Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Worst 5 Films of 2010

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 30th, 2010 at 12:12 pm

There are plenty of terrible movies released each year and I don’t see most of them.  Either they’re not screened for critics, the screening conflicts with a film I want to see more, or I felt that my time could have been better spent another way.  But for all of these terrible films, there’s a fine line between “bad” and “insulting”.  The Switch is a bad movie, but that’s simply because it’s unfunny, lacks creativity, and wastes a talented lead actor in Jason Bateman.  But it doesn’t offend me.  The five movies that made this year’s worst list had to do something that insulted my intelligence and/or my belief that people should be treated equally no matter their sex, race, etc.  These are films I would wish on my worst enemy because then we could bond over having experienced these cinematic travesties.

PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF Blu-ray Review

by Harrison Pierce    Posted: July 16th, 2010 at 6:39 am

Growing up in a strict monotheistic household, it really wasn’t a priority for anyone to teach me about the ancient Greek gods. Perhaps my devout Catholic parents figured it best not to confuse my evolving young mind since the Bible was already dense enough with tales of one wrathful God and his demigod-like son. Children’s author Rick Riordan, however, raised his son in far more Greco-friendly fashion, regaling his boy with nightly bedtime stories featuring Zeus, Poseidon and the Olympian gang. When he ran out of myths to retell, he made up a new Greek demigod: “Percy Jackson,” modern teenager with human learning disabilities (A.D.H.D. and Dyslexia) and godly lineage (he’s the son of Poseidon). Well, at least, that’s the origin story for the best-selling “Percy Jackson” book series provided on one of the making-of featurettes of the Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief blu-ray.

Emma Watson and Logan Lerman May Discover THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: May 19th, 2010 at 9:57 pm

The upcoming adaptation of The Perks of Being a Wallflower is set to be a low-budget indie production, but writer/director/author of the novel Stephen Chbosky may look to grander blockbuster fantasy fare for his leads with the likes of Logan Lerman and Emma Watson in contention.  Since Sony is not yet willing to make him the new Spider-Man, Variety reports that Lerman may follow up Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief with this coming-of-age drama.  Likewise, if Watson signs on, Wallflower would represent her first feature film role outside of the Harry Potter franchise.

Published by MTV (wait, what?) in 1999, The Perks of Being a Wallflower tells the story of a teen who assumes the alias “Charlie”, and describes the various events of his high school life in letters to an anonymous person.  You can find a full synopsis after the jump:

Weekend Box Office – How Original! VALENTINE’S DAY Tops Valentine’s Day Weekend with $52.4 Million

by Nicole Pedersen    Posted: February 14th, 2010 at 10:18 am

It seems that every week of 2010 has brought us a new record-breaker at the box office. Last week the romantic drama Dear John became the top earner on a Super Bowl weekend. Only slightly more impressive was the month-long reign of Avatar during which the 3D titan took down nearly every all-time box office category Hollywood could throw at it.  This weekend saw yet another record fall. Valentine’s Day, director Garry Marshall’s star-packed romantic comedy, has already become the highest grossing film over President’s Day weekend – before Monday’s numbers have even been counted.

	Title	Weekend	Total
1	Valentine’s Day	$52,400,000	$52.4
2	Percy Jackson	$31,100,000	$31.1
3	The Wolfman	$30,600,000	$30.6
4	Avatar	$22,000,000	$659.6
5	Dear John	$15,300,000	$53.1
6	Tooth Fairy	$5,600,000	$41.5
7	From Paris w/Love	$4,740,000	$15.8
8	Edge of Darkness	$4,585,000	$36
9	Crazy Heart	$4,000,000	$16.5
10	When in Rome	$3,429,000	$26

PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 12th, 2010 at 12:51 am

Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief wants you to cheer for three characters who don’t know how to count.  Leave aside the tired hero’s journey (Have a crappy life? It turns out you’re actually special and a cool new life awaits!  Jackpot!), the awful special effects, the forgettable characters, and the complete lack of wonder Greek myths set in the modern world should offer, and you still have three protagonists who don’t know that three is less than four.  Percy Jackson wants to be the next Harry Potter, but The Boy Who Lived knows how to count higher than two and in his first adventure he’s five years younger Jackson.  Percy Jackson may be special, but it’s in that condescending way meant to imply learning disabilities.

