Percy Jackson & the Olympians (also known as Percy Jackson) is a two-film series based on the novel series of the same name by the author Rick Riordan. The series was distributed by 20th Century Fox, produced by 1492 Pictures and consists of two installments. The first film, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010), was directed by Chris Columbus and was released on February 12, 2010. The second installment, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, was originally intended to be released in March 2013 but was instead pushed back to August 7, 2013, and was directed by Thor Freudenthal. While the film series was intended to match the five novel book series, and the second film laid the foundation for a third film, further films were never produced. The shortened series has grossed nearly $430 million at the worldwide box office.
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 Percy Jackson logo as used in the second film | |
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Release date | 2010–2013 |
Running time | 224 minutes |
| Countries | United States Canada |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $185 million |
| Box office | $428.7 million |
The films follow the adventures of demigod Percy Jackson and his comrades at the demigod training ground of Camp Half-Blood. In the first film, Percy must go on a quest to save his mother from the underworld and prove his innocence when he is accused of stealing lightning from Zeus. The second film revolves around Percy’s escapades as he must retrieve the legendary Golden Fleece from the Sea of Monsters, or the Bermuda triangle, which is the only thing that will save the camp from the forces of darkness.
Films
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010)
In June 2004, 20th Century Fox acquired feature film rights to the book.[1] In April 2007, director Chris Columbus was hired to helm the project.[2] Filming began in April 2009 in Vancouver.[3] The film was released on February 12, 2010 and was met with mixed reviews upon release and was a commercial success and grossed almost $227 million at the worldwide box office against a budget of $95 million. The plot revolves around a sixteen-year-old Percy Jackson who discovers that he is the son of Poseidon, Greek God of the sea, and goes to Camp Half-Blood, a training camp for demigods, the half mortal children of Greek gods. When Percy's mom is kidnapped by Hades, and Percy is accused of stealing Zeus' lightning bolt, Percy and his friends go on a quest to rescue his mom from the underworld, leading them across America to find Persephone's pearls, while proving that Percy is not the lightning thief and is innocent.
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013)
In October 2011, 20th Century Fox announced a sequel based on the second book, The Sea of Monsters.[4] The film was released on August 7, 2013. Percy Jackson, son of Greek god Poseidon, discovers he has a half-brother, Tyson, and embarks on a journey with his friends to retrieve the Golden Fleece to save a magical tree containing the spirit of Zeus's daughter Thalia who died at the gates of Camp Half-Blood while saving Annabeth, Luke and Grover. This tree protects their training ground, Camp Half-Blood. They must travel to the Sea of Monsters to save it, and find the challenges that may await them. The film grossed just over $202 million at the worldwide box office.
Television series
On December 12, 2019, author Rick Riordan revealed on Twitter that he had begun meeting with Disney about a possible adaptation, but stated that it was "way too early to know what if anything might happen", but said he would "keep at it".[5] On May 14, 2020, Riordan announced on Twitter that Disney would be producing a live-action television series following the story of the series, with the first season adapting The Lightning Thief. Riordan also confirmed that he, along with his wife Becky, would be involved in the development of the series, a significant departure from the film series, in which Riordan was mostly shut out of the filmmaking process. Riordan confirmed on June 13, 2021, that the search for a director is underway, after which the casting process can begin.[6] The series will be released on Disney+.[7]
Cast/Crew
Cast
Crew
| Film | Director | Producer | Writer | Composer | Editor | Cinematographer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief | Chris Columbus | Karen Rosenfelt Chris Columbus Michael Barnathan Mark Radcliffe |
Craig Titley | Christophe Beck | Peter Honess | Stephen Goldblatt |
| Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters | Thor Freudenthal | Karen Rosenfelt Chris Columbus Michael Barnathan |
Marc Guggenheim | Andrew Lockington | Mark Goldblatt | Shelly Johnson |
Criticism
Rick Riordan, the author of the book series, has mentioned in numerous interviews that he has never seen the movies, to keep them from influencing the way he views the characters.[8] During March 2016, Riordan wrote a letter asking teachers not to show the movie to students during class time.[9] Both movies received a great amount of criticism from readers due to how much they deviated from the original stories. The second movie, for example, was criticized by fans for having merged the plots of both the second and fifth books of the series. In 2018, Riordan made a post titled "Memories from my TV/Movie Experience" on his official website. In this post, he wrote about how limited his influence on the movies was. He additionally made public some of the e-mails he sent to the movie producers, in which he expressed concern over the ways they were altering his stories. "As I've said many times, once I saw the final script and saw what they were doing on the set, I realized I had to step away for my own peace of mind", Riordan commented. However, he still acknowledges that he is "eternally grateful that the movies brought so many people to the books. That is a wonderful thing movies can do for books, and all authors dream about getting that opportunity".
Reception
Box office performance
| # | Film | Release date | Box office gross | Box office ranking | Budget | Ref(s) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America | Other territories | Worldwide | All time North America |
All time worldwide | |||||
| 1 | The Lightning Thief | February 12, 2010 | $88,768,303 | $137,728,906 | $226,497,209 | #651 | #495 | $95,000,000 | [10] |
| 2 | Sea of Monsters | August 7, 2013 | $68,519,879 | $133,728,197 | $202,247,751 | #937 | #581 | $90,000,000 | [11] |
| Total | $157,288,182 | $271,456,667 | $428,744,970 | $185,000,000 | |||||
Critical and public response
| # | Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Lightning Thief | 49% (150 reviews)[12] | 47 (31 reviews)[13] | B+[14] |
| 2 | Sea of Monsters | 42% (118 reviews)[15] | 39 (35 reviews)[16] | B+[14] |
References
- ^ Brodesser, Claude (June 23, 2004). "'Lightning Thief' strikes Maverick". Variety. Archived from the original on May 15, 2009. Retrieved May 15, 2009.
- ^ Gilstrap, Peter (April 17, 2007). "Columbus struck by 'Lightning'". Variety. Archived from the original on May 15, 2009. Retrieved May 15, 2009.
- ^ Siegel, Tatiana (March 25, 2009). "Fox 2000 bulks up 'Percy Jackson'". Variety. Archived from the original on May 15, 2009. Retrieved May 15, 2009.
- ^ Fox Moves Ahead With New 'Die Hard' and 'Percy Jackson' Films The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 31, 2013
- ^ "Rick Riordan on Twitter".
- ^ "Rick Riordan gives an update on Percy Jackson Disney+ series". Entertainment Weekly. June 15, 2021. Retrieved June 17, 2021.
- ^ Petski, Nellie Andreeva, Denise; Andreeva, Nellie; Petski, Denise (May 14, 2020). "'Percy Jackson' Series In The Works At Disney+". Deadline. Retrieved May 14, 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Frequently Asked Questions - Rick Riordan". RickRiordan.com. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
- ^ "Rick Riordan writes open letter about 'Percy Jackson' movies". Hypable.com. March 25, 2016. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
- ^ "Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 31, 2013.
- ^ "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: Sea of Monsters (2013)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 31, 2013.
- ^ "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 31, 2013.
- ^ "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved August 31, 2013.
- ^ a b "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com. Retrieved March 16, 2015.
- ^ "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: Sea of Monsters". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved August 31, 2013.
- ^ "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: Sea of Monsters Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved August 31, 2013.