(MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. / The Journal) — If you were in New York State for the sixth grade, nostalgia in some way will hit you for this. For most of us in Mount Vernon, it was our final year in elementary school. The 6th grade English Language Arts curriculum was pretty varied. Now, one of those books is coming back into the spotlight (literally).
The first young adult novel from author Rick Riordan, "The Lightning Thief" kickstarted his first five-part series "Percy Jackson & the Olympians" . That led to two other sequel five-part series, "The Heroes of Olympus" and "The Trials of Apollo". However, about 5 years after "The Lightning Thief" was published by Disney-Hyperion (now just Disney Books), 20th Century Fox made a movie on it. They tried to make something like Warner Brothers' "Harry Potter" mega-success. Unfortunately for us and to put it simply, a lot... many... so many mistakes were made. For example, they made the Half-Bloods a bit older. Even with that, 20th Century Fox made a sequel. What happened to it? It was worse than the first movie.
Wait... If you don't remember or you just haven't read it, here's the summary from rickriordan.com:
"Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson is on the most dangerous quest of his life. With the help of a satyr and a daughter of Athena, Percy must journey across the United States to catch a thief who has stolen the original weapon of mass destruction — Zeus’ master bolt. Along the way, he must face a host of mythological enemies determined to stop him. Most of all, he must come to terms with a father he has never known, and an Oracle that has warned him of betrayal by a friend."
Remember in March when the Walt Disney Company bought 20th Century Fox in a deal that gave them exclusive rights to The Simpsons (which is weird because they have rides at Universal Orlando and Universal Studios Hollywood — Disney Parks' ultimate nemesis) as well as National Geographic's TV channels. That also gave them the full 20th Century Fox film library (including Fox's motion picture subsidiaries) and full ownership of movies like "Miracle on 34th Street", "Home Alone", and the rights to the terrible Percy Jackson movies. With this mindset, in June 2019, a Brazilian fan of the Rick Riordan saga started an account on Twitter. On December 10th, at 6:42 pm Eastern, Riordan himself thanked the fandom movement online while stating that he was in Los Angeles trying to build official support for such a project. After that, the rest of the internet found out and many fans across the globe shared their memories of their favorite characters, scenes, or just the universe in general. Even Angie Thomas, the author of the recent smash-hit book "The Hate U Give", was out on the web explaining why Percy Jackson is loved by so many (including herself) and why something like a TV show for Disney+ is needed right now.
But, as of late, what all this is a still a rumor. Now that the Walt Disney Company holds both the rights to publish the Percy Jackson books and the rights to the movies, it could happen. Locally, that's great news for the Broadway production of "The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical". Speaking of Twitter, it has a great social media team that has kept fans engaged and surely keeps the fandom going. In respect to the movie versus the musical, they say this in their Twitter bio:
"NOW ON BROADWAY. maybe you’ve heard of a movie with a similar title—we’re not that, we’re based on @camphalfblood’s book."
According to not just Percy Jackson fans but also professional critics, this production clearly bests the movies by a long shot. It started as an Off-Broadway production in New York in 2014 before getting overhauled a bit in 2017. That new show toured nationally before landing a 16-week limited run at the Longacre Theatre which ends in early January.
The most interesting thing about the community of "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" fandom is that the shared joys of the Half-Bloods' adventures — no, "quests" is the right word here — can lift people up from a bad mood and inspire them. While they're trying to drive up ticket sales, they're also inspiring a message pointed out by great authors of the past few years. (They also wrote what they think could be the first scripts for the new TV show... they're pretty cool, am I right?!)
DID YOU KNOW...
If you love Percy Jackson fandom, check out readriordan.com for quizzes and news on Rick Riordan's books. (There's an awesome "Which Demigod Are You?" quiz that spans the entirety of the Percy Jackson, Magnus Chase, and Kane Chronicles universe.) For more information on the author himself and what new stuff he's up to, visit rickriordan.com.
FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK...
I still don't know whether to include this section or not because I am BOTH the student editor-in-chief AND the only reporter. With that aside, the musical's soundtrack is AWESOME like the Half-Bloods' killer quests! They tackle a lot of different genres and themes. Try out 3 or 4 of the 19 songs in total; I was hooked after "Bring On The Monsters". You can listen to it on YouTube. If you're wondering, though, yes — that was a pun intended — "Killer Quest" is the last song in Act 1.
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