Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul is a 2017 American road comedy film written and directed by David Bowers.

[5] It instead features a completely different cast (which includes Jason Drucker, Alicia Silverstone, Tom Everett Scott, Charlie Wright, and Owen Asztalos), and the plot follows the Heffleys as they go on a road trip to Meemaw's 90th birthday party, without realizing the various calamities that will occur along the way.

Dog Days, released in 2012, was described as the last live-action film in the franchise, with the original cast and crew indicating that were no plans for a fourth one or any more sequels.

During the summer, the Heffleys dine at a restaurant called Corny's, where Susan announces the family plan for a road trip to attend Meemaw's 90th birthday party, much to Rodrick and Greg's dismay.

Later that night, Greg investigates a loud noise: a couple of kids repeatedly slamming a cleaning cart into a wall, belonging to a family which he dubs "the Beardos" due to their father's beard.

Early the next morning, Rodrick and Greg leave a note telling Frank and Susan that they are out buying a gift for Meemaw, but they sneak out to the Player Expo instead.

While Rodrick does not win at the rock band tournament, Greg sees Mac in a video game competition, only to learn he has to wait in an extremely long queue in order to meet him.

In 2012, the series' third entry, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days was described as the last live action film in the franchise.

[6][7] That same year in August, while doing press for the film, author Jeff Kinney and actors Zachary Gordon and Robert Capron each indicated that there were no plans for more movies, but did not dismiss the possibility entirely.

[6][7][8] In 2014, Jeff Kinney replied to inquiries regarding the possibility of more sequels in a YouTube video, stating, "At present, we don't have a fourth film in development, but you never know!

In 2016, it was announced that a live-action film adaptation of the ninth book The Long Haul was in development, and would be featuring a completely new cast playing the Heffleys.

The site's critical consensus reads, "With an all-new cast but the same juvenile humor, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul finds the franchise still stuck in arrested – and largely unfunny – development.

[22] Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com criticized it, saying it "Jettisons everything that’s honest and worthwhile about the books in favor of hackneyed misadventures and gross-out scatological humor.

"[23] Jody Mitori of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch gave The Long Haul two stars out of four and commented on its increase of gross-out humor compared to the book version and previous films.

In March 2024, Wright posted a video to YouTube and TikTok detailing his experience with the criticism, stating that he received death threats due to his performance in the film.

[26] In a video posted to his official YouTube channel, Charlie Wright stated that two sequels to The Long Haul were planned, but were canceled due to the film underperforming at the box office, gaining negative reviews, and that it "didn't do what the studio wanted it to do".

[27] Following the release of Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, the likelihood of any potential future live-action films was slim.

[28] In an interview for Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Hard Luck, Kinney stated he was working with Fox on a half-hour special based on Cabin Fever, which was to be aired in late 2014, but as of 2022, it never came to fruition.

[29] In August 2018, CEO of 20th Century Fox Stacey Snider announced that a fully animated television series based on Diary of a Wimpy Kid was in development.

[31] In December 2020, the project was confirmed to have been redeveloped as an animated film titled Diary of a Wimpy Kid, with production already started and with a release year of 2021.

On September 2, 2021, it was announced that the film would be released on December 3, 2021, confirmed to simply be titled Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and it would be a retelling of the first book in the series.