If you just look at the stunning success of dystopian YA adaptation Divergent, which raked in $56 million over the course of its opening weekend, you might start to believe that bringing beloved books to the big screen is a no-brainer. However, widening the scope a little shows that scoring hits with YA adaptations is a decidedly tricky business.
In the past twelve months alone, we’ve seen The Host, Beautiful Creatures, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Ender’s Game and Vampire Academy all flop spectacularly. And while Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, Fox’s second attempt to spin Rick Riordan’s bestselling adventure series into box office gold, wasn’t an outright failure, its returns have been less than impressive as well.
So, it wasn’t that surprising when, a few days ago, star Logan Lerman reportedly told MTV that Percy Jackson 3 is “not happening.” However, Lerman proceeded to backtrack in an interview with The Independent on Monday, saying that:
“That was taken out of context when I said that. I said I don’t know, I’ve never heard anything and it’s been a while since the second one was released, so I just haven’t heard anything about a third film. Unless they call me I think it’s unlikely… I would be surprised at this point [if they did call me] because usually you want to make them pretty quickly.”
Though Fox hasn’t yet said anything about a third film, which would adapt The Titan’s Curse, Lerman is game for another round. He also told The Independent that:
“If we want to make a third one I have to do it, I’m contractually obligated to three movies. I love those movies, they’re a lot of fun to make.”
Based on Lerman’s comments, Percy Jackson: The Titan’s Curse isn’t dead yet, but it doesn’t look good for the proposed threequel. After all, Sea of Monsters only grossed $23 million over an extended five-day opening weekend, a pretty mediocre sum for a franchise property. Reviewers were also none too kind to the film, though I personally found a fair amount to like about it.
However, a total gross of $202 million is nothing to shake a stick at (despite being a step down from Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief‘s approximate $227 million haul), so a third film may just eke out a green light. Given that Riordan’s series consists of five books, Fox might want to see the franchise through based on star power alone – with Lerman still attached to topline a third film, and co-star Alexandra Daddario’s star also rising, there are probably some serious talks going on over at the studio.
We’ll hear something one way or another about the fate of Percy Jackson 3 by this summer.
