20th Century Studios
It’s hardly rare for an actor’s older cult favorite to land on a streaming platform and find a new audience. What is far less typical, though, is when an entire movie franchise manages the same comeback. In Alexandra Daddario’s case, that franchise consists of just two films — but even so, it’s an impressive streaming resurgence.
The Daddario titles in question make up the complete Percy Jackson film series, which ended before a third movie could be made and long before Rick Riordan’s full “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” book saga received a big-screen adaptation. According to FlixPatrol’s June 19 ranking of the 10 most-watched Netflix movies in the United States, 2010’s “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief” has climbed to No. 2. Its follow-up, “Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters,” is also performing strongly, landing at No. 4.
The films follow Percy Jackson (Logan Lerman), a teenager who discovers he belongs to a small group of people who are actually demigods tied to the Greek pantheon. As the son of Poseidon (Kevin McKidd), Percy is pulled into dangerous quests involving legendary beings, ancient powers, and the children of other gods. Daddario appears in both movies as Annabeth Chase, Percy’s love interest, a fellow half-blood, and the daughter of Athena, the goddess of wisdom.
The Percy Jackson movie series couldn’t cut it in the theaters, but the streaming era is kinder
20th Century Studios
For all their mythology-driven appeal, the Percy Jackson movies were not major triumphs when they first arrived in theaters. Reviews were mixed to negative, with “Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters” receiving especially poor notices. The sequel’s relatively modest $199.85 million worldwide box office total, set against a $90 million production budget, also helped bring the film series to a halt.
Even so, Riordan’s fantasy universe has maintained a devoted following, and “The Lightning Thief” by itself has spent more than 830 weeks on the New York Times YA best seller list. Whether Netflix viewers are embracing the films on their own merits or revisiting them because of renewed interest sparked by Disney+’s faithful but somewhat flat “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” series is ultimately beside the point. What is clear is that subscribers are eager to revisit Percy’s cinematic adventures from home.
