Percy Jackson & His Many Similarities to Harry Potter

This week a trailer arrived for Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, the sequel to Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief which was undoubtedly hoped by Hollywood bosses to be the natural successor to the huge gap in the market that Harry Potter would be leaving once his franchise came to a close in 2011. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief bears many similarities with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

A few of the similarities include:

– based on a series of fantasy novels.
– directed by Chris Columbus
– main protagonists are two boys and one girl
– ensemble supporting casts of big name actors/actresses
– the two main characters both find out they have a great destiny to fulfil
– a place where special children (wizards/demi-Gods) train but muggles/mortals can not enter
– in the end, both title characters are praised for breaking the rules

These are just a few of the most obvious similarities between the two franchises but is Percy Jackson an apt replacement for Harry Potter?

In a not very successful attempt to distance itself from Harry Potter comparisons the protagonist is made older than his twelve year old novel counterpart in Percy Jackson & the Lightning Thief and the producers went for one of the most promising young actors around: Logan Lerman. Lerman had already appeared in 3:10 to Yuma, The Number 23 and Gamer among others before landing the title role in the franchise which is obviously very different to Harry Potter‘s three unknown actors in main roles.

You can’t deny just how special the Harry Potter franchise is: it has spawned fans all over the world, touching billions of people with its themes of friendship, family and good vs evil. There are so many things now associated with the wizarding world of Harry Potter and, in my opinion, there is not going to be another franchise like it in our lifetime. So does Percy Jackson even come close to that?

The short answer is… no. But it’s a damn good attempt! Lightning Thief is a fast paced introduction to this incredible world where Greek mythology still has a huge part to play in the existence of our world. Percy Jackson is a very likeable character played brilliantly by Lerman and supported by a cast including Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, Uma Thurman, Rosario Dawson, Steve Coogan and Kevin McKidd.

The story, although a little weak at times, takes the audience on a great journey and it becomes a film that is really well tied together. Some of the twists lack a punch and there is a bit of a lack of dramatic tension but the final product is a very enjoyable watch. The action sequences are really well choreographed, seeing Percy Jackson master his powers throughout the film instills a sense of fulfillment as well.

The Percy Jackson franchise is not going to span as long as Harry Potter nor gain as much success, but it provides something to fill the hole that the end of a franchise leaves inside all of its fans. There is a lot of fun to be had with Lightning Thief and I, for one, am looking forward to Sea of Monsters.

News of the Week (10/10/12) – Bale, Thurman & Hungry Hippos

Let’s get straight into it. American Bullshit. That was the original name of the film that Christian Bale has recently signed on for. The now untitled movie originally had Bale set to lead the ensemble cast but he dropped out, and now he has jumped back into the movie. When Bale dropped out he was replaced with the frankly quite obvious replacement Jeremy Renner. It has been announced that Renner and Bale will now both be in the project so everyone’s a winner! The film also stars Amy Adams and Bradley Cooper and will be directed by David O. Russell who previously worked with Bale on The Fighter.

Paul Dano, fresh from Ruby Sparks and Looper this past month has now signed on to what should be another film that will see positive press and Dano is fast becoming into a very recognisable and reliable face in the world of movies. The latest project he has signed on for is a revenge thriller entitled Prisoners. Prisoners is about a Boston man who kidnaps the person he suspects is behind the disappearance of his young daughter and her best friend. Hugh Jackman will be playing the lead role with Jake Gyllenhaal and Oscar winner Melissa Leo in support, so not half bad casting really.

A movie currently in production that is causing quite a stir is Lars Von Trier’s Nymphomaniac. The reason for all of the attention on this project is because it revolves around a woman beaten up and found in an alley, then cleaned up by a bachelor who finds her and along the way she recounts all the details of her sex life from when it began up until her 50s (why?). And it has been announced that Lars Von Trier wants the sex scenes to be completely real – he wants his cast to ACTUALLY have sex on film. Anyway, this week has seen Uma Thurman sign up to a cast that already includes Stellan Skarsgard, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Shia LaBeouf.

And finally, after all of that casting news there is some absolutely ridiculous news coming out this week that after the unsuccessful Battleships film, Hollwood execs are now planning to turn several other games into big blockbusters. Along with a Monopoly film, which has been in the works for some time now, an Action Man movie is being planned (which should lend itself to the medium more easily than others, perhaps). But the weirdest news is that a Hungry Hippos movie is being planned. It’ll be interesting to see how that one turns out.

Incredible Red Band Trailer for Movie 43

UK Release Date: 1st February 2013.

Stars: You name it, they’ve got it: Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Chloe Moretz, Seann William Scott, Richard Gere, Emma Stone, Anna Faris, Chris Pratt, Naomi Watts, Gerard Butler, Kristen Bell, Uma Thurman, Justin Long, Halle Berry, Stephen Merchant, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Josh Duhamel, Liev Schreiber… and the list goes on.

