9. Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World
What's it about? Peter Weir's epic drama stars Russell Crowe as Captain Jack Aubrey, tasked with helming the HMS Suprise and pursue the French privateer Acheron across the high seas. As the game of cat and mouse intensifies Aubrey soon realises that it'll take more than brute force to emerge the victor and plans a decisive act of deception which will bring the Acheron down for good. Why was it doomed to fail? Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World's failure was almost entirely out of the hands of those involved in its production - Weir's attention to period detail and his commitment in bringing the awe and terror of combat on the ocean waves to the big screen is almost unparalleled in movie history. In short, it's a damn good movie. But a $150 million period piece set during the Napoleonic Wars - even with Crowe in the lead and a some spectacular action set pieces - is a hard sell, and Master And Commander failed to generate enough revenue to justify a sequel. Crowe's huge fee was certainly a factor, while the lack of female characters proved to be off-putting to a wider demographic. Russell Crowe even launched an appeal, saying, "If you want a Master and Commander sequel I suggest you e-mail Tom Rothman at Fox and let him know your thoughts". Clearly, Rothman didn't receive enough requests.
