Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (also known as Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief) is a 2010 action fantasy film directed by Chris Columbus. The film is the first installment in the Percy Jackson film series and is based on the 2005 novel The Lightning Thief, the first novel in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series by Rick Riordan. It stars Logan Lerman as Percy Jackson alongside an ensemble cast that includes Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Jake Abel, Rosario Dawson, Steve Coogan, Uma Thurman, Catherine Keener, Joe Pantoliano, Kevin McKidd, Sean Bean, Dylan Neal and Pierce Brosnan. The movie was released to theaters on February 12, 2010 in the United States by 20th Century Fox.[5]

This article is about the film. For the novel, see The Lightning Thief. For the series, see Percy Jackson & the Olympians.
Percy Jackson & the Olympians:
The Lightning Thief
Theatrical release poster
Directed byChris Columbus
Produced by
Screenplay byCraig Titley
Based onThe Lightning Thief
by Rick Riordan
Starring
Music byChristophe Beck
CinematographyStephen Goldblatt
Edited byPeter Honess
Production
company
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
  • February 2, 2010 (2010-02-02) (Canada)
  • February 12, 2010 (2010-02-12) (United States)
Running time
119 minutes[1]
Country
  • United Kingdom[2]
  • United States[2]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$95 million[3][4]
Box office$226.4 million[4]

The film cost $95 million to make.[4] It received mixed reviews from critics, with criticism for the poor grasp of its source material and its script, but praised for Lerman's performance and the action sequences. Despite the reception, the film grossed $226.4 million worldwide.[4] The film was released on June 29, 2010 on DVD[6] and Blu-ray.[7] A video game based on the film developed by Activision was released for Nintendo DS on February 11, 2010. A sequel, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, was released on August 7, 2013.

Plot

At the top of the Empire State Building, Zeus meets Poseidon, accusing Poseidon's demigod son, Percy Jackson, of stealing Zeus' master lightning bolt. Poseidon reminds him that Percy is unaware of his true identity, but Zeus declares that unless the bolt is returned to Mount Olympus before midnight of the Summer Solstice, in two weeks, war will be waged between all the gods.

Sixteen-year-old Percy struggles with dyslexia, but has a unique ability to stay underwater. On a school trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Percy is attacked by Alecto, a Fury masquerading as his substitute English teacher, Miss Dodds, who demands the lightning bolt. Percy's best friend Grover Underwood and his Latin teacher Mr. Brunner help scare off Alecto. Mr. Brunner gives Percy a pen which he claims is a powerful weapon, and instructs Grover to take Percy and his mother Sally to Camp Half-Blood—a hidden summer camp for demigod children in Long Island. There, they are attacked by the Minotaur, who seemingly kills Sally when she's unable to enter the camp. At Grover's suggestion, Percy uses Mr. Brunner's pen, discovering that is a sword, to fight off the Minotaur. After having no success with the sword, Percy kills the Minotaur with its own horn before fainting out of intense shock.

Waking up three days later, Percy learns he is the son of Poseidon, Grover is a satyr and Percy’s junior protector, and "Mr. Brunner" is Chiron, a centaur. Percy begins training in his demigod powers, which include water manipulation and healing, and meets other demigods, including Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena; and Camp Leader Luke Castellan, son of Hermes. Percy is visited by an apparition of Hades, who reveals the Minotaur abducted Sally to the Underworld to trade for the lightning bolt. Defying Chiron's orders, Percy sets out for the Underworld with Grover and Annabeth. Luke gives Percy a map with the location of three green pearls belonging to Hades' wife, Persephone, which will allow them to escape the Underworld. Percy is also given a pair of flying winged Converse All-Stars stolen from Hermes, and Luke's favorite shield.

The trio searches for the first pearl at the old and abandoned "Auntie Em's Garden Emporium" in Leeds Point, which turns out to be the lair of Medusa. She tries to kill them, but Percy decapitates her. The trio takes her head and a fistful of gold drachmas along with them for later use, along with the pearl, which had been attached to her bracelet. At the Parthenon in Nashville, Percy uses the shoes to retrieve the second pearl from the crown of the statue of Athena. They are confronted by the Hydra disguised as a group of janitors, who Grover turns to stone with Medusa's head. The trio arrives at the Lotus Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas to obtain the third and final pearl. After the cocktail waitresses have them sample the casino's signature dish, lotus flowers, they immediately forget their mission, until Poseidon abruptly speaks in Percy's mind, returning him to his senses. Percy frees Grover and Annabeth from the flowers' effects; they locate the final pearl on a roulette wheel and escape by stealing a prize Maserati from the lobby, while fighting security staff in the process. Annabeth realizes the casino is actually the lair of the Lotus-Eaters, who have been luring people into their trap since ancient times, which explains why the casino's motto is "You will never want to leave", and that they only have one day left to prevent the gods' war, as they were in the casino for five days. With all three pearls, Percy, Grover, and Annabeth enter the portal to the Underworld, located behind the Hollywood Sign, and pay Charon the drachmas for a ferry ride, after he burns a couple of US dollars that Grover offered him.

