Mad Max received a polarized reception upon its release in April 1979, although it won three AACTA Awards and attracted a cult following, while its critical reputation has grown since. Filmed on a budget of A$0.4 million, it earned more than US$100 million worldwide in gross revenue, and held the "Guinness" record for most profitable film. The success of "Mad Max" has been credited for further opening up the global market to Australian New Wave films. The film became the first in the "Mad Max" series, giving rise to three sequels, "Mad Max 2" (1981), "Beyond Thunderdome" (1985), and "" (2015). "A
Mad Max 2 of his dead boyfriend's head) were shortened. Although there is a version of the film that includes the scenes trimmed down for the MPAA, no version without previous cuts exists. The musical score for "Mad Max 2" was composed and conducted by Australian composer Brian May, who had previously composed the music for the first film. A soundtrack album was released in 1982 by Varèse Sarabande. When "Mad Max" was released in 1980 in the United States, it did not receive a proper release from its distributor, American International Pictures. AIP was in the final stages of a change of