Percy, Disney and Fox: Some Thoughts
Hey, guys! I’m already getting a lot questions about the Disney-Fox merger and what it might mean for Percy Jackson. I have NO inside information of any kind, but here are my thoughts.
First, some background. Disney has always been my children’s book publisher, ever since The Lightning Thief novel came out in 2005. The books were first published under the imprints “Miramax-Hyperion” or “Disney-Hyperion,” but those were just different brands within the Disney empire.
Disney was NEVER involved in the Percy Jackson movies. In early 2004, before the first book was published, Disney movie studios passed on the movie rights, which is how Percy Jackson ended up at Fox. Fox was responsible for both Percy Jackson movies.
Now it appears that many assets from the Fox movie studio will be bought by Disney, assuming regulators let the deal go through. I imagine that includes Percy, which means Percy Jackson, in a way, is “coming home” to Disney. I’m very happy about that. Disney (the publishing side) has been very good to me and a wonderful partner for many years, which is why I keep publishing with them!
Realize, though, that Disney studios are a completely different branch of the corporation from Disney publishing. I don’t know anyone at the studios. I have no relationship with the film side. The merger does not mean that I, personally, am getting back the movie rights. It means they will be owned by a different media conglomeration. The merger also does not mean that I will have any more control or influence over what Disney decides to do or not do with those rights than I did with Fox. That’s simply the nature of how it works when an author sells their movie rights, no matter which author, no matter which studio. (One more time for the folks in the back: THE AUTHOR OF THE BOOK DOES NOT CONTROL THE MOVIE. EVER.)
This merger would certainly give Disney a lot of new material and resources, which is exciting, but Percy Jackson is a tiny, tiny grain of sand in a mountain of larger franchises.
Would it be cool if Disney decided to do a Percy reboot of some sort, and if they did a good job, and if it did well? Absolutely! Is that going to happen? I have no earthly idea, nor am I going to assume that the odds are better at Disney than they were at Fox simply because Disney publishes my books. We’ll just have to see.
So what has changed?
Yesterday, Fox owned the movie rights and I had no information, influence or control over what Fox might do with them.
Today, it appears Disney might be acquiring the rights, and I have no information, influence or control over what Disney might do with them.
But hey, it’s Disney. I will be rooting for the merger to go through, because I think it’ll be awesome for generating cool new content, whether or not that includes Percy.
For more details comments about the movies, check my FAQ.
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JR
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Dec 15, 2017 06:43AM
Thanks for the update. I read all your books and I love them so much. Just got like a bunch of Camp Half Blood merch from Amazon so... yeah.
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can't wait to see what happens. I have been a fan of the books for a long time, since the Lightning thief came out. And I was so excited the first time they announced the movie but the movies did not do the books justice at all, seemed like I was watching a different story altogether. The series absolutely deserves another chance in the movie industry
Well, you seem to have serious doubts about the existing movies. I've watched the first, but don't remember much. Since then I've read the Percys, and how I liked them! It's one of the series my best friend and I talk about a lot. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the matter (tho I didn't know anything was happening). If it happens, I would definitely watch a new Percy movie. I mean, as long as Nico's in it, I'm all for it ;)
Thanks that's cool. I guess we'll all see what happens to PJ.
Please do a reboot. Sorry but the Fox movies really sucked.
I love the idea of Percy actually could get a second chance.
It would be great if a reboot was done, and all five of the original (and more if they do well) Percy Jackson books were done. One of the things I didn't like about the original go round of movies was I never got to see a visual version of The Last Olympian, my favorite of the original books. I hope cool stuff happens with this!
I pray that Disney does not make this animated!These books are more than movie-worthy, they are worthy of an entire franchise!
I doubt they would animate it. Most, if not all, of Disney's book-to-film adaptations are live-action, like the Jungle Book and the upcoming A Wrinkle in Time.
Well, its recent adaptations, at least.
I'm not getting my hopes up too high...but I will hang onto that small glimmer of Hope for this, Thank you Rick!
YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is Great! Can't wait!
Wow! It's an exciting news! I loved the books, but didn't like movies from the trailers even though the casting seems amazing. :/
I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but I really wish Disney does a reboot of Percy Jackson and stick to the original story so we can have at least one decent movie in this fandom!
I am so excited right now! Disney movies are amazing, and if Disney does try a Percy one, I'll be sure to watch it the day it comes out :)
i really hope that pjo gets a second chance. and if disney animates it, it would be freakin awesome. be sure to give viria the job though!! oh and i was wondering.... how do you feel about the pj musical, uncle rick?
I actually really liked the first movie. I couldn't finish the second one though
Hopefully (if there is a reboot) it will be made a little better....
