DBWI: No Harry Potter/Percy Jackson Crossover Movie

[Nick Griffalco]

The DC Cinematic Universe may have started the concept of shared film universe, but the Disney has truly turned it into an art form. Their success with adapting popular YA sci-fi and fantasy novels into a shared universe culminated a few years ago with Heroes United directed by acclaimed film and television producer Alan Moore. Every once of common sense says that it shouldn't be possible to make a film with Harry Potter, Static Shock, Percy Jackson, Buffy Summers and Flash Gordon all together in the same movie; yet Disney pulled it off to massive success and are continuing to expand their live action universe.

No one can deny that it was the success of the Harry Potter/Percy Jackson crossover movie that kicked things off. Before that the movie that would later become connected were all being produced mostly as standalone films, with a few nods to one another in true disney style. A crossover was a huge risk, and Disney nearly chickened out multiple times, with worries about rights being a major panic maker

Suppose Disney let their fears get the better of them and the film was never made. Could we have anything like the Disney Live Action Cinematic Universe? How would this effect later series Disney adapted? For that matter, would we have even gotten films like Dragonball or Twilight.

Side note, anyone else hear those rumors that the Twilight movies could have been more like the books and less like Underworld? Also, anyone else excited for the Rosario+Vampire movie that's being added to the Live Action verse? Yes, I know they're setting it in America and changing the characters to Japanese-American, but I think Disney adapting more manga and anime to the verse has great potential.

 

[Whitewings]

Having seen the films and attempted to read the first of the Twilight novels, I can assure you that the films are vastly superior. They actually have characters with personalities and a plot that makes sense. A Dragonball movie seems likely, though I doubt Disney would have done it. Lions Gate would seem a likely choice.

But if you look at the timing, you'll see that there were other companies looking creating interlocking film series, and still are. There are a lot of Canadian superheroes whose copyrights are either expired or untraceable, and Lions Gate is currently soliciting scripts for several of them. According to a friend of mine, the first in the series, if it ever gets off the ground, will probably be Nelvana of the Northern Lights.

 

[Nick Griffalco]

Having seen the films and attempted to read the first of the Twilight novels, I can assure you that the films are vastly superior. They actually have characters with personalities and a plot that makes sense. A Dragonball movie seems likely, though I doubt Disney would have done it. Lions Gate would seem a likely choice.

But if you look at the timing, you'll see that there were other companies looking creating interlocking film series, and still are. There are a lot of Canadian superheroes whose copyrights are either expired or untraceable, and Lions Gate is currently soliciting scripts for several of them. According to a friend of mine, the first in the series, if it ever gets off the ground, will probably be Nelvana of the Northern Lights.

Now that you mention it Lions Gate did try to launch their own shared universe with the Golden Compass trilogy. Didn't quite workout, but damn, that would have been quite the way to kick it off!

So besides Dragonball who else might populate the Lions Gate verse? If we assume the Golden Compass managed to establish a verse for them perhaps The Hunger Games? I know it's been in development hell for a while, and without Buffy and Twilight to prove female lead action movies can sell its bound to be an uphill battle. Still, it has potential to be as big as that remake of Battle Royal they put out

 

[tigercat]

Am I the only one who thought the Hermione / Xander romance was unnecessary in second movie. Although Giles did make a very good replacement father figure for Harry

 

[mattep74]

Am I the only one who thought the Hermione / Xander romance was unnecessary in second movie. Although Giles did make a very good replacement father figure for Harry

Well, there was something in it for men and women both. We got to see Hermonie and Xander having a steamy sexscene(ooc: In Buffy they wernt shy about showing teens having sex, heck they built an entire episode around Buffy and her military hunk having sex in a haunted house) with both barechest and implied lower body nudity.

But having Buffy turning evil was a bad move, SMG told the press she never liked that idea

 

[Nick Griffalco]

Am I the only one who thought the Hermione / Xander romance was unnecessary in second movie. Although Giles did make a very good replacement father figure for Harry

Yeah, considering Xander was gay in the books. Then again, the movies were less about being completely faithful to the books and more about distilling the best aspects of the respective series; though I would argue having an openly gay character was on of the best things about Buffy.

And Giles was a nice replacement father figure; as for Buffy turning evil, did you hear those rumors that Alan Moore was going to turn Harry evil in Heroes United? Yeah, apparently he would have been like the antichrist or something rather than having Ming the Merciless trying to invade Earth like we got in the movie

 

[Whitewings]

Putting Hermione with someone not Ron was a very good idea, though. Even J.K. Rowling thought the Ron/Hermione pairing was a dumb idea. I heard the rumour about Harry turning evil, but I don't give it much credence; Moore's better than that at characterization. Harry's always been depicted as having a serious hero complex and a serious hatred of public attention, so going down the Evil Overlord path would make no sense at all.

An interesting thought would be to have Battle Royale and some of its derivatives occurring in the same world, with the inevitable backlash leading to something like Children of the Corn but on a larger scale.

 

[Nick Griffalco]

Putting Hermione with someone not Ron was a very good idea, though. Even J.K. Rowling thought the Ron/Hermione pairing was a dumb idea. I heard the rumour about Harry turning evil, but I don't give it much credence; Moore's better than that at characterization. Harry's always been depicted as having a serious hero complex and a serious hatred of public attention, so going down the Evil Overlord path would make no sense at all.

An interesting thought would be to have Battle Royale and some of its derivatives occurring in the same world, with the inevitable backlash leading to something like Children of the Corn but on a larger scale.

That's another interesting reason why The Hunger Games could make a good establishing movie for a Lions Gate verse. The third book did reveal that the government of Panam had lied about there not being any other nations in the world, and Lions Gate is considering a Judge Dreed movie, which could fit nicely with the Hunger Games, though Battle Royal could work just as well.

I feel if Lions Gate were to establish a verse it would be Darker and Edger than the Disney verse, not that the Disney verse is exactly all light and fluffy mind you. They did kill Grover Underwood in Heroes United but I hear he'll return as a major protagonist in Disney's Agents of UNIT

Side note, was I the only one who cried when Grover told Percy "Earn it!" right before he died?

 

[Clandango]

As for Ron, I have to say I was not entirely pleased with his portrayal. They made up for it by making him the heir to Mickey Mouse. Tieing in how he was played by Shia Lebeouf and having Even Stevens be officially added to the Harry Potter canon. I look forward to seeing how Hogwarts fairs under the administration of Headmaster Wexler in The new TV miniseries. Shame it is a British one, though. I would have liked more planned episodes than the mere eight they have announced.

 

[Nick Griffalco]

As for Ron, I have to say I was not entirely pleased with his portrayal. They made up for it by making him the heir to Mickey Mouse. Tieing in how he was played by Shia Lebeouf and having Even Stevens be officially added to the Harry Potter canon. I look forward to seeing how Hogwarts fairs under the administration of Headmaster Wexler in The new TV miniseries. Shame it is a British one, though. I would have liked more planned episodes than the mere eight they have announced.

Yeah, I wasn't quite sure about the decision to recast the Harry Potter movies in America and have everyone be American, especially considering the books are so quintessentially British. Still, you hear how the live action verse is crossing over with Phenius and Ferb? I have mixed feelings about this

Buffy probably won't be in it since she turned evil, but Harry is a wizard and Percy is a demigod. Both troubling since P and F don't usually feature fantasy or supernatural elements

Static and Flash could work better though give their sci- fi angle

 

[Nick Griffalco]

Thread bump!