Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome installments of the "Mad Max" series, "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" has influenced popular culture in various regards. The term "thunderdome" is now used in various contexts in which its meaning is similar to the sense in which it appears in the film. That is, a contest where the loser suffers a great hardship, though it has also come to mean, more generically, the state of the world following a nuclear apocalypse, or any place where chaos is the norm. Filmmaker Chris Weitz has cited the film as an influence. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (also known as
Mad Max 2 ownership after being bought by Filmways, Inc. a year earlier. AIP's problems affected the release of the film and its box office in the US, although "Mad Max" proved much more successful when released internationally. Warner Bros. decided to release "Mad Max 2" in the United States, but they recognised that the first film was not popular in North America. Although the original "Mad Max" was becoming popular through cable channel showings, Warner Bros. decided to change the name of its sequel to "The Road Warrior". The advertising for the film, including print ads, trailers, and TV commercials, did not