Will There Ever Be Another American Pie Movie?
Universal is reportedly working on a fifth American Pie film, which looks to be a reboot of the franchise.
Since time flies when you’re having fun (especially at band camp), we could scarcely believe that American Reunion, the fourth and last film in Universal Pictures’ American Pie franchise, came out way back in 2012. It’s been over a decade since we’ve seen the continuing adventures of franchise characters like Jim, Oz, Stiffler, and the rest of the gang (they didn’t appear in those direct-to-video spinoffs, and the less said about those, the better). This led us to do some research about whether there would ever be another sequel, and it looks like it will happen, but in a way that makes nobody happy.
As befitting the title, American Reunion was a film that brought the core characters back together after they got families and jobs and did a little growing up, so there wasn’t really much to do with their story but get the gang back for the titular reunion. And it was pretty bad by American Pie standards: for one thing, it’s the lowest-rated entry in the main franchise with a 45 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. And while its box office of $235 million was only half a million less than the first film, it was far less than the second movie, which earned a franchise high of nearly $288 million.
Still, the fact that the final movie in the American Pie franchise earned nearly as much as the first one isn’t bad at all, and Hollywood executives don’t often sneeze at franchises that can regularly bring in nearly a quarter of a billion dollars. So, why haven’t we already gotten another film? After all, American Pie 5 was announced way back in 2012, so you would reasonably expect it to be completed by now.
Originally, Universal Pictures seemed very eager to make a fifth American Pie film, and they were ready to bring American Reunion directors Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg back to helm the film. Then, without making any real announcements, it seems those plans were quietly canceled. The closest we came to an official explanation was when Stiffler actor Sean William Scott said in 2017 that the fourth movie likely didn’t make enough at the box office for the franchise to warrant a fifth entry.
For a brief time, it seemed like there was no hope for the American Pie franchise to continue. But in 2018, Sharknado star and original cast alum Tara Reid said that she spoke with the American Reunion directors at an Emmy party and got their reassurance that another movie was coming. In her excitement, Reid shared that a script was already written and that we’d likely get this sequel before the end of 2018.
Needless to say, 2018 came and went without us getting American Pie 5, but that wasn’t enough to stop the Tara Reid hype machine. In 2021, she stated the movie had an “amazing” script already completed and that another film “will happen, I just don’t know when.” At the time, it seemed like this was just wishful thinking on the part of someone who went from headlining major Hollywood films to waiting each year for another Sharknado sequel, but now it looks like she might have been on to something.
After Jennifer Coolidge won her well-deserved Emmy for The White Lotus earlier this year and gave American Pie a shoutout, this franchise and its cast were part of the cultural zeitgeist once again, and star Jason Biggs signaled his interest in making a fifth movie. One month later, Universal Pictures announced they would be working on an American Pie 5 based on an original script by Insecure star Sujata Day.
While Universal has kept official plans under wraps, the current buzz surrounding this movie suggests that it will largely involve a new, younger cast, with older cast members present to mostly pass the baton as we saw in the last Ghostbusters movie.
So, for those hoping for another American Pie film, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that a fifth movie was officially announced earlier this year, but the bad news is that we’re over a decade removed from the first official sequel announcement, and if this sequel actually does happen, it will lack most of the characters and magic that made the original films so special. And Universal may be on the cusp of learning an expensive lesson: at the end of the day, you can lead film audiences to an apple pie, but you can’t make them abuse it.
