La Ron S. Readus
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The Kane Chronicles (VIDEO SCRIPT)
🕑 Added 2020-09-14 20:00:04 +0000 UTC
Trust me, Readers; I’m just as surprised as you are
Never did I think that my little side comment about The Kane Chronicles possibly getting its moment in the spotlight in my Percy Jackson video was actually me foreshadowing upcoming events, but let me tell you I am glad to hear it!
/Because on Saturday September 12 2020, Rick Riordan announced on his website that the film rights for the Kane Chronicles Trilogy were picked up by Netflix and that they’re developing them for a feature length film trilogy!/
See, I didn’t even know what was going on, until Readers started commenting on my Percy Jackson video about what I said regarding the Kane Chronicles
Saying things like, “He should check the news about what’s going on with the Kane Chronicles”
“Oh wow, were actually going to get it!”
And “Are you a mutant? Because if you are, you should turn yourself in.”
Okay, maybe not that last one. But I have received variants of that comment with less than positive intentions before
So if we look back at Riordan’s article regarding the news
/We know that this deal has been in the works since October of 2019; around the same time he started work on the Percy Jackson show on Disney+ despite that being announced May of 2020/
However, with that reveal, we run into a bit of a hiccup; not REALLY a problem, but a sudden moment of discomfort that you need to hold your breath for an extended period of time in order to properly take care of it
Wow. I, uh... I didn’t realize how bad that analogy was until I actually said it out loud.
The hiccup is that Percy Jackson’s crew, the Kanes and even Magnus Chase all take place in the same universe. The Kane’s safehouse is pretty much nextdoor neighbors with the Manhattan entrance to Mt. Olympus, after all.
So if the Percy Jackson tv show is happening on Disney+, then why isn’t the Kane Chronicles trilogy happening there as well? Well, allow me to explain.
You see, when Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, they also acquired all the film rights the studio had on deck. Including the rights to Percy Jackson, which was acquired by the studio back in 2004
The initial reason why there was a falling out between 20th Century Fox and Rick was because there was little to no consultation or collaboration efforts between the two when making the movies for The Lightning Thief and Sea of Monsters.
That’s why the Disney+ deal is as important as it is. Now that Disney has those rights for Percy Jackson and the Olympians thanks to absorbing Fox, they could do the exact same thing that Fox did with the intellectual property.
/And according to how Artemis Fowl ended up, there’s definitely proof that they’re capable of doing so./
However, despite the fact that Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Kane Chronicles, The Heroes of Olympus, Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard and Trials of Apollo all take place in the same universe, the only film rights owned by a studio at the time were the ones for Percy Jackson and the Olympians, so the five books were all they had access to.
And in order to make sure they have a better rapport with Rick than 20th Century Fox originally had, they made the Disney+ show that’s gonna be based on the 5-book series a collaboration effort with themselves and Riordan, because those five books are all they have access to because of the acquisition unless they want to purchase the film rights to any of the other series that ALSO take place in said universe.
It’s kinda like how even though Warner Brothers wanted to make more Wizarding World movies, they had to purchase the rights to the book Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them before working on the movie based on it in any form, despite already owning the film rights to the seven original Harry Potter novels. If Disney wants to expand on their Percy Jackson series with the stuff in Heroes of Olympus or Trials of Apollo, that means they have to buy those rights from Riordan before doing so
So because each series is a separate entity that has to have the film rights purchased for them in order to be adapted despite them all being in the same universe, any one of them outside of Percy Jackson and the Olympians is fair game to be picked up by any movie studio.
Which is why Netflix now has the film rights to The Kane Chronicles, despite the novels the eventual films are adapted from taking place in the same universe as the upcoming Percy Jackson TV show
Now, I know what you’re thinking:
But La’Ron, all of Rick Riordan’s Camp Half-Blood related novels are published by Disney. That means they should already have the film rights to everything, right?
Well, not exactly.
Yes, all of his Percy Jackson-related novels -- including The Kane Chronicles -- are published by Disney Hyperion; Disney’s publishing company for children’s books.
But just because the publishing company that produces Riordan’s stuff is owned by Disney does not mean that Disney immediately gains the film rights to every book it publishes.
