When franchises flop: Is the ‘Percy Jackson’ series dead?

Nowadays, it seems that Hollywood doesn’t have much interest in one-off movies. If a film can’t be spun into a multi-movie franchise, it’s simply a lot harder to get made. Sequels are the name of the game.

That’s one of the reasons why the major studios have been raiding bookshelves for every young adult series in sight. The huge success of the “Harry Potter” franchise paved the way for films like the “Twilight Saga” and “Hunger Games” to become box office champs in their own right. But for every big screen YA triumph there were at least a few efforts that fell a little flat by Hollywood standards – series like “Percy Jackson & The Olympians.”

Do you remember “Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief”?

Unless you’re a hardcore fan of the series, you’d probably have to think pretty hard to recall the 2010 fantasy film, which arrived at a time when countless other movies were trying to become the next “Harry Potter.” Based on Rick Riordan’s bestselling series and directed by “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone” filmmaker Chris Columbus, “The Lightning Thief” starred Logan Lerman as Percy Jackson, a teenager who learns that he's descended from Greek gods and becomes embroiled in an ancient conflict between the powers of Olympus.

The film came and went without much fanfare, thanks to tepid reviews and a middling box office performance, but it managed to justify a sequel on the strength of its international ticket receipts. That sequel, "Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters," hit theatres over the weekend and flopped, earning only about half what its predecessor did. Even with a strong international box office performance "Sea of Monsters" will be hard pressed to make back its $90 million budget. Although Fox owns the rights to the entire "Percy Jackson" series, the latest film's disappointing showing makes a sequel, presumably based on the third book "The Titan's Curse," now a dim possibility.

So why did “Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters” flop?

The main reason is probably pretty straight forward: time. It's been almost four years since the last "Percy Jackson" movie, and kids who read the books or saw the movie back then have grown up and moved on. Children and teens are fickle and easily distracted, and there's a very good reason why series like "Harry Potter" and "The Twilight Saga" kept churning out movies year after year: it kept the franchises fresh in the minds of their audiences.

Another factor could be the current competition. With harder-edged YA entertainment like "The Hunger Games" and the upcoming "The Mortal Instruments" to compete with, "Percy Jackson" just looked tame by comparison.

So there may or may not be a third "Percy Jackson" movie -- it all depends on how "Sea of Monsters" continues to perform. One thing is certain, though: "The Titan's Curse" had better arrive sooner rather than later. Momentum is everything!