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Jason Pitzl-Waters on Sep 4th 2009 at 11:37 am Paganism

Quick Note: Return of the Olympians?

It seems I’m somewhat out of the loop concerning what’s hot in the post-Harry Potter world of young adult fantasy fiction, because producer/director Chris Columbus (who directed the first two Harry Potter movies) is bringing a new series to the big screen, and this one seems more explicitly mythical (and dare I say “pagan”) than the “Potterverse” ever was. “Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief” follows the adventures of Percy (Perseus) Jackson, a son of Poseidon, who, along with some fellow demigods, goes on a series of adventures.

“Directed by Harry Potter veteran Chris Columbus, the film is a fantasy based on the first book in Rick Riordan’s popular series. In the story, a young modern-day boy named Percy Jackson learns that he’s the half-human/half-god son of Poseidon and embarks on a journey of adventure and self-discovery that also involves warring gods.”

You can see the official film web site, here. It is scheduled for release February 12, 2010. Can a film tied so deeply to the pre-Christian Greek mythos find the kind of mega-success that Potter did? One thing’s for certain, if you thought certain Christians went nuts over a bunch of English boarding-school kids casting spells, wait till their kids want to see a film about the children of pagan gods.

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8 responses so far

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/chuck_cosimano chuck_cosimano

    Half the fun of these things is watching the Christians go nutzoid.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/thewildhunt Jason Pitzl-Waters

    The less said about \”The Seeker\”, the better. Poor poor Susan Cooper.

  • http://mattsone.blogs.com Matt Stone

    This may be too Pagan for some Christians to recognize as a threat :-)

  • http://quakerpagan.blogspot.com/ Cat Chapin-Bishop

    The books are wonderful, and easily as addictive to young readers as the Harry Potter series.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1371803577 Ingrid Peterson

    eeerrr make that big not bug! lol
    ~nothing against bugs of course.

  • http://patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/2009/11/pagan-news-of-note-27.html The Wild Hunt » (Pagan) News of Note

    [...] movie “The Lightning Thief” featuring Uma Thurman as Medusa. I’ve written about the pagan-ness of Percy Jackson previously, which follows the adventures of young Greek demigods. “The Lightning Thief” is due out [...]

  • http://patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/2009/12/hollywoods-rampant-pantheism.html The Wild Hunt » Hollywood’s Rampant Pantheism

    [...] out? Just wait, after “Hypatia”, the “Clash of the Titans” remake, and the “Percy Jackson” adaptation hit theaters in 2010, it’ll be polytheism, not pantheism, that’s the real problem. I [...]

  • http://patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/2009/12/top-ten-pagan-stories-of-2009-part-one.html The Wild Hunt » Top Ten Pagan Stories of 2009 (Part One)

    [...] In addition, two upcoming Greek-myth-drenched films “Clash of the Titans” and “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” may make 2010 the year of [...]