Russell Crowe starred in a 2003 tactical war movie intended to start a new franchise, but despite 17 more books to adapt, it ended with just one release. The movie is Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World and stars Crowe as Jack Aubrey, a captain in the Royal Navy, and Paul Bettany as Dr. Stephen Maturin, the ship’s surgeon. The film was a pᴀssion project for Fox executive Tom Rothman, who brought in Peter Weir (The Truman Show) to direct it.

Master and Commander tells the story of Aubrey’s ship as he pursues a French war vessel around the waters of South America during the Napoleonic Wars. The film used replica ships and cost a very high $150 million to produce, and while it was a small box-office success, with $212 million nationwide, it wasn’t enough to earn a second Master and Commander movie. This was disappointing because Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World was also a critical success, with an 85% fresh Rotten Tomatoes and scoring 10 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture.

Russell Crowe’s Master & Commander Only Adapted 3 Out Of 20 Books It’s Based On

The First Movie Was Mostly Based On The Tenth Book

While Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World was just one film, it was also over two hours long and shockingly adapted three of the books in the Patrick O’Brian series. The film is based on the Aubrey-Maturin series, named after Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany’s characters. With that said, the film confused many of the novel series’ hardcore fans since it didn’t adapt one of the books in the series. Instead, this movie was based on three novels, with the main storyline coming from the tenth novel in the series, The Far Side of the World.

That said, Master and Commander changed the focus of the war from the War of 1812 to the Napoleonic Wars to make France the villain rather than the United States. However, while the first movie included parts of the тιтle of the first and 10th books, 17 more novels in the series could have been used to make more movies. The first book started at the turn of the 19th century and the War of the Second Coalition. The last book takes place after the Napoleonic Wars and is part of the fight for Chilean Independence from Spain from 1818 to 1820.

Why Master & Command 2 Never Happened (& Will It Ever?)

The Movie Didn’t Make Enough At The Box Office

While there are 17 more Aubrey-Maturin novels that could become a movie, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World was a one-and-done despite its small box office success and Oscar recognition. The film can’t even be blamed for losing at the Oscars since it faced Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. The main reason that there were no further Master and Commander movies was that the box office take was smaller than expected, and the laws of diminishing returns made future success questionable.

It has been 22 years since the first movie, so Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany can no longer play the roles, so any new film would have to reboot the entire franchise from scratch. Crowe even hinted in 2017 that he heard “whispers” that there could be a sequel, but that never happened. Fox then said they would prefer a Master and Commander prequel, which also didn’t come to pᴀss.

As for why the movie failed, Hollywood was changing at this time. Russell Crowe had great success in Gladiator, but in 2003, when Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World was aimed at adults, the biggest movies that year were different. They included the last Lord of the Rings movie, Spider-Man, and Pirates of the Caribbean, all movies geared toward families. Master and Commander was counterprogramming, but it failed to hit big, and with its biggest supporter, Tom Rothman, gone from Fox, the franchise died with just one movie.