Percy Jackson (film series)

Percy Jackson & the Olympians
Percy Jackson logo as used in the second film
Directed by	Chris Columbus (1) Thor Freudenthal (2)
Screenplay by	Craig Titley (1) Marc Guggenheim (2)
Produced by	Michael Barnathan Karen Rosenfelt Chris Columbus (1) Mark Radcliffe (1)
Starring	Logan Lerman Brandon T. Jackson Alexandra Daddario Jake Abel
Cinematography	Stephen Goldblatt (1) Shelly Johnson (2)
Edited by	Peter Honess (1) Mark Goldblatt (2)
Music by	Christophe Beck (1) Andrew Lockington (2)
Production companies	Fox 2000 Pictures 1492 Pictures Sunswept Entertainment Dune Entertainment (1) TSG Entertainment (2)
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date	2010–2013
Running time	224 minutes
Countries	United States Canada
Budget	$185 million
Box office	$428.7 million

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 in total grossed nearly $430 million at the worldwide box office. A reboot television series premiered on Disney+ in December 2023.

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)

Main article: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

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. It was met with mixed reviews upon release and was a commercial success, grossing 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)

Main article: Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters

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 a Cyclops, 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 Grace who died at the gates of Camp Half-Blood while saving Annabeth, Luke and Grover. This tree protects their training ground, Camp Half-Blood and reinforces their borders. They must travel to the Sea of Monsters to save the fleece, and conquer the challenges that may await them. The film grossed just over $202 million at the worldwide box office.

Cast and crew

Cast

List indicators

This section includes characters who have appeared in the films.

• An empty grey cell indicates the character was not in the film.
•  ^Y indicates a younger version of the character.

Character	Film
	The Lightning Thief (2010)[5]	Sea of Monsters (2013)[6]
Main characters
Percy Jackson	Logan Lerman
Annabeth Chase	Alexandra Daddario	Alexandra Daddario Alisha Newton^Y
Grover Underwood	Brandon T. Jackson	Brandon T. Jackson Bjorn Yearwood^Y
Luke Castellan	Jake Abel	Jake Abel Samuel Braun^Y
Mr. Brunner / Chiron	Pierce Brosnan	Anthony Head[7]
Tyson	Does not appear	Douglas Smith[8]
Gods and Titans
Zeus	Sean Bean	Sean Bean (Deleted scene)
Poseidon	Kevin McKidd	Mentioned
Hades	Steve Coogan
Hera	Erica Cerra	Does not appear
Athena	Melina Kanakaredes	Mentioned
Hermes	Dylan Neal	Nathan Fillion[9]
Demeter	Stefanie von Pfetten	Does not appear
Apollo	Dimitri Lekkos	Does not appear
Artemis	Ona Grauer	Does not appear
Mr. D / Dionysus	Luke Camilleri	Stanley Tucci
Ares	Ray Winstone	Mentioned
Aphrodite	Serinda Swan
Hephaestus	Conrad Coates	Does not appear
Persephone	Rosario Dawson	Does not appear
Kronos	Mentioned	Robert Knepper
Camp Half-Blood demigods
Clarisse La Rue	Does not appear	Leven Rambin
Chris Rodriguez	Does not appear	Grey Damon
Humans
Sally Jackson	Catherine Keener	Does not appear
Gabe Ugliano	Joe Pantoliano	Does not appear

Crew

Film	Director	Producer	Writer	Composer	Editor	Cinematographer
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief	Chris Columbus	Mark Radcliffe, Chris Columbus, Karen Rosenfelt & Michael Barnathan	Craig Titley	Christophe Beck	Peter Honess	Stephen Goldblatt
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters	Thor Freudenthal	Chris Columbus, Karen Rosenfelt & Michael Barnathan	Marc Guggenheim	Andrew Lockington	Mark Goldblatt	Shelly Johnson

Reception

Further information on the reception of each film: Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief § Reception, and Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters § Reception

Box office performance

Film	Release date	Box office gross			Box office ranking		Budget	Ref.
		North America	Other territories	Worldwide	All time North America	All time worldwide
The Lightning Thief	February 12, 2010	$88,768,303	$137,728,906	$226,497,209	#651	#495	$95,000,000	[10]
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[12]
The Lightning Thief	49% (150 reviews)[13]	47 (31 reviews)[14]	B+
Sea of Monsters	42% (118 reviews)[15]	39 (35 reviews)[16]	B+