In the Underworld, Hades finds the lightning bolt hidden inside Luke's shield, revealing that Luke was the thief all along. Hades has his Hellhounds force the group into a gate of souls, but Persephone tases him with the bolt in retaliation for imprisoning her, and gives the bolt to Percy. As they only have three pearls, Grover remains behind, much to Persephone’s delight, as Percy, Annabeth, and Sally teleport to the Empire State Building, the entrance to Mount Olympus. However, before they can enter, they are ambushed by Luke, who reveals that he stole the bolt to demolish Mount Olympus and establish the demigods as new rulers of Western Civilization. After a battle across Manhattan, Percy seemingly kills Luke, by throwing a trident made of water around his neck causing him to fly into the Hudson River, and returns the lightning bolt to Zeus, and makes up with his father Poseidon.

Percy and Annabeth are reunited with Grover who has a new pair of horns, indicating his promotion to Percy's senior protector. He even mentions many things he and Persephone did together. Percy and Annabeth nearly kiss, but Annabeth tricks him and they continue to train.

In a mid-credits scene, Sally kicks her abusive husband, Gabe Ugliano, out of her apartment. As Gabe walks into the kitchen to grab a beer, he finds the refrigerator locked, with a note from Percy not to open it under any circumstance. Gabe breaks the door open to find Medusa's head, turning him to stone offscreen.

Cast
See also: List of Percy Jackson & the Olympians cast members
Logan Lerman plays the titular character.

Production
Chris Columbus is the film's director and producer.

In June 2004, 20th Century Fox acquired feature film rights to the book.[13] In April 2007, director Chris Columbus was hired to helm the project.[14] Filming began in April 2009 in Vancouver.[10] Portions of the film were shot at the Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee, that has a full-scale replica of the original Parthenon in Athens.[15] The Lotus Casino sequence was filmed at The Westin Bayshore in Vancouver in June 2009, and additional scenes of Percy, Grover and Annabeth driving to and from the casino were shot on the Las Vegas Strip and in front of the Fremont Street Experience. Filming wrapped up on the morning of July 25, 2009, in Mission, British Columbia. Additional exterior scenes were filmed on location in Brooklyn, New York during the first week of August 2009.[16] Digital intermediate work began in San Francisco in November 2009.[17] Christophe Beck composed the score.[18] Columbus has stated that the cast was chosen specifically with sequels in mind. "I think with Percy Jackson it was a matter of finding the right cast to fit into these roles, sort of the perfect cast for these roles, because hopefully, God willing, we will go on to do other Percy Jackson films and you want the cast to grow with their characters".[19]

During production, Riordan was disappointed with the changes made to the story and warned the studio that it would likely alienate the readers of the book series that it was depending on to buy tickets. In two emails commenting at length on a draft of the script that he posted to his blog in 2018, he specifically warned the studio that trying to make the story more attractive to a teenage audience by aging the characters and including some profanity in the script might move a significant portion of the books' readers to leave the theater in disgust long before the movie ended. He also felt the introduction of Persephone's pearls as a plot device made no sense, having no basis in mythology and distracting Percy from his goal of recovering the stolen lightning.[20]

Reception

Box office

The film opened on February 12, 2010, in 3,356 theaters; its opening weekend box-office results totaled $31,236,067[4] in the U.S., finishing at #3 below The Wolfman, which opened at #2 with $31,479,235 and below Valentine's Day, which opened at #1 with $56,260,707.[21] The film had a strong opening weekend for its genre, posting the highest opening weekend for a fantasy film not from the Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, or Lord of the Rings series.[22] As of September 14, 2010, it grossed a domestic total of $88,768,303 with $137,728,906 elsewhere in the world, bringing it to $226,497,209.[4]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 49% based on reviews from 149 critics, with an average score of 5.34/10. The site's consensus reads: "Though it may seem like just another Harry Potter knockoff, Percy Jackson benefits from a strong supporting cast, a speedy plot, and plenty of fun with Greek mythology."[23] On Metacritic it has a score of 47 out of 100, based on 31 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews."[24] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B+ on a scale from A+ to F.[25]

Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times described the film as "standard Hollywood product... unadventurous and uninteresting".[26] The reviewer for The Washington Post thought "the movie suffers by taking itself a little too seriously. It's not just that it's a lot less funny than the book. It's also a lot less fun".[27] On BBC Radio 5, Mark Kermode criticized the similarity of the film to director Chris Columbus's Harry Potter films, likening it to a Harry Potter parody book and dubbing it Benjamin Sniddlegrass and the Cauldron of Penguins.[28] This comment later sparked a satirical fan creation with precisely that title, narrated by Stephen Fry.[29]

