Rick Riordan’s beloved Percy Jackson and the Olympians series is finally getting the TV show treatment this winter on Disney+. Early footage has teased a seriously massive scope for the production. Naturally, that might lead some to question just how much it cost the House of Mouse to produce it. Well, per an exec, the company "spared no expense," but just how big was its budget compared to fellow streaming original The Mandalorian? Well, some numbers have been reported and, if they're accurate, they indicate a serious price tag.
According to sources who spoke to Variety, each episode of Percy Jackson and the Olympians cost between $10 to $15 million a piece. That reportedly matches the cost of an average episode of The Mandalorian -- the hit sci-fi series set within the Star Wars universe. Although Disney did not confirm those exact figures, 20th Television’s president, Karey Burke, said the following in regard to the show’s budget:
The North Star in the development process was to honor the books and Rick’s vision. And secondarily, to have the show live alongside the worlds created by our sister studios at Lucasfilm and Marvel. We really wanted to spare no expense to make sure that this series felt as big and imaginative.
The notion of the series, which wrapped filming in February, being on par with the production budget of one of the streaming service’s top shows will certainly be a relief to longtime fans of the best-selling book series. Percy Jackson and the Olympians sees a 12-year-old boy’s discover he's a demigod and the son of Poseidon and learn that he possesses incredible powers. He soon uncovers the secret existence of Greek mythological beings in the real world, including Camp Half Blood, where his incredible hero’s journey begins. With a premise like that, a hefty budget is definitely necessary to bring the story to life in a stunning way. One hopes it looks as impressive as Mando, which dropped its third season earlier this year.
The highly anticipated coming-of-age series arrives years after the late-'00s/early-'10s movie franchise was cancelled before it could finish covering every book in the series. Those first two movies starring Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario and more failed to replicate the success of fellow young adult series Harry Potter. Rick Riordan recently admitted that after the films flopped, he “basically wrote off Hollywood for a long, long time” and gave up on the idea of his series getting a worthy adaptation.
Once Disney acquired 20th Century Fox in 2019, though, a new opportunity arose for the IP to get the adaptation it deserves. Rick Riordan then met with various divisions of the entertainment conglomerate, pushing for his Greek mythology YA franchise to become a TV show rather than another set of movies. Riordan reasoned that with the latter approach, the adaptation would have more time to cover the finer details that are present within the books
Given these reported budget numbers, one would hope that a lot of ground is going to be covered in this first season alone. Regardless of what the exact numbers are, the comments from Karey Burke indicate a huge vote of confidence from the studio. The series should indeed have a wide, cinematic scope as a result and, to steal a quote from The Mandalorian, this is the way!
The first two episodes of Percy Jackson and the Olympians will premiere for those with a Disney+ subscription on Wednesday, December 20 as part of the 2023 TV schedule. From there, new installments will be aired weekly.
