And by "destroying" the relationship of trust by allegedly refusing to pay a bonus for delivering the movie under budget and breaching a co-financing agreement, they were unable to work together to make any further instalments.

To the delight of fans, Miller has long had scripts for Mad Max 5 and 6 ready to shoot. But with his production company suing Warner Bros for unpaid earnings from Fury Road, they are now mired in litigation. The falling out emerged in a Supreme Court of NSW ruling late last year that the dispute should be heard here rather than in California. Brutally difficult movie to shoot: Mad Max: Fury Road

Despite all the acclaim for Fury Road, documents filed in the case suggest extended conflict over the budget and what scenes should be shot, including the ending. Both sides have different views of the "final net cost" of the movie, the key factor in whether Kennedy Miller Mitchell is eligible for a $US7 million ($9 million) bonus for making the movie under the agreed budget of $US157 million and a share of proceeds. The production company has claimed Fury Road cost $US154.6 million; the studio claimed it blew out to $US185.1 million. Warner Bros alleged that instead of a 120-minute movie that was rated R in the US - MA 15+ in Australia - the contract required the company to make a 100-minute movie that was rated no harder than PG-13. And Kennedy Miller Mitchell claimed it only found out that Warner Bros had brought on the James Packer-Brett Ratner-founded Ratpac and Dune Entertainment as co-financiers when it was directed to give an executive producer credit to Steven Mnuchin, now the US Secretary of the Treasury in the Trump administration.

By any measure, Fury Road was a brutally difficult movie to shoot. After extended heavy rain around Broken Hill, Miller and producer Doug Mitchell had to take their cast, crew and vehicles to South Africa and Namibia in 2012. In the court documents, their company has claimed: Warner Bros insisted certain scenes in the script not be shot - including those around Immortan Joe's Citadel - with new scenes instead and a new ending.

When Miller had a so-called "rough cut" of the movie, the studio made a series of decisions that caused "substantial changes and delays" to the production, including that the previously cut scenes and new ones be shot.

The studio directed there be at least 10 screenings of Fury Road and, after each one, requested further changes.

Warner Bros later approved a plan to shoot additional scenes costing $US31 million in late 2013, which required shipping vehicles back to Australia, reassembling the main cast and crew, re-creating an African set and extra post-production. And that these costs were to be excluded from the net cost of the movie. The studio arranged for Ratpac-Dune Entertainment to co-finance the movie despite being contractually required to offer Kennedy Miller Mitchell the first opportunity if it was required. In a cross-claim, Warner Bros alleged:

Fury Road "significantly exceeded the approved budget", with the extra costs largely caused by the production company, without the studio's written approval.

Production was delayed and costs had escalated during filming in 2012 to the point where, without the changes sought by the studio, the movie could not be completed on schedule for the approved budget.

The studio requested an alternative ending rather than insisting on it.

Kennedy Miller Mitchell agreed to fund some of the additional filming in 2013.

The release date was ultimately delayed by 14 months and the cost of production increased by $US31 million to $US185.1 million. George Miller and NIDA director Kate Cherry after the filmmaker talked to students about his career this week. Credit:James Brickwood Miller was in a philosophical mood when he spoke about his career to students at NIDA on Thursday night, reflecting on the directors who had influenced him most (Buster Keaton and Alfred Hitchcock) and what Jack Nicholson taught him about working with studios when they made The Witches of Eastwick together ("they mistake politeness for weakness; you've got to make them think you're crazy"). Afterwards, the Oscar-winning director said he had used the time since Fury Road's release to get a range of scripts ready to shoot. "There are a lot of options," he said. "I'm not sitting around grinding my teeth." On whether fans would ever get to see the next two Mad Max movies, Miller said he honestly did not know. "They're there but that's all I can say," he said. "That's in the future."