Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters


Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters is a 2013 American fantasy adventure film directed by Thor Freudenthal. It is the second and final installment in the Percy Jackson film series and is based on the 2006 novel The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan. It is a sequel to the 2010 film .
The film continues the adventures of Percy Jackson and his friends, as they search for the Golden Fleece at the Sea of Monsters. Brandon T. Jackson, Alexandra Daddario, and Jake Abel reprise their roles from the previous film, while Nathan Fillion and Anthony Head replace Dylan Neal and Pierce Brosnan. New additions to the cast include Leven Rambin, Douglas Smith, and Stanley Tucci. The film was produced by Karen Rosenfelt and Michael Barnathan. Chris Columbus, who directed the first film, serves as executive producer. The plot centers on Percy and his friends as they journey to the eponymous Sea of Monsters to retrieve the Golden Fleece in order to save the tree that protects their home.
The film was released in North America on August 7, 2013. It received mixed critical reviews, with praise for the visuals, action sequences, and Lerman's performance, but criticized its script, unfaithfulness to its source material, and ending. It also grossed $199.8 million at the box office worldwide. The film was released on Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, and DVD on December 17, 2013. A sequel based on The Titan's Curse was planned, but never produced.

Plot

While in Camp Half-Blood, Percy Jackson recounts the story of Thalia and her sacrifice. A young Annabeth, Luke, Grover and Thalia are running to Camp Half-Blood while being pursued by monsters. Thalia sacrifices herself to get the others into the camp, and her father Zeus turns her into a tree which forms a barrier around it. After has faded in popularity, Percy is called a one-quest wonder by camp bully, Clarisse La Rue, but Annabeth and Grover support him.
One day, a cyclops named Tyson enters the camp, revealed as a son of Poseidon, and therefore, Percy's brother. After the campers get attacked by a Colchis bull, they realize that Thalia's tree has been poisoned by Luke and they are vulnerable to attacks. Percy visits the Oracle, who tells him of a prophecy of a half-blood of the eldest gods either saving or destroying Olympus. Chiron tells Percy that he is the only living, human half-blood of the eldest gods, so the half-blood in the Prophecy may refer to him. Annabeth and Grover learn about the Golden Fleece, which has the power to heal anything, and propose a quest in which they retrieve the Fleece and use it to heal Thalia's tree. Mr. D chooses Clarisse to lead the quest, much to Annabeth's and Percy's dismay.
Percy convinces Grover and Annabeth to accompany him on the quest, and Tyson joins them. Annabeth hails the Chariot of Damnation, and Percy threatens the three drivers to tell him of his prophecy. The sisters give him coordinates for the Sea of Monsters before ejecting the group from the cab in Washington D.C. for lacking drachmas. While walking down the street, Grover is kidnapped by Chris Rodriguez and taken to Luke. Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson first locate Luke with the help of Hermes, then ride a Hippokampos to his yacht, the Andromeda. Luke reveals his plan to revive Kronos using the Fleece so Olympus will be destroyed. The group are then locked in the brig, though they later escape when Percy uses his ability to manipulate water.
The group is consumed by Charybdis, and they discover Clarisse in the monster's stomach. Percy and Clarisse work together to escape Charybdis by shooting a hole through its gut, and soon they arrive at Circeland, Polyphemus's lair. Percy finds Grover, and the five escape Polyphemus, retrieving the fleece and trapping him in his cave. Afterwards, Luke arrives and demands the fleece from Percy, who refuses. Luke shoots a crossbow bolt at Percy, but Tyson takes the bolt in the chest and falls into the water below.
Luke places the fleece on the sarcophagus to revive Kronos and Annabeth encourages Percy to take leadership. The team escapes captivity, and Percy grapples with Luke over the Fleece, like the prophecy said they would, but Luke easily gains the upper hand. Luke is suddenly thrown away by Tyson, revealed to have survived his wound due to the water healing it, as he is Poseidon's son. Kronos rises from the sarcophagus and consumes Luke and Grover before battling Percy. Percy realizes that Riptide is the "cursed blade" of the prophecy and slices Kronos into pieces imprisoning Kronos in the sarcophagus once again, causing him to regurgitate Grover and Luke, the latter landing in Polyphemus's Lair; Polyphemus subsequently prepares to eat Luke. Their victory is short lived as Annabeth is stabbed by the Manticore, who is killed in turn by Clarisse and Grover. Annabeth dies in Percy's arms but is resurrected by the Fleece. Percy then gives the fleece to Clarisse, and they return to Camp Half-Blood. Clarisse places the fleece on Thalia's tree. The group returns the next day to find Thalia alive, as the fleece returned her to human form.
Percy realizes that Thalia, as the daughter of Zeus, is another possible child of the prophecy about either preserving or destroying Olympus. The film ends showing the sarcophagus with Kronos's remains in it glowing, implying that Kronos still has some degree of his power and is still planning to return.

