Percy Jackson (Disney+ Series)

[Himmel]

James Robin to direct pilot episode

[doctorD]

Not like this was already known...

‘Percy Jackson & The Olympians’ Lands Official Series Order At Disney+



Percy Jackson is officially coming to television.

Disney+ has handed a series order to Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

It comes from Rick Riordan, who wrote the original book series, which has more than 180M copies, and Jon Steinberg, the co-creator of FX on Hulu’s upcoming series The Old Man. The pair will write the pilot with James Bobin, director of The Mysterious Benedict Society, directing. The trio will also exec produce.

Production is set to start this summer with casting currently underway.

Steinberg will oversee the series with his producing partner Dan Shotz. Steinberg and Shotz serve as executive producers alongside Bobin, Rick Riordan, Rebecca Riordan, Bert Salke, the former Touchstone Television President who originally put the project into development, Monica Owusu-Breen, Jim Rowe and Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Jeremy Bell, D.J. Goldberg.

It is produced by 20th Television.

The series order was announced by Riordan on social media (you can see the video below).

Percy Jackson and the Olympians tells the fantastical story of a 12-year-old modern demigod, Percy Jackson, who’s just coming to terms with his newfound supernatural powers when the sky god Zeus accuses him of stealing his master lightning bolt. Now Percy must trek across America to find it and restore order to Olympus.

It was previously adapted as a film Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief in 2010 followed by Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters in 2013.

Ayo Davis, president of Disney Branded Television, said, “With Rick Riordan, Jon Steinberg and Dan Shotz leading our creative team, we’re deep into creating a compelling TV series worthy of the heroic mythological characters that millions of Percy Jackson readers know are well-worth caring about, and we’re eager to invite Disney+ audiences into stories that are true to the blockbuster franchise and full of anticipation, humor, surprise, and mystery.”

20th Television President Karey Burke added, “Bringing Rick Riordan’s brilliant Percy Jackson books to Disney+ as a television series has been a mission for so many of us at this company as well as for Rick himself, and Jon, Dan, James and the excellent team they have assembled have proven to be the perfect collaborators. Thanks to our friends at Disney Branded Television led by Ayo, and Disney Streaming led by Michael, this will be an adaptation for the ages, with all the excitement, action and mythology fans of the books expect and love.”

[Dalekbuster523Bluray]

Originally Posted by doctorD

Not like this was already known...

If done well, this could prove as successful as recent hits such as His Dark Materials and Alex Rider.

[kevin87]

https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/per...ll-1235228353/

The “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series at Disney Plus has cast Walker Scobell in the lead role, Variety has learned exclusively.

[Moviefan2k4]

I liked the first movie, but I'm not sure about a series. I never read any of the books, but this could be interesting if it honors the source material.

[kevin87]

Originally Posted by Moviefan2k4

I liked the first movie, but I'm not sure about a series. I never read any of the books, but this could be interesting if it honors the source material.

The book author's writing the pilot, and seems like he was involved with development, or at least was looped in. I liked the first movie also, but a book series is probably better told as a TV show, as long as it's not a ton of episodes a season. Then each book could take the time it needs, and not reliant on a certain box office number to get more films.

Also, this kid looks the right age. I may like Logan Lerman well enough, but he was definitely not 12 lol

[Patricier21]

Starting to realize that the Movies are not as bad as you think? :-) The movie cast was way more accurate to the books in not only appearance but even in their overall personalities for what they would be like if they were older and had those kind of things happen to them for the first time at that age. We have course could’ve gone a lot more if people weren’t so stubborn and fussy and had actually given the Movies a chance instead of being whiny and complaining over them changing things from the Books,pretty much all of which really should’ve been changed

[Patricier21]

If I may ask, what are your thoughts on the movies? Have you ever read the graphic novels, and what are your thoughts on them? Because in many ways, they are actually way more loyal to the books than the show is, of which I can definitely state even more than based on what we know so far

[Patricier21]

Originally Posted by PatchofBlue post_id=766253 time=1690138225 user_id=285269

I have fondness for the movies. That's not to say that I think that they're these fine works of high art, but I enjoy them just fine.

I should probably say up front that in the framework of adaptation, a film's internal coherency is much more important to me than "faithfulness." It doesn't really bother me that the movies took generous liberties with the source material. Mind you, they're also not particularly good movies either, but I also don't think that the books were fantastic, so it's not really a fall from grace. I was over the moon for them when I was in their target demographic, but revisiting the Percy Jackson books years after the fact, they still feel kind of locked in that junior high mindset. Like, the Harry Potter books to me aren't beyond scrutiny, but they still hold up just fine revisiting them as an adult in a way that Percy Jackson stories haven't.

Where the movies' flaws are regularly discussed in and out of the fandom, the books have loads of problems that are just kind of ignored. Basically, I see them as fun but messy books that were adapted in fun but messy movies.

I remain excited for this new series because I do think the foundations of the story are interesting, such that with proper filmmaking, we can still get something really entertaining. I've been intrigued by some of the casting decisions (Heaven smiled when Toby Stephens was cast as Poseidon), and Disney appears to be putting a lot of resources into the making and marketing of this show.

Given that this series is basically being marketed almost entirely on Rick Riordan's involvement and the promise of a "faithful adaptation," I'm certain this will end up being largely accurate to his books. Again, more or less fidelity to the source material won't necessarily make this a stronger series, but I'm open to seeing what they've got.

I never read the graphic novel.