Criticism from the author

Rick Riordan, the author of the book series, has mentioned in numerous interviews that he has never seen the films, to keep them from influencing the way he views the characters.^[17] During March 2016, Riordan wrote a letter asking teachers not to show the films to students during class time.^[18] Both films received criticism for their deviation from the source material, with the second film in particular being criticized for having merged the plots of both the second and fifth books of the series. In 2018, Riordan wrote a blog post detailing how limited his influence on the production of the films was, while also making public some of the e-mails he sent to the films' producers, in which he expressed concern over the ways they were altering his stories.^[19]

Music

Soundtracks to Percy Jackson films

Title	U.S. release date	Length	Composer(s)	Label
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)	February 5, 2010 (2010-02-05)	59:07	Christophe Beck	ABKCO
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)	August 6, 2013 (2013-08-06)	1:08:54	Andrew Lockington	Sony Classical

Reboot

Main article: Percy Jackson and the Olympians (TV series)

The rights to the Percy Jackson novels were transferred to Disney following its acquisition of 21st Century Fox in 2019.^[20] In May 2020, Riordan announced 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.^[21] The series was greenlit in January 2022,^[22] began production in June 2022,^[23] and premiered on Disney+ on December 19, 2023.^[24]

References

1. Brodesser, Claude (June 23, 2004). "'Lightning Thief' strikes Maverick". Variety. Archived from the original on April 30, 2009. Retrieved May 15, 2009.
2. Gilstrap, Peter (April 17, 2007). "Columbus struck by 'Lightning'". Variety. Archived from the original on April 24, 2009. Retrieved May 15, 2009.
3. Siegel, Tatiana (March 25, 2009). "Fox 2000 bulks up 'Percy Jackson'". Variety. Archived from the original on April 30, 2009. Retrieved May 15, 2009.
4. Fox Moves Ahead With New 'Die Hard' and 'Percy Jackson' Films The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 31, 2013
5. Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010), retrieved October 25, 2017
6. "Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters". Reelz Channel. Archived from the original on February 8, 2010. Retrieved February 10, 2010.
7. "Anthony Head to Play Chiron in 'Percy Jackson' Sequel". Archived from the original on January 5, 2013. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
8. "'Percy' sequel zeroes in on Smith". February 16, 2012. Archived from the original on April 22, 2012. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
9. "Nathan Fillion to Play Hermes in 'Percy Jackson' Sequel". The Hollywood Reporter. March 15, 2012. Archived from the original on April 28, 2012. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
10. "Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 31, 2013.
11. "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: Sea of Monsters (2013)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved August 31, 2013.
12. "CinemaScore". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on April 13, 2022. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
13. "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on January 27, 2013. Retrieved August 31, 2013.
14. "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on November 3, 2020. Retrieved August 31, 2013.
15. "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: Sea of Monsters". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on August 7, 2024. Retrieved August 31, 2013.
16. "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: Sea of Monsters Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on November 9, 2017. Retrieved August 31, 2013.
17. "Frequently Asked Questions - Rick Riordan". RickRiordan.com. April 5, 2016. Archived from the original on November 14, 2016. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
18. "Rick Riordan writes open letter about 'Percy Jackson' movies". Hypable.com. March 25, 2016. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
19. "Memories from my TV/Movie Experience | Rick Riordan". November 16, 2018. Archived from the original on November 17, 2018. Retrieved March 22, 2022.
20. Rought, Karen (December 1, 2019). "'Percy Jackson' reboot may happen at Disney, according to Rick Riordan". Hypable. Archived from the original on June 6, 2022. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
21. Andreeva, Nellie; Petski, Denise (May 14, 2020). "'Percy Jackson' Series In The Works At Disney+". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on May 14, 2020. Retrieved April 11, 2022.
22. White, Peter (January 25, 2022). "'Percy Jackson & The Olympians' Lands Official Series Order At Disney+". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on April 17, 2022. Retrieved January 25, 2022.
23. Otterson, Joe (June 2, 2022). "'Percy Jackson' Disney+ Series Adds Five to Cast, Including Megan Mullally and Jason Mantzoukas (Exclusive)". Variety. Archived from the original on June 3, 2022. Retrieved June 2, 2022.
24. Hailu, Selome (August 18, 2023). "'Percy Jackson' Teaser Gives First Look at Greek Gods and Monsters, Reveals Disney+ Premiere Date". Variety. Archived from the original on August 18, 2023. Retrieved August 18, 2023.