'Percy Jackson 3' release date: Movie version of third installment in book series unlikely

The "Percy Jackson & the Olympians" series of young adult novels has been one of the more successful books in its genre, but the same cannot be said of its film adaptations. The first book in the series, "The Lightning Thief", was adapted for the big screen and starred actor Logan Lerman. The film performed relatively well at the box office, earning more than $226 million worldwide on a budget of $95 million. While those numbers aren't bad at all, distributor Fox was no doubt looking at the "Harry Potter" series and its massive box office numbers before concluding that the first "Percy Jackson" performed only modestly.

Still, given the property's pedigree, the film franchise was given another chance. A sequel entitled "Sea of Monsters" was released three years later and performed poorly, earning only $199 million worldwide on a similar budget to the original. Sequels are traditionally looked upon as projects that should outperform the original in order to be considered as a success, and "Sea of Monsters" failed in that regard.

At this point of time, a "Percy Jackson 3" has not been announced and appears more and more unlikely to be developed at all. Lerman himself has turned in a few memorable performances in "Perks of a Wallflower", "Noah", and "Fury", making it clear that his acting career wouldn't  be in jeopardy even if the "Percy Jackson" films were to be discontinued. Still, Lerman has indicated that he is contractually obligated for three "Percy Jackson" films and will most likely return if a third film were to be made.

Looking at the current cinematic landscape, however, the film adaptations of popular young adult novels have not had the best success rate in Hollywood. The few notable franchises have been "Harry Potter", "The Hunger Games", "Twilight", and to a lesser extent, "Divergent" and "The Maze Runner". Hollywood studios have certainly tried, but it appears that a middling film franchise such as "Percy Jackson" is best suited to its popular book series or a different medium altogether.

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