The author, Rick Riordan, publicly criticized the final script. He revealed email recommendations for script changes with names redacted. In regards to future support for a reboot Riordan said, "In the future, if some project actually does get underway, I may not be able to comment on it for contractual reasons, but you can tell how I'm feeling about it by what I do or don’t say. Am I talking about it? Promoting it? Sharing cool things? I am probably happy. Am I completely ignoring it and never mentioning it on social media? Yeah . . . that’s probably not a good sign. For instance, check out my website, rickriordan.com. Do you see any indication there that the Percy Jackson movies ever existed? No. No, you do not."[30][31][32]

The film has also been criticised for cultural appropriation. It takes material from the East Mediterranean, yet fails to cast actors who fit this brief. Additionally, it also focuses on the concept of 'Western civilisation' - a concept which did not exist during the writing of the myths.[33]

Accolades

Award Category Recipients Result References
2010 MTV Movie Awards Breakthrough Performance Logan Lerman Nominated [34]
Best Fight Logan Lerman vs. Jake Abel Nominated
Teen Choice Awards 2010 Choice Movie Actress: Fantasy Rosario Dawson Nominated [35][36]
Choice: Breakout Female Alexandra Daddario Nominated
Choice: Breakout Male Logan Lerman Nominated
Choice: Fight Logan Lerman vs. Jake Abel Nominated
37th Saturn Awards Best Performance by a Younger Actor Logan Lerman Nominated [37]
2010 Scream Awards Best Cameo Rosario Dawson Nominated [38]

Soundtrack
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Soundtrack album by
Christophe Beck
ReleasedFebruary 9, 2010 (2010-02-09)
GenreSoundtrack
Length59:07
LabelABKCO Records

All music is composed by Christophe Beck.

No.TitleLength
1."Prelude"2:29
2."The Minotaur"5:09
3."Chiron"2:02
4."Victory"1:32
5."The Fury"2:16
6."Dyslexia"1:02
7."The Hydra"6:54
8."Medusa"2:43
9."Son of Poseidon"1:57
10."The Parthenon"3:42
11."Hollywood"2:32
12."Lost Souls"2:35
13."Fighting Luke, Part 1"3:54
14."Fighting Luke, Part 2"2:47
15."Hades"2:47
16."Mount Olympus"1:27
17."Poseidon"3:07
18."Homecoming"3:06
19."End Credits"7:12

Songs featured in the film that were not included in the soundtrack:

No.TitleMusicLength
1."Highway to Hell"AC/DC3:28
2."I'll Pretend"Dwight Yoakam2:22
3."A Little Less Conversation (Junkie XL Remix)"Elvis Presley3:30
4."Poker Face"Lady Gaga3:58
5."Mama Told Me (Not to Come)"Three Dog Night2:58
6."Tik Tok"Kesha3:21

Video game

A video game based on the film developed by Activision was released for Nintendo DS on February 11, 2010.[39] GameZone's Michael Splechta gave it a 6/10, saying "Percy Jackson might not make a splash when it comes to movie tie-in games, but fans of turn-based combat might find some redeeming qualities in this otherwise bare-bones game."[40] On Metacritic, the game has a score of 56 out of 100 based on 6 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[41]

Home media

The film was released on June 29, 2010 on DVD[6] and Blu-ray.[7] The movie itself charted at the top of the charts (DVD sales) with $13,985,047 in revenue in its first week.[42] As of October 2011, the movie had sold 2,087,368 DVDs with over $37 million in sales.[43]

Sequel
Main article: Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters

In October 2011, 20th Century Fox announced a stand-alone sequel based on the second book, The Sea of Monsters.[44] The film was released on August 7, 2013.[45]

