Percy Jackson and the Olympians could provide Disney+ years of quality content the service is in dire need of. Disney’s streaming efforts have consistently relied on the handful of marketable IPs it owns. This year has seen the downfall of superhero movies, and Star Wars has been a mess for almost a decade. No streamer can rest on its body of films alone; it needs original programming. As the old standbys falter, we could be looking at a young adult franchise that will lift the service out of its doldrums.
Percy Jackson Has Many Quests Ahead
Disney has six mainline Percy Jackson books and five spinoffs to work with. The first two books made it to screens in unimpressive film adaptations, but there’s much more to explore. Writer Rick Riordan also generated several spinoff stories, some of which could inspire other series. Beyond even those, Riordan wrote Egyptian and Norse takes on his most famous premise. Most young adult franchises don’t last as long as this Greek-inspired epic. In Percy Jackson, Disney has a fresh IP that could live on for a decade in streaming shows. Beyond quantity, Percy Jackson is a beloved franchise. It was never as iconic as Harry Potter but boasts a more impressive reputation with no political implications. A second or third-tier name like this is perfect for Disney right now.
Studios, especially Disney, are terrified to put money into any project without a marketable name attached. The House of Mouse has been slightly more experimental in its streaming service, but its gambles keep falling short. After only one season, Disney recently canceled Kelvin Yu’s widely beloved series American Born Chinese. It has proven making an excellent show isn’t enough to stay afloat. Its widely despised Artemis Fowl film demonstrates its inability to use YA source material well, and yet Percy Jackson is a marketable name, and its first few episodes have earned celebration from fans. It has security and quality behind it, while the rest of Disney’s catalog has been less impressive. As the state of streaming entertainment struggles, new blood will save or sink major players. A show like Percy Jackson is well-positioned to carry the brand for years to come.
Disney Might Need a Savior
Disney could presumably survive on its long list of beloved children’s films, but even those old standbys regularly hit snags. The studio creates soulless live-action remakes out of its classics and ends up tossing half its new attempts into the trash. Star Wars is a chaotic disaster struggling to please everyone, even as the brand occasionally stumbles onto something excellent. Marvel became the go-to label for boring, safe, pointless mass-media entertainment sometime over the past few years. Superhero cinema choked the market and finally felt the impact of its diminishing returns last year. People don’t want the same safe brands they’ve seen slowly suffocate over the past decade. We know Disney doesn’t want anything without a marketable name behind it, which is why Percy Jackson delivers the solution to both groups with an added element of familiarity that could keep it engaging.
My experience with Percy Jackson before this show aired probably mirrors many others. I read one and a half of the books over a decade ago. I saw the first movie, but I knew everyone hated it, leading me to dislike it. Plenty of fans I knew swore up and down it was perhaps the best YA franchise ever made. When J. K. Rowling fell out of favor, Rick Riordan became a popular alternative. Percy Jackson suffered delays and strange issues before it hit Disney+. Now that it has arrived, its pop culture position might be perfect. It’s notable but not so all-consuming that people are sick of it. The show is faithful but centered on Greek mythology and YA tropes. A decade of potential seasons and spinoffs could push the show to the front of Disney’s streaming efforts. Percy and his allies could be a godsend for the studio.
None of us want Percy Jackson to suffer the fate of Disney’s other marketable IPs. It could overextend itself and grow stale like Marvel or be ground into a bland paste like Star Wars. Countless sequels and spinoffs could render audiences as sick of it as they are of everything else, but they don’t have to. I see a future for Percy Jackson, but one poor performance could kill the franchise in an age where modern streamers kill finished projects and delete decent shows for tax benefits. Nothing is safe, and no name provides a guarantee. Percy Jackson could save Disney’s streaming efforts, but it has fumbled easier opportunities. Godspeed, Percy.