Screenwriter Craig Titley Interview; Talks STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS, PERCY JACKSON and 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: February 9th, 2010 at 11:57 am

With director Chris Columbus’ Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief opening this Friday, I was able to talk with screenwriter Craig Titley (Scooby-Doo, Cheaper by the Dozen) about his involvement in the project yesterday afternoon.  During the interview, we talked about writing Percy Jackson, his involvement in Star Wars: The Clone Wars cartoon (he’s written two episodes), and what’s up with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.  And just to clarify the 20,000 Leagues story, two competing projects were going at the same time last year, one was at Disney with McG helming, and one was being developed at New Line with Sam Raimi’s company.  Titley wrote the New Line one.  During the interview he talks about his take on the material and what it’s about.

Watch the interview after the jump:

Watch 8 Movie Clips From PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: February 5th, 2010 at 9:12 am

20th Century Fox has just released 8 movie clips from director Chris Columbus’ Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief.  The film stars Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Steve Coogan, Rosario Dawson, Catherine Keener, Kevin McKidd, Joe Pantoliano, Uma Thurman and Melina Kanakaredes.  Here’s the synopsis:

Trouble-prone Percy Jackson is having problems in high school – but that’s the least of his challenges. It’s the 21st century, but the gods of Mount Olympus seem to have walked out of the pages of Percy’s Greek mythology texts and into his life. Percy has learned that his real father is Poseidon, god of the sea, which means Percy is a demigod – half human, half god. At the same time, the powerful gods on Olympus are feuding, which could launch a war enveloping our entire planet.

While I saw a screening the other day, I’m under embargo, so I can’t say what I thought of the film.  But the clips do a good job of letting you know what you’re in for.  Make sure to watch the Uma Thurman as Medusa clip…

New High Resolution Images from PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: February 4th, 2010 at 1:00 pm

20th Century Fox has just released a number of new images from director Chris Columbus’ Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief.  The film stars Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Steve Coogan, Rosario Dawson, Catherine Keener, Kevin McKidd, Joe Pantoliano, Uma Thurman and Melina Kanakaredes.  Here’s the synopsis:

Trouble-prone Percy Jackson is having problems in high school – but that’s the least of his challenges. It’s the 21st century, but the gods of Mount Olympus seem to have walked out of the pages of Percy’s Greek mythology texts and into his life. Percy has learned that his real father is Poseidon, god of the sea, which means Percy is a demigod – half human, half god. At the same time, the powerful gods on Olympus are feuding, which could launch a war enveloping our entire planet.

Hi the jump to check out the new images and look for new movie clips tomorrow:

PERCY JACKSON’s Logan Lerman in Talks to Star in Marc Webb’s SPIDER-MAN Reboot

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: February 4th, 2010 at 11:47 am

Speaking with Access Hollywood, 18-year-old Logan Lerman, the star of Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, says that he’s in early discussions to play Peter Parker in Sony’s unnecessary reboot of the Spider-Man franchise.  Says Lerman:

“It’s just, you know, conversations are starting. It’s a long process with the studio and the producers and everything. But it’s definitely a project that I’m really interested in, of course.  I’d love to focus on the human element a little bit more. It’d be such a fun experience.”

I don’t understand what he means when he says, “I’d love to focus on the human element a bit more.”  A bit more than Raimi and Maguire did?  Or more than your focus on action scenes?  And yes, my attitude is hostile, not towards Lerman specifically, but just towards this project in general.  Sony has set the bar even higher than it was back in 2002 when they released the first Spider-Man movie.  It’s very difficult to wash away skepticism regarding any element of this movie.  But back to Lerman, I see Percy Jackson tonight so I’ll find out if he’s a good fit for the webs or not.

