Short answers, pulled from the story.
Mad Max 2 was released in Australia on the 24th of December 1981. It received widespread critical acclaim and became the highest-grossing Australian film at the domestic box office at that time, earning A$10.8 million.
Warner Bros. renamed the film The Road Warrior because the first Mad Max was not well known to North American audiences. The advertising removed all references to Mel Gibson's character and avoided mentioning that the film was a sequel.
George Miller directed Mad Max 2 and co-wrote it with Terry Hayes and Brian Hannant. The screenplay was inspired by Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces, the work of Carl Jung, and the films of Akira Kurosawa.
Mad Max 2 was filmed over twelve weeks in the winter of 1981 near Broken Hill, New South Wales, Australia. Key locations included the Pinnacles, where the oil refinery compound was built, and Wilangee Road near the Mundi Mundi Plains lookout outside Silverton.
At the 24th Australian Film Institute Awards, Mad Max 2 won Best Direction, Best Editing, Best Production Design, Best Sound, and Best Costume Design. It received more nominations and wins than any other film at the ceremony but was not nominated for Best Film.
Mad Max 2 earned a worldwide total of $36 million in theatrical rentals. In the United States it grossed US$23.6 million, and outside the U.S. it earned rentals of $25 million including Australia, making it the highest-grossing Australian film worldwide at that time.