Logan Lerman, the star of the two Percy Jackson movies, took to Twitter this week to share his thoughts on the news that Disney Plus is developing a reboot of the franchise for the streaming service.
Percy Jackson arrived in theaters in 2010 at the height of the YA adaptation craze. The early ‘00s saw the success of Harry Potter and by the end of the decade, there were a number of copycats. Twilight and The Hunger Games proved to be massive franchises while others (see: The Mortal Instruments, The Host, Beautiful Creatures), not so much.
Circling back to Lerman, though, and here’s what he had to share:
Excited to see this! Hope it gets the adaptation the books deserve. Congrats @rickriordan https://t.co/ReE6EjJICV
— Logan Lerman (@LoganLerman) May 14, 2020
As fans can tell you, Fox made two Percy Jackson movies and they were moderately successful thanks in large part to Harry Potter, which had a similar narrative. Although, they never reached anywhere near the same heights as that franchise and after two films, the series ended.
So much has been made about Disney buying Fox and what that would mean for the future of the latter studio’s more adult-oriented properties. But when it comes to the family-friendly material, Percy Jackson looks like a perfect fit for the Mouse House. Author Rick Riordan agrees, too, as he recently had the following to say:
“For the past decade, you’ve worked hard to champion a faithful on-screen adaptation of Percy Jackson’s world. Some of you have even suggested it would be a great series for Disney+. We couldn’t agree more! We can’t say much more at this stage but we are very excited about the idea of a live-action series of the highest quality, following the storyline of the original Percy Jackson five-book series, starting with The Lightning Thief in season one. Rest assured that Becky and I will be involved in person in every aspect of the show. There will be much more news in the future, but for now, we have a lot of work to do! Buckle up, demigods. It’s going to be a fantastic exciting ride!”
Of course, Disney Plus is an ideal spot for something like this. YA adaptations becoming box office gold appear to be a thing of the past and instead of condensing a 350 page book into two hours, they’ll have the freedom to explore more of the material over the course of a 10-episode show.
It’s still too early to say for sure how things will turn out here, but Lerman likes the idea and Riordan seems very confident about the future of the series. All things considered, Percy Jackson might just end up being one of Disney’s more valuable properties once this project gets going.