UPDATE: THR has an update that says Logan Lerman is just one of many actors the studio is looking at.  According to a studio spokesman, “No offers have been made, nor have any business discussions been made with Lerman.”

New 60-Second TV Spot for PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 4th, 2010 at 9:13 pm

A new UK TV spot for Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief has popped up online and it’s not bad.  I think the challenge for the film is going to be conveying that it’s big, fun action-adventure, but directed towards a younger audience than the remake of Clash of the Titans.  What you don’t want to look like is the light beer of swords and sandals movies.  The best way to accomplish this?  Centaur Bronsan.  Clash may have a Kraken, but it sure as hell doesn’t have 007…as a centaur.  I’ll see it based on that alone.

Check out the TV spot after the jump along with a brief synopsis.  Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief hits theaters on February 12th.

Domestic Trailer for PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: November 20th, 2009 at 12:58 pm

Earlier this week we brought you the international trailerfor the upcoming greek gods by way of Harry Potter action-adventure flick, Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief.  While that trailer was good, the domestic trailer just went online and it is even better.  It’s action heavy and I have to say that the action looks fantastic.  This trailer give you the plot of the film (Percy Jackson discovers he’s a demigod and must retrieve the bolt of Zeus-played by Sean Muthafuckin Bean-in order to prevent a war), and it has me excited for the film.  I’m not saying it’s the next Harry Potter or anything like that, but I certainly have more interest in the film after seeing this trailer than I did before, which is what a good trailer is supposed to do.

Check out the domestic trailer after the jump.  Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief hits theaters on February 12, 2010.

International Trailer for PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYPMIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: November 18th, 2009 at 11:56 am

Stateside, we’ve only received a couple teasers for Chris Columbus’ Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lighting Thief but the international trailer for the film just went online and it’s not just a teaser.  It tells you about the characters and provides a sense of the movie’s tone instead of just the premise (regular kid discovers he’s a demigod and his father was the Greek god Poseidon).  Now whether you think a kid using his iPhone to avoid looking directly at Medusa (played by Uma Thurman) makes for a good movie is a different story.  Either way, the Greek gods are getting their due in 2010 with Percy Jackson hitting theaters on February 12^th, Clash of the Titans on March 26^th, and the highly-anticipated PlayStation 3 game God of War III hitting shelves sometime in March as well.

Hit the jump to check out the Percy Jackson trailer.

New Teaser Trailer for PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYPMIANS – THE LIGHTNING THIEF

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: September 17th, 2009 at 2:11 pm

Why do people go and see a Chris Columbus picture?  The reason will never be, “Because Chris Columbus directed it.”  He’s the guy you bring in so he won’t get in the way of being slavishly devoted to putting any artistic imprint on a potentially lucrative franchise.  “Harry Potter” was going to get all seven books adapted no matter what and the best anyone can say about Columbus’ contribution to the series is that he set the bar low.  “Percy Jackson” is another story and this franchise may be a non-starter because this new teaser is offering us flashes of the story but we know from “Potter” that no matter how good that story is, adaptation matters and it can’t simply be a matter of neat, expensive visuals.  Maybe you’ll get a different impression when you watch the new teaser after the jump.

“Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief” opens February 12^th, 2010.

Teaser Trailer for PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: July 14th, 2009 at 2:27 pm

Sometimes, the rush to establish a teaser and hook people’s interest takes a backseat to actually having something that will hook people’s interest.  I understand that Fox wants to stake out the President’s Day 2010 weekend but they’ve done it with…a magical elevator.  Yes, the teaser trailer for Chris Columbus’ adaptation of “Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief” doesn’t feature any gods or monsters (or James Whales) but it does feature an elevator inside the Empire State Building which has a button marked “Omega”.  Everyone always sees that button but no one pushes it because Omega signifies “The End” and you don’t press that shit when you’re in an elevator.

Check out the teaser trailer and brief synopsis after the jump.  “Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief” hits theatres on Feburary 12th, 2010.

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