Why The Percy Jackson Movies Should Be Remade

Have you ever read a book and fell in love with the content of it’s pages? Do you cherish the first book you’ve read, loved and obsessed over? To experience the book like one of the characters only to have them cut out in the film? So many book Fandoms crash and burn because of their movie adaptations, and all though it’s still thriving, the Percy Jackson Fangirls took quite a beating when the first movie came out in theatres, followed by an equally inaccurate, confusing and horrifyingly terrible sequel. Fans of the books practically go insane at the very mention the movie. Doubtless, most of these people despise the movies and the question has been asked many, many times; Should the Percy Jackson movie adaptations be re-made? Every sane PJO Otaku out there agrees. It’s honestly so sad to see one of the biggest parts of our childhood shamed by a series of underachieving films that have less work put into them then ISIS’s plan for world peace.

As stated before, the movies don’t stay true to the books. A fellow editor commented: “I understand completely that the series is based upon them but it’s so far off the rails that they might as well be trekking through the forests of hell, which is basically the same thing. Rick Riordan fluently created a world and story that blends perfectly into modern times, whereas the motion picture basically took Greece, plopped it on Long Island and sprayed it with a bottle of Angst. Not only did they miss so many important moments from the books, but the producers literally put the ending of the series in the second of five installments.” Quite frankly I agree. But of course, they’ll fix this plot hole, just like they did with the characters!

So many plot holes in so little time. But I have to say the biggest issue held by the readers is how incorrectly the producers re-created some of the most important characters. I’d like to point out the huge age gap the characters had between the books and the movies. Many would look over this fact, after all, it’s only four years, it can’t make that much of an overall difference. But from book one to five, we don’t just experience the fight scenes, the emotional plotline and the amazing creativity Uncle Rick put into his work, we witness this group of teens grow up and learn to fend for themselves in a world that literally wants to kill them (Rude Gaea, just rude). I find that twelve year old Percy’s personality grows from infantile and innocent to more mature and responsible by the end of the series, which is a much better character development than already-freaking-sixteen Percy from the first film.

Let’s be honest here: although the film industry is an entertainment based business, it’s still a business nevertheless. And anyone with half a mind knows that it’s never really about the movies, but the money implicated. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief had a budget of 95 million dollars and ended up making $226 496 209 for a profit of $131 496 209, while the second movie had a budget of 90 million dollars, making 199 million dollars with a total profit of 109 million dollars. Without subtracting the budget, theres a difference of roughly 27 million dollars. Assuming the tickets were about twenty dollars each, that's about 1.35 million people who didn’t watch the movie . Now, let’s take a quick look at the book sales. Within the first four years the first installment sold 1.8 million copies, only a little bit over the amount of people who didn’t watch the second movie after watching the first. Coincidence? I think not. And that’s only within that time frame. There’s an estimation of 400 million copies of the book sold worldwide. If the movie industry wanted profit, they invested in the right series, just perhaps not the best producer.

Not only do millions of fans agree, so does Logan Lerman, the actor casted as Percy. “It’s just not happening. It’s been a great experience for me,” Lerman says. “It’s opened up a lot of doors for me, but I don’t think it’s happening.” The actor himself, who many Demigods have said would’ve been a perfect Percy had he been twelve, simply doesn’t believe in the cinematic franchise. And it’s no surprise considering that he read the whole series before his audition in the hopes of portraying the son of Poseidon. What is a surprise however, as many people have said, is that it took a second movie for him to openly admit it. Percy Jackson 3 is still on hiatus.

We’ve reviewed several reasons why the movies are terrible and, frankly, the franchise could’ve been an amazing success given the size of it’s fanbase; profits could’ve skyrocketed, actors could’ve become even more famous and the fans pleased. I strongly believe that the movies should be remade; they completely disregarded the characters age, the plot line, and even left quite a few characters out of the final cut. The budget was relatively large and they could’ve spent a little bit more money on the producers instead of the CGI editing. Don’t get me wrong, the special effects look great, but in the end I would’ve preferred a more accurate movie series. It’s somewhat astonishing that the creators of the movies haven’t caught on to the goldmine waiting for them in a Percy Jackson remake. But who knows what awaits the PJO fandom? The third movie has been on hiatus for quite a long time, so it’s entirely possible that they’re working on the draft for a new and, hopefully, better Percy Jackson series.

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