Despite lots of language in a recent LA Times piece about a new American Pie movie that could lead one to believe Universal is going after a reboot (including words like ‘resetting’ and a discussion of reboots in the final paragraphs), sources tell me that the new film won’t be a reboot but a straight up sequel – with room to spin off the series with new young characters. What I’m hearing is that the new film will bring the original characters – all of them are planned to come back at this point – back to high school for their reunion. The current plan would be to mix these returning favorites with new, young characters who could possibly carry the franchise on in new, raunchy directions. It’s like Degrassi High meets Degrassi The Next Generation in one big movie.
Confirming elements of this is Seann William Scott, who seems resigned to his career as Stifler. “I’ve been talking to them about it and there’s a possibility,” he told Coming Soon. “We came up with an awesome idea and I’m kind of at the point where I’m already known as that character forever anyways. As much as I want to do a part like Christoph Waltz in ‘Inglourious Basterds,’ I did ‘American Pie’ three times and then versions of that in ten other movies. If it makes sense and if it makes people laugh than maybe.”
The question is if Universal goes with the half and half idea – a slick way of rebooting a series whose leads have gotten old and not really famous enough to headline much of anything – how much time is given to the old characters and how much time to the new ones? Or will that concept change and will the focus shift just to the old characters (which I’m hearing is a possibility)?