Cast

Demigods

Reports of a second Percy Jackson film first surfaced in March 2011. On October 12, 2011, a sequel was officially confirmed by 20th Century Fox. Filming for Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters began on April 16, 2012. The film was originally going to be released on March 15, 2013, but in May 2012, the release date was postponed to August 16, 2013. In April 2013, a final release date was set for August 7, 2013. Filming took place in Robert Burnaby Park in Burnaby, B.C.; however from June 20 to July 22, they filmed in New Orleans for Princess Andromeda scenes, including the former site of Six Flags New Orleans. More filming took place in January 2013. On January 22, 2013, Logan Lerman released a statement on Twitter that read "Last day of shooting on Percy Jackson 2" accompanied by a photo of the shooting.

Development

In February 2011, it was revealed in the online subscription magazine Production Weekly that the film was in production. In another source, the lead cast members from the first movie were expected to return for their roles. Chris Columbus would not be returning as director, though he would be producing the movie together with Karen Rosenfelt. Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski were hired as the scriptwriters. Marc Guggenheim was hired to re-write the screenplay and Alexander and Karaszewski were uncredited. On June 16, 2011, it was announced that Thor Freudenthal would be directing the movie. Shooting began in summer 2012. On October 12, 2011, it was announced that the film would be released on March 26, 2013. On April 6, it was announced that the movie was pushed up to August 7, 2013. On May 31, 2012, it was announced that the movie had been pushed back to August 16, 2013.

Filming

On January 13, 2012, a brand new production list was released and stated that filming would take place between April 26, 2012 and July 11, 2012. It was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, and New Orleans, Louisiana, with the abandoned Six Flags New Orleans serving as the filming location for the island of Polyphemus. Filming originally wrapped up in July and then started again in January for reshoots. It was finally wrapped up on January 22, 2013.

Marketing

Five official stills were released on March 21, 2013. On April 2, the trailer for the film was uploaded on YouTube. A teaser poster was released on April 16. A second trailer was released on May 29, 2013. A third international trailer was released on the June 25, 2013, on YouTube. Since July 19, three TV spots have been released known as "Story", "Cast" and "Family". A clip from the film was released on the internet on July 23, where it was later uploaded onto YouTube. Later many more new clips were released.
Smart & Final stores in California, Arizona, and Nevada offered Hollywood Movie Money Certificate good for one free movie ticket with the purchase of two First Street Bakery items as part of the movie promotion.

Reception

Critical response

The film received mixed reviews. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 42% approval rating with an average rating of 5.15/10 based on 117 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "It's pretty and packed with action; unfortunately, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters is also waterlogged with characters and plots that can't help but feel derivative." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 based on reviews from critics, the film has a score of 39 based on 33 collected reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".
Jim Vejvoda of IGN rated the movie a 6 out of 10: "There are worse sequels than the CG-heavy Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, but it's just such overly familiar territory." Gary Goldstein of the Los Angeles Times gave the film a positive review, saying that "tweens and young teens should be sufficiently distracted by the movie's brisk pace and heroic mayhem — if they're not too unnerved by its at times nightmarish imagery". James Rocchi of ScreenCrush wrote that the film "is hardly the stuff of legend, but by keeping the plot straightforward and the storytelling clean, it's an odyssey the intended young audience will be glad to take." Marsha McCreadie on RogerEbert.com rated the film two and a half stars out of four, calling it "a gentler-spirited, less flashy enterprise, though it still presents a natural world that can morph at the whim of a god."
Andy Webster of The New York Times commented: "Sea of Monsters is diverting enough — the director, Thor Freudenthal... is savvy with effects and keeps his young cast on point — but it doesn’t begin to approach the biting adolescent tension of the Harry Potter movies." However, Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter criticized the film as "lack the energetic zip of its predecessor," while Bruce Ingram of Chicago Sun-Times opined that "faithful fans of the novels will be unhappy with the liberties taken with the adaptation like they were with the first film." Connie Ogle of The Miami Herald wrote, " these characters merely prisoners — much like the audience — of a script so uninspired that it demands their stupidity?" Josh Bell of Las Vegas Weekly lambasted the series as a whole as "a thoroughly second-rate franchise... with movies like Sea of Monsters, it can probably continue in acceptable mediocrity for years to come".

Box office

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters grossed an $68,559,554 in North America and $133,688,197 internationally for a worldwide total of $202,247,751.
The film grossed $5.4 million on its opening day, taking the number No. 2 spot at the domestic box office. During its extended five-day opening weekend the film debuted at the No. 4 spot and grossed $23,258,113.

Accolades

Soundtrack

The film's score was composed by Andrew Lockington. Like in many cases of film franchises switching directors between installments, the first film's composer Christophe Beck was replaced and the first score's themes do not directly carry over.
"My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark " by Fall Out Boy and "Cameo Lover" by Kimbra were featured in the movie but are unavailable on the soundtrack.

Home media

The film was released on 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on December 17, 2013. The film was additionally released for Digital HD download on December 3.

Future

Cancelled sequel

On March 25, 2014, Lerman said that a sequel to Sea of Monsters would not be made. However, six days later the report stated "Logan Lerman has said Percy Jackson 3 could still go ahead" and that the previous report "was taken out of context". At the 2015 Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Lerman said that while he finds the Percy Jackson films fun to make, he has not heard anything about the production of a third film and expressed concern that he and his co-stars were growing too old for their parts.

Disney+ show

On May 14, 2020, a Disney+ show separate from the film franchise was announced on Rick Riordan's Twitter account, where he stated that he and his wife would be involved in the production of the show.