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: Fury Road action and a surprising amount of narrative heft, "Mad Max: Fury Road" brings George Miller's post-apocalyptic franchise roaring vigorously back to life." On Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating, the film has a score of 90 out of 100 based on 51 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade cinema audiences gave the film was a "B+" on an A+ to F scale. Robbie Collin of "The Daily Telegraph" gave the film a full five stars and praised the film for its acting, screenplay, choreography, stunts, humor, and direction calling the film a "spiritual sequel"