Riordan actually posted a blog about the subject back when Disney was in final talks to acquire Fox back in 2017 and people were inquiring about what that meant for the future of the at-the-time Percy Jackson film franchise, stating -- and I quote
/Disney was NEVER involved in the Percy Jackson movies. In early 2004, before the book was published, Disney movie studios passed on the movie rights, which is how Percy Jackson ended up at Fox. Endquote/
That tells me Disney’s publishing company works kinda like a traditional publishing company; the author still obtains the film and television right of their property and a studio still has to buy them from said author if they want to turn it into a tv show or a movie.
The only possible difference is, because it's a publishing company that’s owned by Disney, they more than likely get first dibs TO buy the rights of the books the company publishes before they’re put out on the open market for other movie studios to buy them whenever they sign an author and their property to their house.
And considering that Rick has been working on this deal for The Kane Chronicles for as long as he’s been working with Disney to adapt Percy Jackson for Disney+, there’s a good chance that Disney did what they initially did with Percy Jackson back in 2004 and turned down the opportunity to pick them up for The Kane Chronicles when it was offered, allowing Netflix the opportunity to come in and work out a deal
So now we know why The Kane Chronicles trilogy is happening at Netflix as opposed to Disney+. The next question is now that they’re housed at 2 different studios, can The Kane Chronicles still establish that it’s in the same universe as Percy Jackson and the Olympians?
Well, yes and no.
The Yes is that The Kane Chronicles can still REFERENCE the ties it has that establishes it in the same universe as Percy Jackson. Mostly thanks to how books like The Red Pyramid handle its connection.
/The way the first book in the trilogy handles it is that the Greek Gods are mentioned residing in Manhattan when Carter and Sadie first arrive in their safe house in the Bronx, and no major characters in the first five Percy Jackson books are mentioned./
Because the Greek Gods and just about every other ancient pantheon of gods in general are pretty much public domain, they can be mentioned residing in the usual area that they are in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians book series, which would technically still make the upcoming movies associated with Percy Jackson.
You can’t put a trademark or a copyright on Zeus. Maybe a specific design of Zeus, but not the overall character.
Mentioning and showing Percy Jackson and his related characters on the other hand, is a different story.
Just like Spider-Man having permission to participate in the MCU, unless there’s a deal in place between Disney and Netflix, the latter can’t really mention Percy Jackson or any other characters related to him in the upcoming Kane Chronicles movies unless they’re ready to pay a significant amount of money to Disney.
/That means no Son of Sobek, no Staff of Serapis, and no Crown of Ptolemy, unless Disney and Netflix -- the film rights holders for Percy Jackson and the Kane Chronicles respectively -- come to some sort of agreement./
And considering Disney’s reasoning in getting into the streaming platform game to begin with, I doubt that’ll be any time soon.
Then again, we don’t necessarily know the terms for Riordan’s deal with Netflix regarding the upcoming Kane Chronicles movies.
Just like outside of it being a tv show that he’s partnering with Disney on to make sure it’s told as accurate as possible in a way he’s comfortable with, we don’t know that much about what it took for Disney and Rick Riordan to come to that agreement for the upcoming Percy Jackson series
There’s probably a LOT more to the Netflix deal that he chose not to reveal to the public. And considering how open he is about certain projects and informing people about what goes on behind the scenes of projects that directly and indirectly involve him, he’ll definitely give us more information either when he’s ready to, or he’s given the OK
Nevertheless, despite Netflix having Kane and Disney having Percy, I’m glad at least the adapted Kane Chronicles at least has a public domain friendly way of establishing that it takes place in the Percy Jackson universe without having to actually mention Percy Jackson
Plus as someone who hasn’t read the crossovers yet, I’m kinda glad that it’s just the main trilogy of Kane books that’ll be getting the focus. Definitely gives me time to read them, THAT’S for sure.
So with that being said Readers, YOUR homework assignment for the day:
Write in the comment section below how stoked YOU are that The Kane Chronicles are being adapted into Netflix Original movies.
I’ll have links to the original books in the description below if you want to read-slash-listen to them yourselves and also financially help out the channel and the same time, but believe me when I say that I am STOKED and I would LOVE to know your thoughts
