The “Percy Jackson” saga had two films released in 2010 and 2013 to adapt the plot of Rick Riordan’s books
In an interview with Variety (via Omelete), Craig Titleyscreenwriter of the series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” revealed his point of view on the failure of the feature film adaptations of the saga released between 2010 and 2013, stating that the main reason for the franchise’s failure was the lack of investment by part of Tom Rothmanformer president of 20th Century Fox.
He felt marketing could sell a well-known book series, so why spend a lot of money? But the special effects are bad. It doesn’t have the advantage that the books had,” explained Titley, adding that budget restrictions led to major changes to some of the most important moments in the first book, which ended up really upsetting the public.”
In addition to Titley, other sources involved in the production of the films gave their opinions to the magazine, saying they agreed with the screenwriter. “The problem was Rothman. He was famous for making cheap films. So if Harry Potter is what you’re aiming for, you’re automatically hurting the project.”
It is worth remembering that the first film in the franchise, “Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief”, cost US$95 million, that is, US$30 million less than another very popular saga: Harry Potter, which in “The Sorcerer’s Stone” , had a budget of US$125 million by Warner.
Due to the unsatisfactory results of films starring Logan Lermanthe author of the books,Rick Riordan He only started thinking about a new adaptation when Fox was acquired by Disney in 2019.
After the film experience, I basically left Hollywood aside for a long, long time. I really didn’t want to have anything to do with the industry. I spent many years saying, ‘I don’t want to get involved. I don’t want to think about other adaptations. I finished’. But when it started to become clear that something was going to happen with or without me, I had a long talk with Becky, my wife. We said, ‘Well, if something’s going to happen, it’s probably best to try one more time,'” the author said.
That way, Riordan managed to convince Disney to adapt the story of the demigod in a new format: a TV series, resulting in “Percy Jackson and the Olympians”, a production that debuts on December 20th on Disney+, and which, according to Variety sources, had as an average investment per episode, somewhere between US$ 12 and 15 million.
Source: Recreio
