A $20 million dramatic comedy starring Seth Rogen hardly sounds like the kind of project that would endure a notoriously troubled and tortured existence, but An American Pickle has been repeatedly shuffled around and bounced about since first entering development way back in 2013.
Simon Rich adapted his short story Sell Out into a feature film, with Brandon Trost making his feature length directorial debut. You’d have thought a low budget vehicle for a recognizable star such as Rogen would enjoy a smooth ride from conception to release, but that was far from the case.
An American Pickle was originally set up at Sony before migrating over to Warner Bros., with the new owners thrusting the film onto HBO Max in August of 2020, where it managed to draw in decent viewership figures. However, it did also score a limited theatrical release in the United Kingdom, and was unleashed internationally on many VOD platforms, before quietly being removed from its original on-demand home earlier this month after new CEO David Zaslav decided a clear-out was in order.
For subscribers in the United Kingdom, the well-received and entertainingly pleasant An American Pickle has now set up shop on Prime Video, where it’s instantly become one of the 10 top titles on the platform. As per FlixPatrol, the tale of Herschel Greenbaum awakening from a century stuck in pickle brine to reconnect with descendant Ben and find his place in the world currently sits at number four on the UK charts, with customers taking advantage of its removal from HBO Max.