Japan’s Fans Still Go Mad For Australia’s Most Successful Film Franchise

One of the most outstanding characteristics I have found of many Japanese people in almost four decades of living here is that it is highly common for fun to be taken very seriously, indeed.

One area where I have seen that trait on display comes with the franchise related to Mad Max, whose five movies dating from 1979’s Mad Max to Furiosia: A Mad Max Saga in 2024 make it the most successful Australian cinematic series in history.

In fact, had it not been for avid fans in Japan, the franchise would probably not have continued past the first entry, but Mad Max has also given back to Japan, inspiring the Fist of the North Star, which went on to become one of the most successful manga in history.

Mad Max’s enduring support in Japan is perhaps most visible in the Max Max Convention, which was held in January 2025 after a six year hiatus caused mainly by the pandemic.

Japan was the first market outside of Australia where Mad Max became a hit, its rousing box office performance coinciding with the late-1970s heyday of the bosozoku motorcycle gangs.

With Japan as a litmus test, director George Miller took Mad Max to other countries and it became the most profitable independent movie of all time to that point.

That success enabled financing 1981’s Mad Max 2, which propelled Mel Gibson to global superstardom after he reprised the role of the titular character.

Gibson took on the role again in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome in 1985 before the series went into hiatus.

A dearth of movies did not quell enthusiasm for the Mad Max world in Japan, though. Some fans built Main Force Patrol cars and Mad Max’s V-8 Interceptor and the motorbikes used in the film–exclusively Japanese makes–were frequently mimicked be a small community of devotees.

Mad Max Convention, or MMCon as its organizers refer to it, crystallized in 2014 as the series was resuscitated in 2014 with the release of Mad Max: Fury Road, which won six Academy Awards.

MMCon became a regular event, showcasing vehicle builds, cosplay and holding talk shows and events.

From the first convention in 2014 through to the third held in 2019, the meeting was held in Yamanashi, Tsukuba, Nagano and Yokohama at various times, all in locations aimed to best display the Mad Max-themed cars and motorbikes that dedicated fans produced.

Organizers invited a number of Australian performers who had appeared in the first movie to take part in the conventions.

The pandemic hit and the community dispersed somewhat. But it didn’t take long to re-emerge with the release of the critically acclaimed but poorly performed Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga in 2024.

Just as the series came back to life, MMCon also re-emerged.

The convention in January 2025 centered around the Tachikawa Cinema City complex and featured screenings, double bills of Furiosa and Mad Max: Fury Road.

Melvin Zed, author of the History of Mad Max, gave a talk show and case and crew from the movies made appearances.

There was also a screening of Archaeologist of the Wasteland, a documentary about the operator of a Mad Max 2 Museum in Silverton, near Broken Hill, where the second movie was filmed.