HBO Max To Release Seth Rogen’s An American Pickle

HBO Max has acquired worldwide rights to An American Pickle, which will be released under the upcoming platform’s Warner Max label.

The film, starring Seth Rogen in dual leading roles, is an adaptation of the 2013 New Yorker series Sell Out by Simon Rich who also adapts, and is directed by Brandon Trost, the cinematographer from Rogen’s previous films (This is the End, Neighbors, The Interview). Rogen, Evan Goldberg and James Weaver are producers for Point Grey. Executive producers are Rich, Point Grey’s Alex McAtee and Ted Gidlow.

HBO Max acquired the film from Sony Pictures so that it would not be delayed due to Covid-19 theater closures and will now reach audiences this year via the new streaming platform.

The film is based on Rich’s New Yorker novella and stars Rogen as Herschel Greenbaum, a struggling laborer who immigrates to America in 1920 with dreams of building a better life for his beloved family. One day, while working at his factory job, he falls into a vat of pickles and is brined for 100 years. The brine preserves him perfectly and when he emerges in present day Brooklyn, he finds that he hasn’t aged a day. But when he seeks out his family, he is troubled to learn that his only surviving relative is his great grandson, Ben Greenbaum (also played by Rogen), a mild-mannered computer coder whom Herschel can’t even begin to understand.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled to be partnering with HBO Max to release this film. We worked very hard and put as much of ourselves in this story as possible. We’re very proud of the end result and we can’t wait for people to get to see it” said Rogen.

“HBO Max is in the market for motion pictures that stand out. And An American Pickle does stand out – with Seth in this wonderfully original, funny, and heartfelt film that we look forward to debuting this summer,” says Kevin Reilly, Chief Content Officer at HBO Max, President, TNT, TBS and truTV. Executive Vice President of Original Films, Jessie Henderson adds, “I am a huge fan of the original New Yorker story Sell Out and am in awe of how brilliantly Seth, Simon and Brandon translated it to film as only they could have.”