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The plans for American Pie 5 suggest that the long-awaited sequel will make radical changes to what made the original series so successful. Released in 1999, American Pie tells the coming-of-age story of five high school classmates who vow to lose their virginity before graduation. American Pie was a box office success upon release and has since become a cult classic thanks to its outrageous moments and quotable lines. As such, it's unsurprising that executives remain keen to revive the lucrative series. However, everything that has come so far after the original movies in the series has been straight-to-video at best.
The success of American Pie led to a whole franchise - with three sequels featuring the principal cast and several straight-to-video spinoff movies. In 2012, Universal secured the rights to produce American Pie 5, but the development of the film has been slow until now. The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that American Pie 5 is officially in the works and will be based on an original pitch by Sujata Day, star of Insecure. Details on the new American Pie movie are currently slim. Still, Universal's reveal suggests that the long-awaited sequel will be a fresh take on the original movies, rather than a continuation of the franchise's old storylines.
American Pie 5 Plans
While not confirmed, Universal's announcement implies that Sujata Day's American Pie 5 will leave behind Jason Biggs' Jim, Seann William Scott's Stifler, and the rest of the original American Pie lineup, at least to some degree. That's bad news because those names are synonymous with the American Pie franchise and responsible for the most iconic scenes in the series. Day's soft reboot with a different cast of characters imitating the originals would mean American Pie 5 loses its main appeal of seeing how the old cast are over two decades since the first movie. Without them, the movie risks losing what makes American Pie, "American Pie."
American Pie 5 Still Needs The Original Cast
The American Pie franchise has already tried to tell the stories of different high school students before and without success. The five spinoff movies - Band Camp, The Naked Mile, Beta House, The Book of Love, and Girls' Rules - attempted to make legacy characters, such as Stifler's younger brother, the center of the films, with only a few secondary American Pie characters returning, but none of them captured the magic of the much loved original series. Similar popular movies have experienced the same fate, with the likes of Mean Girls and Van Wilder suffering from less entertaining sequels and spinoffs.
Sujata Day's idea for American Pie 5 may well be excellent, but that doesn't mean it needs to be set in the American Pie universe. If Universal wants to create a new coming-of-age comedy, then it should do something new altogether. The focus of American Pie 5 has to be Jim and the original American Pie cast's stories, leaning into the nostalgic elements of the franchise while also continuing on from American Reunion and showing how they are getting on in their 40s. In this way, it can both secure the series' legacy and draw on what made it so successful to begin with.
Jason Biggs Wants To Return For American Pie 5
If Universal really wants to bring the American Pie world back to the big screen, there is a great way to start this. None other than Jason Biggs himself said he wants to return to the world and make American Pie 5 (via Hollywood Life). This happened after the MILF herself, Jennifer Coolidge, shouted out the directors and writers of American Pie in her Critics' Choice Awards acceptance speech, where she won for White Lotus. Biggs said he was very happy for her success, as well as that of Eugene Levy, and said he would love to return to the iconic role.
"I would jump at the opportunity. I love working with all of them. We are a family. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had on a set in my life. It’s a character I love doing more than any other character. I would love it."