The second time is the charm for Percy Jackson as Disney tries to adapt the popular Rick Riordan book series into an onscreen Disney series after the first batch of non-Disney attempts (starring Logan Lerman) failed to impress audiences (or Rick Riordan himself) — but this time, the Greek demigod has a trick up his sleeve! The new 20th Television Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians is filming on a new virtual production stage!
According to the Hollywood Reporter, “the 20th Television series, based on Rick Riordan’s best-selling novels, has started production in Vancouver and will be the first project to be made on Industrial Light & Magic’s newly-built StageCraft LED stage, which features a 95-ft. LED screen” and is called the Volume.
“The story of Percy Jackson has such an epic scope,” author Rick Riordan, said. The author of the original Greek mythology-inspired books is also an executive producer on the show. “I am over the moon that we have forged such a great relationship [with ILM] to give this show such a cutting-edge look and feel.”
We already knew that the series Percy Jackson and the Olympians has started filming in Canada (with a brand new cast, including The Adam Project actor Walker Scobell), but the fact that the show is being filmed on a special kind of stage means a lot for the Disney+ series. These virtual production stages allow the settings and locations for shows and movies to be added digitally so that the actors actually only really work and film on one stage throughout a film shoot. These days, the virtual effects for fake backgrounds and locations are much better than they were in the Golden Age of Hollywood!
Industrial Light & Magic is part of Lucasfilm (and therefore part of Disney), so Star Wars shows such as The Mandalorian and Obi-Wan Kenobi have already been filmed in its California-based Volumes. ILM actually has five Volumes made so far: one is located in Manhattan Beach, California, while another is at The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California and another can be found within Pinewood Studios in London (where the new Snow White film is being made). Another Volume was also made temporarily in Australia for the filming of Thor: Love and Thunder!
“With ILM’s StageCraft technology we allow filmmakers to design, light, and shoot the digital world as they would in the practical world all integrated in front of the cast and crew on stage,” Chris Bannister, an executive producer from ILM StageCraft, said. 20th Television Executive Vice President of Production Nissa Diederich seconded that, saying that “the stage we have built will be home to Percy and potentially dozens more of our most ambitious series”!
Are you excited to watch the new Percy Jackson show on Disney+?