References
  1. "PERCY JACKSON & THE LIGHTNING THIEF". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved 2017-04-29.
  2. "Percy Jackson & The Olympians The Lightning Thief (2010)". British Film Institute. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
  3. "'Valentine's Day,' 'Percy Jackson' and 'Wolfman': The more they cost, the less they made". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Company. February 15, 2010. Retrieved February 16, 2010. The debut of "Percy Jackson" was good, but not great given its $95-million production budget funded by 20th Century Fox, Dune Entertainment and Ingenious Film Partners.
  4. Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief at Box Office Mojo
  5. "Contact Information and FAQ:Rick Riordan". Retrieved 2010-01-22.
  6. ASIN B003HARV3Y, Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
  7. ASIN B002ZG98J6, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief [Blu-ray]
  8. Siegel, Tatiana (March 2, 2009). "'Percy Jackson' finds lead actors". Variety. Archived from the original on May 15, 2009. Retrieved May 15, 2009.
  9. Fernandez, Jay A. (March 18, 2009). "'Lightning Thief' finds female lead". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 24, 2009.
  10. Siegel, Tatiana (March 25, 2009). "Fox 2000 bulks up 'Percy Jackson'". Variety. Archived from the original on May 15, 2009. Retrieved May 15, 2009.
  11. Hewitt, Chris (May 7, 2009). "Dawson And Coogan Join Percy Jackson". Empire. Archived from the original on May 15, 2009. Retrieved May 15, 2009.
  12. Kit, Borys (April 15, 2009). "Catherine Keener joins 'Percy Jackson' film". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on April 19, 2009. Retrieved May 15, 2009.
  13. Brodesser, Claude (June 23, 2004). "'Lightning Thief' strikes Maverick". Variety. Archived from the original on May 15, 2009. Retrieved May 15, 2009.
  14. Gilstrap, Peter (April 17, 2007). "Columbus struck by 'Lightning'". Variety. Archived from the original on May 15, 2009. Retrieved May 15, 2009.
  15. "Portions Of Movie To Be Shot At Parthenon". WSMV-TV. June 2, 2009. Archived from the original on June 25, 2009. Retrieved June 25, 2009.
  16. Chris Columbus, Joe Pantoliano And Logan Lerman On Location For "Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief" - August 1, 2009. Wireimage. Retrieved October 26, 2010.
  17. Caranicas, Peter (October 20, 2009). "Goldblatt, Deakins follow similar path". Variety. Archived from the original on December 24, 2009. Retrieved December 24, 2009.
  18. Knowles, Harry (November 20, 2009). "New trailer for Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief hits..." Ain't It Cool News. Archived from the original on December 24, 2009. Retrieved December 24, 2009.
  19. Roberts, Sheila (February 8, 2009). "Exclusive Chris Columbus Interview". Roll Credits. Archived from the original on February 14, 2010. Retrieved February 8, 2009.
  20. Riordan, Rick (November 16, 2018). "Memories from my TV/Movie Experience". Rickriordan.com. Retrieved November 20, 2018.
  21. Valentine's Day (2010) - Daily Box Office Results - Box Office Mojo
  22. Brandon Gray (February 16, 2010). "Weekend Report: 'Valentine's Day' Massacres Presidents' Day Record". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2010-05-07.
  23. "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  24. "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief". Metacritic. CBS Interactive Inc. Retrieved November 1, 2020.
  25. "'Valentine's Day,' 'Percy Jackson' and 'Wolfman': The more they cost, the less they made". Los Angeles Times. 15 February 2010. the movie got a B+ grade from moviegoers, according to market research firm CinemaScore, a sign of healthy word-of-mouth.
  26. Turan, Kenneth (February 12, 2010). "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief Review". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-02-12.
  27. "Critic Review for Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-02-12.
  28. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief reviewed by Mark Kermode on YouTube
  29. "Septemberfest". Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo's Film Reviews. BBC Radio 5 live. 17 September 2010. Retrieved 19 September 2010.
  30. "Memories from my TV/Movie Experience". 16 November 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  31. Petski, Denise (8 June 2020). "Rick Riordan Slams 'Percy Jackson' Movies But Remains Optimistic About Disney+ Series Adaptation". Deadline Hollywood.
  32. Rico, Klaritza (8 June 2020). "'Percy Jackson' Author Slams Films: 'It's My Life's Work Going Through a Meat Grinder'". Variety.
  33. https://eidolon.pub/the-whitening-thief-1f5f70e74cac
  34. "MTV Movie Awards: When Twilight & Betty White Collide!". E! Online. 2010.
  35. "First Wave of "Teen Choice 2010" Nominees Announced". The Futon Critic. June 14, 2010. Retrieved June 15, 2010.
  36. "Winners of 'Teen Choice 2010' Awards Announced; Teens Cast More Than 85 Million Votes". Archived from the original on 2010-08-09. Retrieved 2010-08-09.
  37. "37th Annual Saturn Award Nominations". Archived from the original on 2016-03-27. Retrieved 2011-02-26.
  38. 2010 Scream Awards#Best TV Show
  39. "Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief for DS - Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief Nintendo DS - Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief DS Game". Gamespot.com. Retrieved 2010-05-07.
  40. Splechta, Michael. "Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief Review". GameZone.com. Archived from the original on March 5, 2010. Retrieved February 26, 2010.
  41. "Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved July 18, 2013.
  42. "US DVD Sales Chart for Week Ending Jul 4, 2010".
  43. "Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief - DVD Sales".
  44. Weinstein, Joshua L. (October 12, 2011). "Fox Sets Valentines Day 2013 Release for Next 'Die Hard'". Reuters. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  45. "Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters Moved up to August 7". comingsoon.net. 2013-04-06. Retrieved 2013-04-21.
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