10 Movies Released At The Wrong Time
3. Master & Commander: Far Side Of The World
Master & Commander is a good film that feels like the start of a great franchise, but unfortunately it wasn’t to be.
Released a few months after the runaway success of Pirates Of The Caribbean and just two weeks before the dramatic conclusion of The Lord Of The Rings saga with Return Of The King, Master & Commander was between a rock and a hard place.
Pirates was much more fun and swashbuckling, while Master told a deeper, more character driven story. Still, with so few movies being seafaring, nautical adventures, they were naturally compared, releasing so close together.
Few would argue that in terms of acting, direction and overall story, Master & Commander was better put together. However, with Johnny Depp stealing the show as Jack Sparrow, it didn’t matter what the rest of the Pirates movie was like; Master & Commander didn’t have Jack Sparrow, and that was enough for most to view it as second best.
The film reviewed very well, and even nabbed two Oscars, But was massively overshadowed through awards season by Return Of The King, and quickly faded into obscurity.
It’s not the first time this has happened to Russell Crowe either.