Summary
Disney’s streaming platform,Disney+,might be loaded to the gills with all the small-screen content for massive and established live-action franchises like the Marvel Cinematic Universe andStar Wars,but the streamer’s 2024 best came from an unlikely newcomer.
2024 was a year with a lot to love onDisney+,as the streamer kept up the onslaught of new content from some of the biggest franchises in the world. With the company’s many in-house properties like MCU andStar Warsreleasing new content to add to the already large collection of films and shows on the platform despite a turbulent 2023 and external programming as prominent asDoctor Whohitting Disney+ within the year, fans of all ages and preferences were well served. The company also saw some new blood join its live-action adaptation offerings, most notably givingPercy Jackson and the Olympiansa chance to improve on the lackluster film adaptationswith a reboot show.
While the franchise was seen as past its peak relevance by the time the show debuted at the tail end of 2023, it’s pretty clear now thatPercy Jackson and the Olympiansdid a lot right with its first seasonand garnered a lot of attention. As a result, the show has now secured a pretty interesting distinction for itself in a stacked field, and fans of the show will certainly find this exciting. Data companyLuminaterecently released itsYear-End Film & TV Report for 2024,and one surprising data point to come out of the report was thatPercy Jackson and the Olympianswas the most-watched show on Disney+ for 2024, beating out every other show on the streamer with an impressive estimated 3 billion minutes watched last year. This is extra impressive when taking into consideration that the show premiered and had released almost half of its 8-episode first season run before the end of December 2023. This means that the show beat out stiff competition with more established brand recognition, including 2024 releases likeEcho, Agatha All Along, What If…?season three,The Acolyte,Skeleton Crew,Star Wars: Tales of the Empire,andThe Bad Batchseason three.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians,which was the only non-Marvel orStar Warsentry in the top ten, being the most watched is incredibly validating for the series and its future potential.Percy Jacksoncreator Rick Riordan praised the Disney+ showearly on in production and reiterated how well the medium of TV and streaming worked to lend itself to a more accurate adaptation of what he originally wrote in his award-winning books. The books also earned positive comparisons to theHarry Potterfranchise throughout the publishing run, which is relevant once more as the latter seeks to launch its own TV adaptation for HBO and plans to begin filming in the summer of 2025. While theHarry Potterseries has become another beneficiary of the new wave of planned Max projects also heading to linear TV, the success ofPercy Jackson and the Olympiansstill serves as a great indicator of what could be for that franchise as well. More importantly, the show has already been renewed for a second season set to adapt the events of the second book in thePercy Jacksonseries,The Sea of Monsters.
WithPercy Jackson and the Olympianssecuring a season two replacement for Lance Reddickafter his untimely passing and making the prerequisite additions to the cast for exciting new characters to debut as the second book in the series dictates, fans can look forward to another installment that really brings Rick Roidan’s books to life. While there’s still a lot of ground to cover in adapting the rest of the book series (not to mention the myriad extra books and crossovers that could potentially launch other book series adaptations), the Percy Jackson show has done a lot already to validate the idea that a show makes for better book series adaptations than the high-stakes films favored in times past.
Percy Jackson & the Olympiansis available to stream on Disney+, alongside all the MCU andStar Warsshows it outperformed last year.
