Enter the wasteland with our top 10 post-apocalyptic movies
Mad for Max? Here’s our top 10 post-apocalyptic blockbusters you should watch this weekend.
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If you want to get in the mood to see Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, or you’ve seen it and don’t want the tale to end, the good news is you don’t have to reside in a cinematic desert, as there are plenty of wasteland films to watch now.
Here’s our pick of the top 10 post-apocalyptic movies to binge on.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
Filmed in Sydney’s Disney Studios, this is also in cinemas now, so you can enjoy another chapter in the long-running Apes franchise, which began with the 1968 movie starring Charlton Heston and Roddy McDowall.
Waterworld
In 1995, much was made of Waterworld’s budget blowout – it cost $A260m to make, but took $396m worldwide – and it received mixed reviews. But Kevin Costner’s post-apocalyptic epic set in a submerged world is worth another visit.
The Postman
If Costner almost drowned in the sea of bad news around Waterworld, he was eviscerated with his dry-land tale The Postman two years later. However, The Postman, about a drifter who dons a postie’s uniform, is lately having a second delivery.
The Book of Eli
This more successful movie about a post-apocalyptic drifter (seeing a pattern, yet?) came in 2010, starring Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman and Mila Kunis. The story follows a loner who guards a precious book.
Snowpiercer
A change from dusty wastelands, this story takes place on a train of survivors, which circumnavigates the world, on which a class system has inevitably emerged. Starring Chris Evans, Jamie Bell and Tilda Swinton, it proved just the ticket in 2013 and is now a TV series on Netflix.
I am Legend
Way before his Oscars slap, Will Smith starred in I Am Legend, about a lone scientist who is the only hope to reverse a deadly virus that has taken over the world. This 2007 hit took $A878m worldwide at the box office. Smith is now making a sequel, which is due out next year.
The Omega Man
If you like I am Legend, see the other adaptations of the 1954 Richard Matheson novel it was based on – The Omega Man (1971), starring Charlton Heston, and The Last Man on Earth (1964), starring Vincent Price.
Children of Men
It got three Oscar nods, but 2006’s Children of Men deserved to do much better at the box office. Clive Owen stars as an ex-activist taking a pregnant woman to safety in a post-apocalyptic world where women are infertile. It co-stars Julianne Moore, Michael Caine and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
28 Days Later
Oppenheimer’s Cillian Murphy’s breakthrough role came in Danny Boyle’s 2002 movie 28 Days Later, playing a survivor of a zombie apocalypse. Written by The Beach’s Alex Garland, it returned in 2007 as 28 Weeks Later, starring Rose Byrne. Boyle, Garland and Murphy are teaming up again for 28 Years Later, also starring Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Ralph Fiennes.
The Road
Before Charlize Theron hit Fury Road, she starred in the 2009 adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road, with Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee. The film follows a father and son journeying to find good people and a better climate in a dying world.
BONUS: MAX OUT ON MAD MAX, IN ORDER
Mad Max (1979): The low-budget, high-voltage first movie by George Miller and Byron Kennedy made Mel Gibson a star, Mad Max a household name and became one of the most profitable movies of all time.
Mad Max 2 (1981): By his second movie, Miller was getting bigger budgets and Gibson bigger roles. The sequel made Maximum impact.
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985): With the third instalment, the budget was big and the hair even bigger – especially Tina Turner’s.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015): His journey to making movie No.4 was torturous, but George Miller’s hit with Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron won six Oscars and grossed $A570m.
Furiosa: a Mad Max Saga (2024): This prequel tells the story of Furiosa before she met Max. It received a standing ovation at Cannes.
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