18 months ago, word leaked that Russell Crowe was captaining a possible return to sails on the Master and Commander film series, with an unnamed screenwriter turning in a sequel treatment to 20th Century Fox based on The Reverse of The Medal, the 11th novel in Patrick OBrians twenty book series. Unsurprisingly, Fox passed on the screenplay, probably because seafaring adventures aren't cheap to finance and the $94 million domestic return from a $150 million budget for the 2004 Best Picture nominated movie is hardly Pirates of the Caribbean numbers and the much-wanted sequel from those who crewed the original, remains anchored. Now Crowe, possibly in answer to a question from a fan, hints on twitter that one proactive way we could go about getting a sequel is to get typing and start demanding...
If you want a Master and Commander sequel I suggest you e-mail Tom Rothman at Fox and let him know your thoughts
It's quite possible original writer John Collee has wrote the sequel treatment which would find Aubrey in the Caribbean...
where he meets his illegitimate son Samuel Panda, a Catholic priest born from an illicit liaison.
And I would expect much like the first movie the script for the potential sequel has elements, characters and sub-plots derived from the wealth of material OBrian left behind after his death in 2000 and it wont all come from that one book alone. Of course another problem with a potential sequel is that Crowe isn't the box office name he was seven years ago. His attempt to recapture the mood of Gladiator with Ridley Scott's Robin Hood earlier this year similarly underperformed at the U.S. box office, only making back half of it's production cost and was only saved by Crowe's worldwide appeal. I expect Fox were looking very closely at Hood, and after it performed about as well as they expected... they have probably chucked Master and Commander 2 on the dusty rejected shelf for good. But fan demand certainly can't hurt. According to my contacts database, here's who you can contact about demanding a sequel.... To write or E-Mail Tom Rothman
20th Century Fox Theatricals ATTN: Tom Rothman (Master and Commander 2) P.O. Box 900 Beverly Hills, CA 90213-0900 foxmovies@fox.com
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is a beautiful seafaring adventure, one of the best the genre has ever produced and because of O'Brian's stunning collection of novels involving further compelling Aubrey adventures, the blueprint for a successful trilogy is of course already there, begging to be made. What we need is someone like James Cameron to jump on board as producer and convince his Avatar studio that the world needs a Master and Commander series. And for thousands of you guys to do the same.