For every series of novels which gets successfully translated to the big-screen, such as LORD OF THE RINGS or HARRY POTTER, there are countless others which can't quite cross the finish line. A decade ago, 20th Century Fox released PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF, an adaptation of the first novel in Rick Riordan's series, and while the film performed well enough to spawn a sequel, PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS, the franchise quickly fizzled out.
Although the PERCY JACKSON franchise is due for a reboot in the form of a Disney+ TV series, Rick Riordan is still hurting from how the previous films put his life's work "through the meat grinder." When a fan reached out to Riordan on Twitter regarding some censorship of the first film on Disney+, Riordan responded with a succinct take-down of the movie.
When a fan responded to the above tweet by saying, "It's refreshing that Uncle Rick hates the PJo movies even more than we do," Riordan said, "Well, to you guys, it's a couple hours entertainment. To me, it's my life's work going through a meat grinder when I pleaded with them not to do it. So yeah. But it's fine. All fine. We're gonna fix it soon . . ." Riordan continued, "Finally, I still have not seen the movies, and don't plan on ever doing so. I judge them from having read the scripts, because I care most about the story. I certainly have nothing against the very talented actors. Not their fault. I'm just sorry they got dragged into that mess." While Riordan defintiely isn't shy about expressing his dislike for the PERCY JACKSON movies, it seems that he'll be more involved with the TV series. When the project was first announced last month, Riordan said, "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." Here's hoping the TV series fares better.