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Credit: Disney+The Walt Disney Company has been struggling to make Disney+ profitable for the last four years. The streaming platform debuted in 2019 and, despite the hundreds of original movies and series that the service has released, has failed to be a profitable investment for the company.
In the recent Q3 Earnings Call, Disney CEO Bob Iger fielded several questions in regard to the platform, especially as streaming has become a topic on everyone’s minds recently. The ongoing Hollywood strikes have brought attention to the poor pay and working conditions of the writers, actors, and other creatives who work on various streaming projects. There’s also been a massive shift in the entertainment industry, with streaming now having a larger audience than traditional broadcast or cable TV.
In spite of this, streaming as a whole hasn’t been profitable for most networks, and subscription costs have started to rise alongside forced ad-based tiers and content removal. Disney+ is the latest in a line of streaming platforms to increase their prices and introduce ads, with the change rolling out in early September.
As Disney+ has continued to remove content it’s found to be “underperforming,” like Willow, National Treasure, and Crater, it’s simultaneously announced a series of delays for its MCU and Star Wars original series. Loki Season 2 has finally gotten an October release while highly-anticipated shows like Agatha: Coven of Chaos has been indefinitely delayed. In the midst of this, Disney has just announced an official release date for another original Disney+ series, along with a teaser trailer.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians will be an adaptation of the best-selling children’s series by Rick Riordan. This won’t be the first attempt at adapting the series, as the first two books were turned into feature films almost a decade ago. Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (2010) and Percy Jackson & the Olympians: Sea of Monsters (2013) starred Logan Lerman as Percy Jackson, Alexandra Daddario as Annabeth Chase, and Brandon T. Jackson as Grover Underwood.
In a world where the Greek gods are real, Percy Jackson discovers he’s a “half-blood,” a child born to a human parent and a god. Upon learning this life-changing news, he’s brought to Camp Half-Blood, a camp where all the half-blood children learn about their parents, other gods, and how to use the powers of their birthright. Percy discovers he’s the son of Poseidon, and along with his best friends Annabeth (a daughter of Athena) and Grover (a satyr), help save the world against bored gods and goddesses throughout the course of the series.
The 2010s movies were widely criticized for a variety of reasons. While fans liked Logan Lerman as an actor at the time, many felt the cast was much too old to be portraying the kids in the series, as Percy was only 12 in the first book while Lerman was 18 (and clearly looked it). The visual effects were also poorly done and fans thought the movies lost the essence of the books. With a decade having passed between the last Percy Jackson movie, Disney+ announced it was rebooting the franchise as an original series.
Today, for Percy’s birthday, Disney announced that the first two episodes of the series would be released on December 20, 2023, with new episodes airing weekly. Excitement is high for the series, especially considering Walker Scobell, who plays Percy, is only 14, and Riordan, the author of the series, worked closely with the creative team and showrunners in order to make sure it stayed true to his original ideas. You can watch the teaser for the upcoming series below:
Are you excited for the rebooted Percy Jackson series? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!