Lucky Jack Aubrey is back on the high seas! And it only took 18 years for it to happen. In what I find to be an unusual move for Disney and 20th Century Studios, they’ve hired Patrick Ness (A Monster Calls) to pen a prequel to 2003’s Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.
Master and Commander was directed by Peter Weir and starred Russell Crowe as Captain Jack Aubrey with Paul Bettany as ship doctor Dr. Stephen Maturin. The two would butt heads while battling the French from their ship the HMS Surprise during the Napoleonic Wars.
The film was based on the nearly two dozen Aubrey novels by author Patrick’s O’Brian. Deadline says the new prequel could be based on the first of O’Brian’s books, titled Master and Commander, which finds a young Aubrey and Maturin sailing together for the first time and facing a Spanish Naval boat.
Master and Commander was not a huge hit despite the accolades it received, including 10 Oscar nominations and 2 victories. The film only made $211M worldwide on a $150M budget, killing, or I guess delaying nearly two decades, hopes for any sequels.
Ness is the bestselling author behind A Monster Calls and the Chaos Walking series, both of which have been adapted into feature films he wrote.
I just don’t see where 20th Century can possibly think a Master and Commander movie could be a box office success right now unless the budget is on the smaller side. If we’re only looking at recognizable brand, it’s just for fans of O’Brian or Weir, and that is definitely not a very large contingent.
