Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters

Plot

While in Camp Half-Blood, Percy recounts the story of Thalia and her sacrifice. A young Annabeth, Luke, Grover and Thalia are running to Camp Half-Blood while being pursued by monsters. Thalia sacrifices herself to get the others into the camp, and her father Zeus transforms her into a pine tree, creating a magical border around the camp. Soon a Cyclops passes through the border and is revealed to be Tyson, Percy's half-brother. The camp is later attacked by a Colchis Bull who breaks through the border and ravages Camp Half-Blood. Percy defeats it with the help of Tyson, Annabeth, and Clarisse. Following this, Luke (who had survived his and Percy's battle in the previous film) appears and confronts Percy, trying to convert him to his cause. When Percy refuses, Luke disappears.

The campers realize that Thalia's tree has been poisoned by Luke and they are vulnerable to attacks. Percy visits the Oracle, who tells him of a prophecy of a half-blood of the eldest gods either saving or destroying Olympus. Chiron tells Percy that he is the only living, human half-blood of the eldest gods, so the half-blood in the Prophecy may refer to him. Annabeth and Grover learn about the Golden Fleece, which has the power to heal anything, and propose a quest in which they retrieve the Fleece and use it to heal Thalia's tree. Mr. D chooses Clarisse to lead the quest, much to Annabeth's and Percy's dismay. Percy convinces Grover and Annabeth to accompany him on the quest, and Tyson joins them. Annabeth hails the Chariot of Damnation, and Percy threatens the three drivers (the Graeae) to tell him of his prophecy, giving him coordinates for the Sea of Monsters (the Bermuda Triangle) before ejecting the group from the cab in Washington D.C. because they lack money. While walking down the street, Grover is kidnapped by Chris Rodriguez and taken to Luke. Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson first locate Luke with the help of Hermes, then ride a Hippokampos to his yacht, the Andromeda. Luke reveals his plan to revive Kronos using the Fleece so Olympus will be destroyed. Percy and they are then locked in the brig, though they later escape when Percy uses his ability to manipulate water.

The group is consumed by Charybdis, and they discover Clarisse in the monster's stomach. Percy and Clarisse work together to escape Charybdis by shooting a hole through its gut, and soon they arrive at Circeland, Polyphemus's lair. Percy finds Grover, and the five escape Polyphemus, retrieving the fleece and trapping him in his cave. Afterwards, Luke arrives and demands the fleece from Percy, who refuses. Luke shoots a crossbow bolt at Percy, but Tyson takes the bolt in the chest and falls into the water below.

Luke begins reviving Kronos and Annabeth encourages Percy to take leadership. The team escapes captivity, and Percy grapples with Luke over the Fleece, like the prophecy said they would, but Luke easily gains the upper hand. Luke is suddenly thrown away by Tyson, revealed to have survived his wound due to the water healing it, as he is Poseidon's son. Kronos rises from the sarcophagus and consumes Luke and Grover before battling Percy. Percy realizes that Riptide is the "cursed blade" of the prophecy and slices Kronos into pieces imprisoning Kronos in the sarcophagus once again, causing him to regurgitate Grover and Luke, the latter landing in Polyphemus's Lair. Their victory is short lived as Annabeth is stabbed by the Manticore, who is killed in turn by Clarisse and Grover. Annabeth dies in Percy's arms but is resurrected by the Fleece. Percy then gives the fleece to Clarisse, and they return to Camp Half-Blood. Clarisse places the fleece on Thalia's tree. The group returns the next day to find Thalia alive, as the fleece returned her to human form.

Percy realizes that Thalia, as a child of Zeus, is another possible child of the prophecy about either preserving or destroying Olympus. The film ends showing the sarcophagus with Kronos's remains in it glowing, implying that Kronos still has some degree of his power, and is still planning to return.

Demigods

Gods

Other characters

Production

Reports of a second Percy Jackson film first surfaced in March 2011. On October 12, 2011, a sequel was officially confirmed by 20th Century Fox. Filming for Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters began on April 16, 2012. The film was originally going to be released on March 15, 2013, but in May 2012, the release date was postponed to August 16, 2013. In April 2013, a final release date was set for August 7, 2013. Filming took place in Robert Burnaby Park in Burnaby, B.C.; however from June 20 to July 22, they filmed in New Orleans for Princess Andromeda scenes, including the former site of Six Flags New Orleans. More filming took place in January 2013. On January 22, 2013, Logan Lerman released a statement on Twitter that read "Last day of shooting on Percy Jackson 2" accompanied by a photo of the shooting.

