Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief

[nikki1920]

I haven't read the book yet. Waiting for the kid to finish it.

I think what happens, is that you have a wildly successful book, which would *probably* make a good movie, but TPTB don't want to risk $$ on an unproven film. So the first version is usually very watered down, and the subsequent films are better, as the director and other PTB are more comfortable financially. (TPTB= the powers that be) Look at the HP franchise. ETA: its hard to keep the readers engrossed in the story that they already know AND attract and keep new-comers to the series.

I thought the movie was ok, although the mother's flat performance irked me. I thought Hades was fun, lol! And Posiedon was delicious...but that's my GA addiction coming out.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by nikki1920

I think what happens, is that you have a wildly successful book, which would *probably* make a good movie, but TPTB don't want to risk $$ on an unproven film. So the first version is usually very watered down, and the subsequent films are better, as the director and other PTB are more comfortable financially. (TPTB= the powers that be) Look at the HP franchise.

Except that the first and second Harry Potter movies, which like Lightning Thief were directed by Chris Columbus, were the most faithful-to-the-book of all the HP movies. It's the later HP movies that have strayed more from the books. It seemed with the first HP movies, they understood they'd fail miserably with the fans if they messed with the story too much. (Ditto Lord of the Rings.)

Of course, the other difference was that JK Rowling was involved with the HP movies, at least to some degree. That was partially because she hadn't finished the series when the first movies came out, so her input was needed to make sure they didn't work against the story arc.