22 years ago, 20th Century Fox honcho Tom Rothman indulged himself by launching “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World” from the harbor. Drawn from the Napoleonic Wars-set novels of Patrick O’Brien, this ocean-bound epic, budgeted at $150 million, was far from a commercial slam dunk. Mainstream audiences were developing a taste for zippy superhero flicks, and still preferred their action movies to be loud and stupid; very, very few people were clamoring for a movie in which lumbering frigates exchanged cannon fire on the high seas.
Rothman, a fan of O’Brien’s work, didn’t care. He astutely identified Peter Weir as the ideal director for the gig, and bought himself some movie star insurance by casting Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany as, respectively, Captain Jack Aubrey and ship’s surgeon Stephen Maturin. Rothman was also quite aware that Weir could shoot the majority of the film quite realistically at the Baja Studios tank built for James Cameron’s “Titanic.” It was a risk, but Rothman had a hunch he’d assembled the right creative team to bring O’Brien’s eminently readable books to life.
“Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World” grossed an okay $212 million worldwide, and earned 10 Academy Award nominations (winning two for Best Cinematography and Best Sound Editing). Russell Crowe was gung-ho about playing Aubrey again, but the film was very clearly a one-and-done endeavor. Fans of O’Brien were lucky to have it, but there was a limited appetite for this kind of material.
In 2025, Weir’s masterpiece is a beloved dad movie. It’s a wildly popular streaming title, sold out rapidly when it his 4K earlier this year, and, for the oldsters among us, it’s the perfect collapse-on-the-couch-and-watch-dudes-be-awesome flick. All these years later, is a sequel possible?
The time for a Master and Commander sequel has likely come and gone
While Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany have aged reasonably well, the 81-year-old Peter Weir has officially retired from filmmaking. I’m sure there’s a director out there who could make a worthy Aubrey-Maturin movie, but Weir’s aesthetic is inimitable. The next movie could likely be a CG-heavy hedged bet, which no one wants to see.
While Rothman is long gone from what is now called 20th Century Studios, the company does have a true-blue movie-loving executive in Steve Asbell (I think there’s a hint of him in Seth Rogen’s Matt Remick from “The Studio,” though Asbell is far more competent). As of last year, Asbell expressed hope that an Aubrey-Maturin prequel could happen. “I’m trying so hard,” he said. “It’s the first movie I worked on at Fox 20 years ago. We have a great script. It just needs the right director.” That script is by Patrick Ness, who wrote the “Chaos Walking” trilogy of novels. I trust Asbell to move forward with a satisfying prequel (he’s been a terrific steward of the “Predator” franchise with Dan Trachtenberg), but, man, Weir is a brutally tough act to follow.
I wish Asbell all the best. I also want so very much to live in a world where “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World” spawned multiple sequels. But I’m also content to live in a world where we got just one from a brilliant director like Weir. It’s a miracle that it exists at all.