Janae wrote: "Hopefully (if there is a reboot) it will be made a little better...."I agree. The series could have been better movies.............. just saying
Cobradragon4373 wrote: "I doubt they would animate it. Most, if not all, of Disney's book-to-film adaptations are live-action, like the Jungle Book and the upcoming A Wrinkle in Time."For the record Disney's original adaptation of The Jungle Book back in the sixties was animated, as was the much later sequel.
Even if they do try a reboot, you can expect there will be changes. Firstly the books are too big to be squeezed into a 90 minute movie. Secondly some changes, such as Percy's age, are needed for the movie to be accepted by the general public.
As for the two existing movies I have seen them. In my 62 years I have seen worse.
Finally, this is off-topic but I hope Mr. Riordan does a full-length novel (or series) teaming up Percy and Jason with their friends, the Carters with their friends and Magnum Chase with his friends.
I REALLY hope the PJO series gets another chance, and that it is done well. Honestly it deserves much better than the previous adaptation. It can get young actors and let them grow up there as was done with the HP series and now on TV with the Stranger Things kids, so honestly I have high hopes. And... if it is done, i hope it doesnt start on a different book and end in the middle of the book series as what happenned to The Chronicles of Narnia.p.s. thnx Uncle Rick for the update☺
I hope Disney does reboot the movies, because I understand the actors got too old for their parts and that is the original reason that Fox did not finish the movies. I love the series and Disney would have a lot of room to expand the Percy Jackson franchise. Plus it's Disney, so the special effects would be awesome!!!!!
If it's made by Disney itself their movie(s) will at least surpass the ones we have so far, lol. Opportunities for young actors would be perfect and with both pjato and hoo having only 5 books each it wouldn't be so difficult to pull a Harry Potter and have them age either. Supposing the merger goes through and if they say no to PJATO though, then I really hope they try starting with The Lost Hero which is one of my favorites and a good introduction/reintroduction :)
Fufa wrote: "i really hope that pjo gets a second chance. and if disney animates it, it would be freakin awesome. be sure to give viria the job though!! oh and i was wondering.... how do you feel about the pj m..."This would be a dream come true.
Anneloup wrote: "Well, you seem to have serious doubts about the existing movies. I've watched the first, but don't remember much. Since then I've read the Percys, and how I liked them! It's one of the series my be..."Anneloup wrote: "Well, you seem to have serious doubts about the existing movies. I've watched the first, but don't remember much. Since then I've read the Percys, and how I liked them! It's one of the series my be..."
The first movie in particular made some odd choices to abandon canon for the books. As a stand alone movie it wasn't too bad. As a representative work of R.R. it failed. The people who buy movie rights often scrap much that readers value. Only those writers who are willing to have their lives hijacked by other creative oppimions while fighting for their own visions have any influence on how a movie turns out. Or they become script writers and quit (for a time) writing books. Many, dare I say, most good writers are better suited to continue writing books and let the script writers and movie makers each exercise their own crafts. God bless those rare few who can do both. (Hidden Figures, the host, Twilight, all had heavy influence by the authors as script writers, Harry Potter movies made too much influence on JK Rowling and the rest of the books would arguably been better had she stayed ignorant to them altogether.) As much trouble as Tolkien had getting his books published due to his insistence on controlling every comma, we can only imagine the stunbling block selling movie rights would have created for him.
The first movie in particular made some odd choices to abandon canon for the books. As a stand alone movie it wasn't too bad. As a representative work of R.R. it failed. The people who buy movie rights often scrap much that readers value. Only those writers who are willing to have their lives hijacked by other creative oppimions while fighting for their own visions have any influence on how a movie turns out. Or they become script writers and quit (for a time) writing books. Many, dare I say, most good writers are better suited to continue writing books and let the script writers and movie makers each exercise their own crafts. God bless those rare few who can do both. (Hidden Figures, the host, Twilight, all had heavy influence by the authors as script writers, Harry Potter movies made too much influence on JK Rowling and the rest of the books would arguably been better had she stayed ignorant to them altogether.) As much trouble as Tolkien had getting his books published due to his insistence on controlling every comma, we can only imagine the stunbling block selling movie rights would have created for him
Shaylene wrote: "can't wait to see what happens. I have been a fan of the books for a long time, since the Lightning thief came out. And I was so excited the first time they announced the movie but the movies did not do the books justice at all, seemed like I was watching a different story altogether. The series absolutely deserves another chance in the movie industry"I totally agree! In one of the movies, Annabeth has brown hair, and in the other, she has blond hair! Like, what? Producers, stick to the agenda, please, and don't overlook such obvious mistakes...
And in this case, it is obvious the books are better than the movies.
