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 (soundtrack) they wanted was the sort that Bernard Herrmann and Co. did in Hitchcock films," recalled May, "because they had a big action movie and they needed a score to propel it along and give it a lot of bite and energy. So it just happened that they were rather friendly with Richard Franklin, and they were at his house for dinner one evening when he played them the music for "Patrick"." Combining classical orchestration with mechanical sounds, May's work on "Mad Max" is notable for its distinctive soundscape that interacts with the film's diegetic sounds. ""Mad Max" was a strongly