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 concept of the hero", stating that this attempt "makes the film joyless", "sappy", and "sentimental". The film's depiction of a post-apocalyptic future was widely copied by other filmmakers and in science fiction novels, to the point that its gritty "junkyard society of the future look...is almost taken for granted in the modern science-fiction action film." "The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction" says that "Mad Max 2", "with all its comic-strip energy and vividness...is exploitation cinema at its most inventive." Richard Scheib called "Mad Max 2" "one of the few occasions where a sequel makes a dramatic improvement in quality over its