New American Pie Movie In Development At Universal

A new American Pie is in the making.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, actor and filmmaker Sujata Day (Insecure, Definition Please) is attached to write a new entry in the American Pie franchise for Universal 1440 Entertainment, a division of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group. The new film's story is based on Day's own original pitch and is described as being a "fresh take" on American Pie. That said, plot details are being kept under wraps for the time being.

American Pie was released back in 1999 and became a huge box office hit, grossing over $235 million from just a $11 budget. The film launched at a time when raucous comedies were about it hit their height, coming ahead of movies like Superbad, Knocked Up, The Girl Next Door and The 40 Year Old Virgin. The franchise delivered three direct sequels and five spin-off movies that suffered badly from being repetitive and unoriginal. This included the 2020 addition of Girls’ Rules, which struggled to gain any attention and languished at a 30% approval rating.

Three additional films in the main American Pie series subsequently released in theaters. Written by Herz and directed by James B. Rogers, American Pie 2 hit the big screen in 2001. American Wedding followed suit in 2003, with Herz once again returning as writer and Jesse Dylan taking over as director. Most recently, American Reunion was released in theaters in 2012 by the writing-directing duo of Jon Hurwitz and Hayden Schlossberg (Cobra Kai).

There is also a series of direct-to-video American Pie spinoff films, titled American Pie Presents. American Pie Presents: Band Camp originally released on DVD in 2005, followed by American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile in 2006, American Pie Presents: Beta House in 2007, American Pie Presents: The Book of Love in 2009 and, most recently, American Pie Presents: Girls' Rules in 2020.

While Day is allegedly taking a different approach to the American Pie franchise, original movie star Seann William Scott previously said that there was no way American Pie would be made now. While the sequels and spin-offs haven’t really changed much about their crude and tasteless style of humor, Scott, who played Steve Stifler in the franchise, said earlier this year that he felt the appetite for that kind of movie had passed. Scott said:

“You know, I was having a conversation with a friend the other day, I was like, 'You could never make American Pie these days.' Some of the stuff in that movie, you would get arrested and probably go to jail for a long time if you did it. I think a lot of the broader comedies, a lot of the stuff that gave me a career, I don't see there ever being an appetite for those sort of movies again. I mean, I could be wrong. I think some of the broad comedies can be fun but people are, it feels like, myself included, appreciating more of a witty, smart humor and good writing as opposed to just something kind of over-the-top.”