FUTURE WORLD Trailer Asks, “What If MAD MAX: FURY ROAD Starred James Franco?”

George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road went off like a bomb when it arrived back in 2015, racking up nearly $400M at the worldwide box office and becoming one of the most beloved movies of the past decade. Miller's film launched innumerable memes and cosplay concepts, turned an entire generation into Mad Max enthusiasts, and made the post-apocalyptic genre one of Hollywood's hottest. Even now, the sheer scope of its influence cannot be reasonably measured. It's an all-timer.

Then there's Future World.

We suppose there's an argument to be made that Future World is not actually a Fury Road rip-off; after all, George Miller doesn't hold the patent on leather-clad weirdos traipsing around the desert, indiscriminately murdering one another for supplies (if he did, The Bad Batch wouldn't have happened). 

But come on. Future World - co-directed by Bruce Thierry Chung and James Franco, who also stars in the film - sure as hell looks a lot like the Mad Max movies, particularly the most recent installment. They're playing alllll the hits: the arid wasteland, the weird vehicles, the decision to put spikes on things that do not require spikes (jackets, for instance), dune buggies getting flipped over left and right. Future World adds cyborgs, Milla Jovovich and Snoop Dogg (!!!) to the equation, sure, but we know a cheap Mad Max knockoff when we see one.

Will Future World be any good? We'll find out when Lionsgate puts it in theaters on May 25th. We're not holding our breath.