Mad Max Franchise

I agree Mad Max stands alone. It's a phenomenon. I do disagree about the first Mad Max (1979). It's really basic and its characters are broadly drawn, but there was a spark of genius in that movie, enough to give it a mythic quality that launched a franchise.

I just looked up the numbers. Its box office (earnings) was 498.8 times as great as its production budget. If you can grab an audience like that, you've put a kind of magic in your show.

My favorite two, though, are Thunderdome, and Road Warrior.