Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013): Cast, Plot and Ending

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013), directed by Thor Freudenthal, is a quest story about saving Camp Half-Blood by finding the Golden Fleece, and it picks up with Percy as a camper who still has something to prove.

The film opens seven years in the past, when Thalia Grace sacrifices herself to save her friends. Zeus turns her into a pine tree, and the magic of that tree now forms the barrier that protects Camp Half-Blood from monsters. In the present, Percy Jackson is a camper at Camp Half-Blood with his friends Annabeth and Grover, yet other campers sneer at him as a hero who has only ever done one quest. If you watched Percy Jackson the Lightning Thief first, you will recognize that reputation as the weight he carries into this sequel.

Then Percy meets Tyson, a cyclops who turns out to be his half brother. A Colchis bull attacks the camp, and the campers learn that Luke has poisoned Thalia's tree, which weakens the barrier around everyone inside it. Annabeth discovers that the Golden Fleece could heal the tree, and Mr. D hands the quest to Clarisse rather than to Percy. That choice sets the whole adventure moving, and it is the reason Percy ends up doing the job his own way.

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters reached US theaters on August 7, 2013, two days before its UK release on August 9 and six weeks before its Australian release on September 19, 2013.

The film carries a PG rating in the US, the UK and Australia, and it runs 106 minutes, twelve minutes shorter than the 118 minute first film.

On money, the film cost $90 million to make and earned $68.6 million in the US and Canada and $131.3 million internationally, for about $200 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. The first film cost more to make and earned more, so the sequel finished behind it both domestically and globally. A third film was never made.

For every figure side by side, see the Percy Jackson box office page, and for what is and is not announced, the new Percy Jackson movie page.

Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters was filmed mainly in the Vancouver area of British Columbia, Canada, with a second shoot in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The main shoot in the Vancouver area included Robert Burnaby Park in Burnaby. The New Orleans shoot ran from June 20 to July 22, 2012, and covered the scenes set on the Princess Andromeda. The abandoned Six Flags New Orleans stood in for Polyphemus's island.

Principal photography wrapped in July 2012, and reshoots followed in January 2013.

The production history of Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters has several details that fans of the series tend to ask about.

• Thor Freudenthal was reported as the new director in June 2011, replacing Chris Columbus, who stayed on as a producer.
• Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski were hired as early screenwriters, but Marc Guggenheim rewrote the script and received the screenplay credit.
• Nathan Fillion took over the role of Hermes from Dylan Neal in the first film, and Stanley Tucci took over Mr. D from Luke Camilleri.
• The New Orleans shoot ran from June 20 to July 22, 2012, and used the abandoned Six Flags New Orleans for Polyphemus's island.
• Principal photography wrapped in July 2012, with reshoots in January 2013.
• Fall Out Boy's "My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark (Light Em Up)" and Kimbra's "Cameo Lover" appear in the film but are not on the soundtrack album.

To place the film among the other titles, see how many Percy Jackson movies are there, the Percy Jackson timeline and the Percy Jackson movies hub.