Well, I currently finished reading the third book and will start the fourth one soon! I LOVE THESE BOOKS!! I only watched the first movie, and it was a whole story altogether. A bit disappointing.... But on its own, the casting and the story was pretty cool. (ESPECIALLY the casting.) They got the obvious details wrong like Annabeth's hair was brown and not blond. I hope the producers do well this time and don't let the fans down. To me, the books are much better than the movies. #percyjacksonforever
The books are definitely better than the movies. Hopefully, it will be better and they get details right. Thanks rick!
Ok so I finally got your Percy Jackson's Official camp guide and Im really happy.i have also read and own all the olmpians books.
I, for one, would really like an animated series of Rick's books. Let's all face it, a movie won't be enough to cover one book, much less all their adventures. But a series? Now that's a different story. Come on, people, haven't you ever seen the short animated video of the Seven (plus Nico and Reyna) by Ilyone? Or maybe even using Viria's art or Cookiecreation's (tumblr/devianart). I'd die of pure happiness if this ever get an animation.For those who want to check the short clip out, be ready to press the replay button a thousand times because it's so good!: youtu(.)be/3aGBo9Ct9kM
Yay! I am really excited to see where this goes. Thanks for keeping us up to date!
"the author of the book does not control the movie. ever." but what about j.k. rowling? ✋😑
Thanks for the info! I really enjoy your books and would love to see your characters on the big screen, but only if they're done right as they deserve to be represented correctly. (cough cough, looking at you, Fox) I agree that a series would probably be better suited for this than movies would be though. Thanks again for keeping us updated!
J.K. Rowling wrote the screenplay for Fantastic Beasts and is writing/wrote a screenplay for a second movie in the franchise.
Ashleyyy wrote: "Sophia wrote: ""the author of the book does not control the movie. ever." but what about j.k. rowling? ✋😑"Technically, Rowling was a producer, but she never really did much to the set, plot, and ..."
J.K. was actually heavily involved in the planning and building of the Harry Potter sets. She collaborated carefully with each director in order to ensure that the Harry Potter movies did the novels justice. She had final say in everything, and she was the one who insisted that all British actors and actresses were used to portray her characters. A lot of it came down to the people that she worked with caring about the books and about Harry as much as she did, but she had a lot to do with every step of the creative process.
I really hope that the PJO movies are redone! The originals from Fox were very disappointing considering how much was changed (completely unnecessarily) like the plot (what was that in The Lightning Thief? So off-base) and the characters (since when does Annabeth have brown hair? And since when is she a great swordfighter? She uses a dagger, for goodness' sake!) I think the books could be easily made into movies and that they should be given another (much better) shot with more care and attention to a worldwide phenomenon like Percy Jackson.
is there going to be a next Magnus Chase book
Are we going to ever see more of the Kane Chronicles?
I read that Magnus Chase was only going to be a trilogy. I hope that turns out not to be the case, but the problem, as I see it, is that Ragnarok is Norse Mythology in an inevitable event, and according to the myths all the gods die, the cosmos is destroyed and then rebuilt. That would make it kind of hard for Magnus and his friends to survive, if the original myths were followed.
I think it would be cooler if it was a TV series. Especially for Heroes of Olympus. But a movie for Percy Jackson would be awesome too. But as long as the movie is TOTALLY AWESOME and EXACTLY LIKE THE BOOKS.
Woohoo! I love Percy Jackson but I have to admit the movies were terrible. I’m excited to see what would happen, and would definitely not be adverse to the idea of rebooted movies. I hope if they miraculously decide that they do want to remake the Percy Jackson movies, they’ll make Heroes of Olympus too. Or Kane Chrinicles. Honestly, all the series you wrote are great and deserve great movies to go along with them!
me too, the movies are horrible. i watched it in school with my ela class and just sat there whispering to the person next to me: that's wrong, wrong, wrong, that didn't happen in the book.
Jordan-River wrote: "Thanks for the update. I read all your books and I love them so much. Just got like a bunch of Camp Half Blood merch from Amazon so... yeah."Lol, me too. I have an unhealthy obsession too.
Can someone explain to a new member of Goodreads who Rick Riordan is and why he is featured so prominently?
Maria Murad wrote: "Can someone explain to a new member of Goodreads who Rick Riordan is and why he is featured so prominently?" Rick Riordan is the super popular author of Percy Jackson, Heroes of Olympus, the Kane Chronicles, and Magnus Chase. He's featured so often because he is one of the top authors for middle grade and teen.
Maria, to elaborate, he writes books for middle grade and teen readers that focus on different mythology. They are sent in the present day but, for example in Percy Jackson, Percy is the son of Poseidon. He has series based on Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Norse mythology. He also has a new publishing venture, Rick Riordan Presents which in the coming years will feature books about Hindu and Chinese mythology.
