Film adaptation
In June 2004, 20th Century Fox acquired the feature film rights to the book.[29] In April 2007, director Chris Columbus was hired to helm the project. The film, titled Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, was released in the United States on February 12, 2010, and stars Logan Lerman as Percy Jackson, Alexandra Daddario as Annabeth Chase, Brandon T. Jackson as Grover, and Pierce Brosnan as Chiron. The film received mixed reviews from critics upon release and grossed $226 million at the worldwide box office.[30] Riordan criticized the movie for significantly altering the book's story, attempting to appeal to an older audience at the expense of the book's younger target demographic, making changes that would create problems for possible sequel films, and generally being poorly written.[31] A sequel, Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, was released in 2013.
Audiobook
On June 28, 2005, a 10-hour and 25 minute audio book version, read by actor Jesse Bernstein, was published worldwide by Listening Library.[11][32]
Kirkus Reviews magazine said, "the narrator's voice lends a refreshing air of realism to this riotously paced quest tale of heroism that questions the realities of our world, family, friendship and loyalty".[5] AudioFile Magazine praised the audiobook, "adults and children alike will be spellbound as they listen to this deeply imaginative tale unfold."[32] School Library Journal both praised and criticized the audio book saying "Although some of Jesse Bernstein's accents fail (the monster from Georgia, for instance, has no Southern trace in her voice), he does a fine job of keeping the main character's tones and accents distinguishable".[33]
Graphic novel
The Lightning Thief was published as a graphic novel on October 12, 2010.[34] It consists of 128 pages with cover art by Attila Futaki and Jose Villarrubia.
Musical
A one-hour musical aimed at young audiences was planned to hit the road on a nationwide tour in September 2014 following a stint in New York City in 2014.[35] A two-hour version of the musical previewed Off-Broadway on March 23, 2017, at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. It officially opened on April 4, 2017, and ran until May 6 of the same year.[36] On June 20, a cast recording was released on the Broadway Records label.[37] In August 2017, it was announced that the two-hour long production would be going on a national tour beginning in the fall of 2018.[38] In 2019 it was announced that the production would make its Broadway debut at the Longacre Theatre, running from September 2019 until January 2020.[39]
Television adaptation
On May 14, 2020, Riordan announced that there would be a live-action Percy Jackson & the Olympians series made for Disney+. Unlike the earlier film adaptation, the series would follow the storyline of the books, and Riordan and his wife Becky would be involved in "every aspect of the show". The first season of the show would adapt the story of The Lightning Thief.[40] On July 13, 2021, Riordan announced Jon Steinberg and Dan Shotz as the show's showrunners,[41] and on January 25, 2022, the show was officially green-lit by Disney+.[42] On April 11, 2022, Walker Scobell was announced to be playing Percy Jackson.[43] In May 2022, Leah Sava Jeffries and Aryan Simhadri joined the cast, respectively playing Annabeth Chase and Grover Underwood.[44] Principal photography began on June 2, 2022, and concluded on February 2, 2023.[45][46] Percy Jackson and the Olympians premiered on December 19, 2023, on Disney+, with the first season consisting of eight episodes.[47][48] The series received positive reviews from critics, who largely praised its faithfulness to the source material.[49]