First of all, I must say that I thank you for expressing your views on this, Of which happened to be very similar to mine :-) I’m glad that there is more people who are admitting that the books have problems that fans are (understateably) very ignorant to, and are actually acting quite toxic towards their viewpoints with the series, acting like it’s the greatest thing ever that’s completely flawless, even being quite ignorant towards things like the graphic novel, again being as loyal to the books as is possible to get, and which even the tv series will NEVER EVER get anymore loyal to; One fan I’ve encountered even stated “there are no pictures” in regards to the books, even after telling them about the GRAPHIC novels, In regards to why they so desperately want the movies to be so loyal to the books……

All of this being said is also why I want this TV series to be canceled, and have them continue the movies. Per what I’ve said before, is that we already have as “shot for shot” loyal (which is apparently what the fans truly want), adaptations with the graphic novels, and the fact that at least in live action, the series just doesn’t translate well unless it is approached like what they did with the movies. There is a reason why they had to change and do what they did with them, because it just doesn’t work as it’s too unbelievable; I mean look at the Mysterious Benedict Society, also based on a similar book series, also a Disney+ series, and it even had the same Director direct the pilot and maybe some other episodes (And that director, James Bobin, has had quite an unlucky track record with Disney lately: Muppets most wanted, Alice through the looking glass (which I quite really like BTW :-), and again, Mysterious Benedict Society overall). You also look at other similar things like Spy Kids, which is also very similar and was decently beloved, only to have it not hold up well like you and Disney’s Divinity have stated when you get older as opposed to things like Harry Potter, and well most of Disney overall. I agree that the movies could’ve been quite a bit better, And are certainly messy, but at least they are a step in the right direction and at least tried to have something work, and as is, they both were actually decently successful, even if not huge hits, and there’s a decent chance they actually could’ve continued the movies if Fox wasn’t going through financial issues shortly after/around when the second one was coming out.

Another thing to keep in mind to is of course that people are quite frankly becoming way too picky and reliant on other people‘s reactions and “current trends“ to truly appreciate and enjoy things. You’re seeing that with a lot of pretty much everything which is why a lot of things including superhero movies in regards to entertainment overall have not been doing that well, but again they actually could have done at the very least a little bit better if people stood up and actually checked things out for themselves, again instead of just going with what other people are thinking, as if afraid that if they do that they were gonna look bad and they are “wrong”, which if anything, is literally always the exact opposite, no matter what no matter how otherwise it may seem

[rikraq]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzHMAXqFFvc

Looks pretty good.

[joshsquash729]

Really excited for this one. The books were coming out as I was growing up and right in that sweet spot teen demographic that it was aimed for. I'm sure the show will be cheesy, but so are the books. Helped me learn alot about Greek mythology. I'll watch it without shame.

[rikraq]

I read the books as an adult and loved them. I enjoyed the 2 movies even though they left a lot out.

[spider-neil]

Sooooo much better than the movies.
I'm actually excited to see Harry Potter given this treatment.

[Blu-Benny]

really enjoyed the first episode. waiting to watch the 2nd until tonight.

[spider-neil]

One Piece and now this. Maybe streaming has finally understood how to adapt media.

[MifuneFan]

When I went to the theater the other day there was apparently a special screening for this. They had a table with popcorn and refreshments to give out to people. I never got around to watching the films, so I'm not sure if I should check those out first and then watch this.

[Det. Bullock]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

When I went to the theater the other day there was apparently a special screening for this. They had a table with popcorn and refreshments to give out to people. I never got around to watching the films, so I'm not sure if I should check those out first and then watch this.

The movies just miss the point of the books completely from what my brother tells me and what I've read so I don't think they are worth it unless you want to comment on them.

[Chedwiggen]

Never read the books or saw the movies but I think I'll give this a try sometime soon.

[spider-neil]

Some showrunners just don't understand how to translate books to film or TV. It's not just about putting the words on the screen, you have to ADAPT it. The most important thing is to keep the essence of the book but make changes so it flows.

When you read a book, if you want to spend a few minutes or however long you like on a page you can do that but you can't do that with movies/TV it has to flow. You have to know what to reveal and what to withhold and when. Reveal too much and the audience will be ahead of you and get bored. Reveal too little and the audience will be confused. JK Rowling just didn't understand that a that's why (IMHO) Fantastic Beasts sucked. And the screenwriter for the Percy Jackson movies also didn't understand this and that's why the movies sucked.

[Det. Bullock]

Originally Posted by spider-neil

Some showrunners just don't understand how to translate books to film or TV. It's not just about putting the words on the screen, you have to ADAPT it. The most important thing is to keep the essence of the book but make changes so it flows.

When you read a book you want to spend a few minutes or however long you like on a page but you can't do that with movies/TV it has to flow. You have to know what to reveal and what to without and when. Reveal too much and the audience will be ahead of you and get bored. Reveal too little and the audience will be confused. JK Rowling just didn't understand that an that's why (IMHO) Fantastic Beasts sucked. And the screenwriter for the Percy Jackson movies also didn't understand this and that's why the movies sucked.

One thing someone once told me about the PJ movies is that they probably tried to make them more like Twilight.
In the original the romance doesn't even come up in the first book, Annabeth has a crush but that crush is Luke Castellan but in the movie they put various sexual tension moments between her and PJ and of course aged them up so they'd be of similar age to the Twilight protagonists and could be used for sexy character posters.
It didn't really occur to me but it makes a horrible amount of sense, they thought Harry Potter style kids films were out so they decided to have their Potter-like IP be a stand-in for Twilight since it was already in the pipeline.