Disney wants to compete with the Harry Potter franchise with a new fantasy series. The studio is serious: it’s spending up to $15 million per episode.
Greek deities are real, they have lots of kids, and they like to wage war. That’s the big reveal that comes to the young main character in Percy Jackson: The Series. Disney’s revival of the series that went down in theaters is apparently getting really expensive. But it could challenge Harry Potter for the fantasy throne.
15 million per episode: Disney is investing big money in Harry Potter replacement
Just like the movie series, the upcoming Disney+ series is based on the Percy Jackson books by Rick Riordan. There, young Percy discovers he is the son of the Greek deity Poseidon and is tasked with preventing a war between Olympus and the sinister Titans.
Watch the first trailer for the Percy Jackson series here:
As Varietyhas learned from inside sources, the episodes of the series are expected to cost $12 million to $15 million. That’s about the same budget as Star Wars flagship The Mandalorian, Discussing Film notes. Disney must have big plans for the series.
In the 2010s, the fantasy adaptations Percy Jackson – Thieves in Olympus and Percy Jackson 2: Under the Spell of the Cyclops already appeared in theaters. They didn’t flop, but didn’t show much fan enthusiasm for the series either and were therefore not continued.
When will the Percy Jackson series come to Disney+?
The Percy Jackson series is scheduled to start on Disney+ on December 20, 2023. The first season will feature eight episodes, released in weekly increments. In front of the camera, the cast includes Walker Scobell (The Adam Project).
A touch of Harry Potter: what is the plot of the Percy Jackson series?
In Greece, the deities have not been for a long time, since they moved Olympus to America, more precisely to New York. This is also where teenager Perseus ‘Percy’ Jackson lives, who one day finds out that he is the son of the sea god Poseidon.
Percy gets caught in the middle of a conflict of the gods and a brewing war with the Titans. To protect him, Percy is sent to Camp Half Blood. There live other demigods who train to fight monsters. Each of them is assigned to one of 12 huts, depending on which deity is their father or mother. Together with his friends, Percy embarks on numerous adventures, while the dangerous titan Kronos gains power and gathers numerous followers around him.
