“Pineapple Express” fans will be disappointed to learn that a sequel was shot down over budget concerns from Sony.
In an interview on SiriusXM’s “The Howard Stern Show” on Wednesday, Rogen said Sony wasn’t interested in a “Pineapple Express 2” movie several years ago when it was being pitched.
“We tried to make one and thanks to the Sony hack you can actually find the email when Sony decided to kill the movie and not make it,” he told host Howard Stern. “It was something we were very open to several years ago, but Sony was not that interested in it.”
The infamous 2014 Sony Pictures hack released many confidential documents and emails about upcoming and previously unannounced movies.
According to a report from The Daily Beast, leaked emails between “Pineapple Express” producer Judd Apatow and former Sony Pictures co-chairman Amy Pascal showed discussion of a sequel to the stoner comedy back in 2014.
“I am so glad we are so close to getting ‘Pineapple Express 2’ figured out. I am very excited to make this thing real. We are very inspired creatively on this one. We have hilarious ideas. It is gonna be awesome. We learned so much on how to make these comedy sequels when we did ‘Anchorman 2.’ And we rocked that marketing campaign. Foreign is doing awesome too. I am sure ‘PE2’ will do even better! Marijuana is so popular now! It’s on every corner!” Apatow wrote in an email.
However, The Daily Beast reports that Apatow wanted a $50 million budget for a sequel, and Sony executives demanded it be kept at $45 million. Discussion for the sequel fizzled out after that.
Rogen backed up the idea money was the issue with getting “Pineapple Express 2” off the ground.
“I think we probably wanted too much money. Studios, they don’t like giving away money. Weird thing,” he said.
“Pineapple Express” was a smash hit and cult favorite, grossing a little more than $100 million worldwide against a budget of $27 million.
Next up, Rogen has “An American Pickle,” a comedy in which he plays a pickle factory worker who gets put into suspended animation and reemerges in modern times. It releases on HBO Max on Aug. 6.
Watch Rogen’s interview below.