Right now, my classes are reading Rick Riordan’s The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1). I love ending the year with this read-aloud because it is a great tie-in to social studies, where they study ancient cultures. We read various myths together and this year I am even holding a Mythology Bee as part of our annual Greek Olympics!
Needless to say, I am thrilled that The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1) is being made into a movie. IMDB has the project categorized as “in production”, with a release date of February 2010. Check out some of this casting!
Rosario Dawson … Persephone
Uma Thurman … Medusa
Catherine Keener … Sally Jackson
Pierce Brosnan … Chiron
Kevin McKidd … Poseidon
Sean Bean … Zeus
Logan Lerman … Percy Jackson
Steve Coogan … Hades
Melina Kanakaredes … Athena
Alexandra Daddario … Annabeth Chase
Erica Cerra … Hera
Pretty star-studded, huh? I am definitely looking forward to this movie and I think the series will be a big movie hit, provided they come up with a good script. Riordan’s books are the perfect combination of fun, comedy, and adventure, which should translate great on the big screen. I can’t wait!
Filed under: Movie News | Tagged: lightning thief movie |
The Reading Zone 
How exciting! My students will be very glad. The book was a hit when we used it for book clubs. One of my girls just read the latest book last weekend.
Yes, our 6th grade students read this book, too, in conjunction with learning about Ancient Greece in history. It cumulates with a traditional Gods and Goddesses Feast where the students role play as both Greek and Roman gods. If you haven’t stumbled upon it yet, you might be interested in Rick Riordan’s blog Myth & Mystery. http://rickriordan.blogspot.com/
can’t wait! My grade 7 class just did a novel study for this book! It is my favorite book right next to the Twilight series. I can’t believe this is comming out. My teacher says that it will be the best movie ever! Can’t wait to see if she’s right. All of the books were amasing and a BIG thank you to Rick Roridan for writing the books.
I hate the cast it is horrible. I am a 6th grade student and if the cast dose not change my friends and I will not go to the movie.
P.S- Annabeth and Grover really need to go. Percy is O.K but can be sooo much better.
I have a fifth-grade book club for this series…they love it! We are on the fourth book. I will happily pass this great news on to my book club students.
OMG bout time
my daughter just finished this series and showing her your post just made her day! Lots of lovely stars for this film. She’s already TELLING me I must read the series.
I am reading the 5th book. I was shocked from the cast because Annabeth and Grover are both 20 and Percy is 17!!!!!!! I was very dissapointed!!!!!!! I would have liked to see Dakota Fanning as Annabeth and, I’m not sure who, but somebody else for Grover! I’m okay with Percy though…. 🙂 I hope they pursue this series and make movies for all of them!!! I think that would be amazing!!!!
I was just as shocked as you, Kim!
THE BOOKS ARE AMAZING!!! i can’t believe that their making a movie!!! i’m so excited!!! the cast is pretty good, but they could make the characters a little younger… and i don’t realy like the person playing grover… but i’m SO excited to watch the movies!!! i LOVE the books!!!
i think Annabeth Chase should be played by Dakota Fanning, too. I think the actress who’s playing Annabeth is too old.
I haven’t read the book yet but i find it interesting after I have read the synopsis.
I have read the series but I belive that if the actors are GOOD actors then it doesn’t natter who plays them as long as they play it correctly!
Annabeth has brown thin straight hair SO WHAT!
Grover is Black SO WHAT!
I too have been a little disappointed myself with the casting of this movie after having read the books. The author created each character with certain attributes for a reason. Its frustrating when the character you see on film is not the same character found in the book. I think its important Percy is twelve, Medusa is ugly, and Annabeth is blonde. I will still go to the movie and try to it enjoy it for what it is worth. Final conclusion: the book is always better.