According to The L.A. Times, a sequel to “Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief”, called “Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Sea of Monsters” is being developed by Fox 2000. The funny thing is that the film didn’t do well at the domestic box office (grossing $89 million) and wasn’t a hit with critics either. However, according to the L.A. Times, the movie did well overseas, accruing $137 million.
According to The L.A. Times, screenwriters Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander have been hired to write the script for the sequel. Lead actor Logan Lerman will be back as Percy Jackson, according to an unnamed source, but Chris Columbus, the director of the last “Percy Jackson” movie, and producer Karen Rosenfelt will not return. The sequel could also start shooting this summer.
The move to okay this sequel can be explained as the “Harry Potter” effect. When the “Harry Potter” property still had a lot of mileage in terms of movie-making, many studios were clamoring to create their own magical set of movies in order to both combat and compete with Warner Brothers. Now that “Harry Potter” is ending, the studios are yet again trying to get their own series of movies based on magical books (the “Percy Jackson” movies are based on a series of books by Rick Riordan).
Also, since the film did so well overseas, that, in some moneymakers’ eyes, makes this movie a success. Case in point: at one time during the release of “The Last Airbender”, Paramount was considering making a sequel to the film if it pulled in high numbers overseas. Perhaps Fox 2000’s just hoping “Percy Jackson” sticks this time.