Development

In February 2011, it was revealed in the online subscription magazine Production Weekly that the film was in production. In another source, the lead cast members from the first movie were expected to return for their roles. Chris Columbus would not be returning as director, though he would be producing the movie together with Karen Rosenfelt (producer of the Twilight movie Breaking Dawn). Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski were hired as the scriptwriters. Marc Guggenheim was hired to re-write the screenplay and Alexander and Karaszewski were uncredited. On June 16, 2011, it was announced that Thor Freudenthal would be directing the movie. Shooting began in summer 2012. On October 12, 2011, it was announced that the film would be released on March 26, 2013. On April 6, it was announced that the movie was pushed up to August 7, 2013. On May 31, 2012, it was announced that the movie had been pushed back to August 16, 2013.

Filming

On January 13, 2012, a brand new production list was released and stated that filming would take place between April 26, 2012 and July 11, 2012. It was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia and New Orleans, Louisiana with the abandoned Six Flags New Orleans also serving as a filming location . Filming wrapped up in July and then started again in January for reshoots. It wrapped up on January 22, 2013.

Marketing

Five official stills were released on March 21, 2013. On April 2, the trailer for the film was uploaded on YouTube. A teaser poster was released on April 16. A second trailer was released on May 29, 2013. A third international trailer was released on the June 25, 2013, on YouTube. Since July 19, three TV spots have been released known as "Story", "Cast" and "Family". A clip from the film was released on the internet on July 23, where it was later uploaded onto YouTube. Later many more new clips were released.

Smart & Final stores in California, Arizona, and Nevada offered Hollywood Movie Money Certificate good for one free movie ticket with the purchase of two First Street Bakery items as part of the movie promotion.

Critical response

The film received mixed reviews. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 41% approval rating with an average rating of 5.1/10 based on 111 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "It's pretty and packed with action; unfortunately, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters is also waterlogged with characters and plots that can't help but feel derivative." On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 based on reviews from critics, the film has a score of 39 based on 33 collected reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".

Jim Vejvoda of IGN rated the movie as 6.0 out of 10, awarding "There are worse sequels than the CG-heavy Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, but it's just such overly familiar territory." Gary Goldstein from Los Angeles Times gave the film a positive review, saying that "tweens and young teens should be sufficiently distracted by the movie's brisk pace and heroic mayhem — if they're not too unnerved by its at times nightmarish imagery", while James Rocchi from ScreenCrush said "Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters is hardly the stuff of legend, but by keeping the plot straightforward and the storytelling clean, it's an odyssey the intended young audience will be glad to take." Marsha McCreadie on Roger Ebert's website gave the movie two and a half stars out of four and called it "a gentler-spirited, less flashy enterprise, though it still presents a natural world that can morph at the whim of a god."

New York Times writer Andy Webster states, "Sea of Monsters is diverting enough — the director, Thor Freudenthal is savvy with effects and keeps his young cast on point — but it doesn’t begin to approach the biting adolescent tension of the Harry Potter movies." In a negative review, Michael Rechtshaffen of The Hollywood Reporter posted as the bottom line that "Buoyant effects help keep this sequel from being a noisily hit and myth proposition." Bruce Ingram of Chicago Sun-Times thought the movie had a "deficit of thrills" and "faithful fans of the novels will be unhappy with the liberties taken with the adaptation like they were with the first film." Some critics were merciless, like Josh Bell of Las Vegas Weekly who called the series "a thoroughly second-rate franchise" and said "with movies like Sea of Monsters, it can probably continue in acceptable mediocrity for years to come" and Connie Ogle of The Miami Herald who says "In Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, choosing the dumbest character is a colossal task."

Box office

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters grossed an $68,559,554 in North America and $133,688,197 internationally for a worldwide total of $202,247,751.

The film grossed $5.4 million on its opening day, taking the number No. 2 spot at the domestic box office. During its extended five-day opening weekend the film debuted at the No. 4 spot and grossed $23,258,113.

Soundtrack

"My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)" by Fall Out Boy and "Cameo Lover" by Kimbra were featured in the movie but are unavailable on the soundtrack.

Home media

The film was released on 3D Blu-ray, Blu-ray, and DVD on December 17, 2013. The film was additionally released for Digital HD download on December 3.

Possible sequel

On March 25, 2014, Lerman said that a sequel to Sea of Monsters would not be made. However, a report of March 31, 2014 stated "Logan Lerman has said Percy Jackson 3 could still go ahead" and that the previous report "was taken out of context". At the 2015 Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Lerman said that while he finds the Percy Jackson films fun to make, he has not heard anything about the production of a third film and expressed concern that he and his co-stars were growing too old for their parts.