Movie 43 is an ensemble comedy intertwining the stories of several different characters. These types of movies almost never go down well with critics or audience’s alike, but that is because most of them are romantic films and romance requires backstory and depth that ensemble films don’t usually allow for. Comedy allows for people to come in, make a joke, then get out as quick as possible and they’ve had an impact on the audience so this could work!

It’s cast list is huge and is jam packed with stars of past and present, both huge blockbuster names and those actors you recognise from loads of different things but never actually bother to look them up. And with this huge cast comes plenty of directors too including Elizabeth Banks, James Gunn, Brett Ratner and and NINE more! Clearly a lot of effort has gone into this film and there must be something in the script that has attracted so many fantastic actors and actresses to the same project!

This is the red band trailer which are always better for adult comedies as it gives you a true sense of the jokes that will be flung at audiences; you’ve got everything in there from sex jokes, excrement jokes, puberty and even a little gentle racism. Like with the cast and directors, they’ve left nothing to the imagination. I found the trailer to be really really funny and I hope you all do too, but as always I have my doubts about comedy films and ensemble films but all signs suggest promise for Movie 43.

Savages Looks Nothing Short of Brilliance.

UK Release Date: 28th September 2012.

From acclaimed director Oliver Stone comes Savages, the story of two young marijuana growers Ben and Chon who face off against a Mexican cartel who have kidnapped their shared girlfriend.

The cast is a stellar one indeed featuring star after star. Taylor Kitsch headlines the film and despite his recent flops this one could buck the trend. Before, with John Carter and Battleship you could tell that they were never going to do that well, there was just something about them, whereas I think Savages looks a lot better than the both of them. Aaron Johnson looks almost unrecognisable as Ben, a marijuana growing graduate of the University of California. The rest of the cast has more stars in it than a pack of Milky Way Magic Stars: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Salma Hayek, Benecio Del Toro, Blake Lively and Emile Hirsch, a fine cast indeed.

Savages is a crime thriller and audiences never get bored of the crime genre and everyone loves an exciting thriller and it looks as though Oliver Stone has captured the essence of the genres brilliant, although just a sneak peak the trailer provides great excitement and gives fans something to really look forward to.

The trailer itself introduces us to the three main characters and their unusual relationship in which the two men share Blake Lively’s character as she is the girlfriend to both of them. It is her narration that informs us who the characters are and tell us that even though she is narrating, it doesn’t mean she makes it out of the story alive (a good bit of dialogue delivered badly in the trailer, if it’s in the movie it better be more dramatic) but this provides an interesting story either way and Savages could be Stone’s next big hit!

Why Can’t Taylor Kitsch Catch a Break?

Taylor Kitsch is not having a year to remember by any stretch of the imagination. So far in 2012 he has headlined two huge box office flops; John Carter and Battleship. With Savages coming out later this year this could be his last chance to crack Hollywood as a leading man. It could have all been so different for Taylor Kitsch.

Kitsch’s first major role was in television show Friday Night Lights and, despite not having a high viewership it went down very well with critics and, the odd episodes I saw, I really enjoyed it; Kitsch himself was praised for his performance as the hard drinking and womanising running back Tim Riggins. It was his performance on the show that got him his big chances in Hollywood in the first place, so he must have some quality as an actor.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine was Kitsch’s introduction to mainstream cinema audiences in the role of fan favourite X-men character, Gambit. This was only a smaller part in an ensemble cast and although the film was heavily criticised (especially by comic book fans) I thought Kitsch portrayed Gambit well and it’s a shame he won’t be reprising the role for The Wolverine.

John Carter of Mars was Taylor Kitsch’s big chance. It was hugely budgeted by Disney and prolifically marketed yet for one reason or another it just didn’t have enough pull to draw in audiences and cost Disney huge losses (which thankfully are now being recovered by The Avengers). Battleship was a chance for Kitsch to win back fans and critics with another starring role in a big budget film and yet this film failed again, largely because of the success of The Avengers. I think anything released at the same time as The Avengers was never going to do as well as it could have done another month.

Later on this year Taylor Kitsch is playing the lead role in Oliver Stone’s Savages. Stone is a well acclaimed director and the rest of the cast includes Aaron Johnson, Benicio del Toro, John Travolta and Uma Thurman so these factors could make Savages a success and bring Kitsch to public prominence which I think he deserves. Before casting Taylor Kitsch in the lead role Stone asked to see 30 minutes of footage from Battleship to get an idea of how Kitsch could handle being a leading man and something obviously impressed Stone enough to cast him.

I think that Taylor Kitsch is a good actor and deserves a proper chance. Perhaps it was a bit unfair throwing him in at the deep end in films with huge budgets because huge budgets tend to take away from actors performances and so people will see Kitsch as a failure because of the loss of money rather than his performances. If he started with movies that were more low budget then he would have had a better chance at making it as a leading man; it would have been helpful to build up an audience first before throwing him in as a lead action hero. However, I don’t think this is his fault, it is that of the studios.

Savages could be Kitsch’s last chance at being a leading man without having to start again because with potentially three huge flops with his name on it in the space of a year will not look good on his CV.