Pitch Perfect (franchise)

Pitch Perfect
Pitch Perfect logo
Directed by	Jason Moore (1) Elizabeth Banks (2) Trish Sie (3)
Written by	Kay Cannon (1–3) Mike White (3)
Based on	Pitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate a Cappella Glory by Mickey Rapkin
Produced by	Elizabeth Banks Paul Brooks Max Handelman
Starring	Anna Kendrick Skylar Astin (1–2) Rebel Wilson Adam DeVine (1–2; TV) Anna Camp Brittany Snow John Michael Higgins Elizabeth Banks Hailee Steinfeld (2–3) Katey Sagal (2) Hana Mae Lee Alexis Knapp Ester Dean Sarah Hyland (TV) Jameela Jamil (TV) Lera Abova (TV) Flula Borg (2)
Cinematography	Julio Macat (1) Jim Denault (2) Matthew Clark (3)
Edited by	Lisa Zeno Churgin (1) Craig Alpert (2–3) Colin Patton (3)
Music by	Christophe Beck (1) Mark Kilian (1) Mark Mothersbaugh (2) Christopher Lennertz (3)
Production companies	Gold Circle Films Brownstone Productions
Distributed by	Universal Pictures (films) Peacock (TV) NBCUniversal Syndication Studios (TV)
Release dates	1: October 5, 2012 (2012-10-05) 2: May 15, 2015 (2015-05-15) 3: December 22, 2017 (2017-12-22)
Running time	320 minutes (1–3)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$91 million (3 films)
Box office	$565 million (3 films)

Pitch Perfect is an American musical comedy media franchise created by Kay Cannon, based on the non-fiction book Pitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate a Cappella Glory by Mickey Rapkin. Jason Moore directed the first film, Elizabeth Banks directed the second, and Trish Sie directed the third. Paul Brooks, Max Handelman, and Banks produced the films. The film series features an ensemble cast, including Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Anna Camp, Brittany Snow, Skylar Astin, Adam DeVine, Ben Platt, Alexis Knapp, Hana Mae Lee, Ester Dean, Hailee Steinfeld, Chrissie Fit, John Michael Higgins, and Banks; while the television series stars DeVine. The series is distributed by Universal Pictures.

The franchise is about a female a cappella group, called The Barden Bellas, that takes part in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) in order to become the best collegiate a cappella group in the world and sing in front of the president of the United States.

The first film was a sleeper hit. It received positive reviews and was financially successful, grossing over $115 million against a $17 million budget. A sequel was made and released in 2015, to greater financial success, grossing over $287 million against a $29 million budget. The series has since gained a cult following, grossing $565 million worldwide, and the second film is the highest grossing musical comedy film of all time, beating School of Rock's record.

Films

Pitch Perfect (2012)

Main article: Pitch Perfect

Beca Mitchell (Anna Kendrick), a rebellious and unwilling freshman at Barden University, joins a disgraced all-female a cappella group, The Barden Bellas, directed by uptight senior student Aubrey Posen (Anna Camp). The film follows the unlikely new formation of The Barden Bellas which has to struggle to win at the collegiate a cappella competition.

Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)

Main article: Pitch Perfect 2

Set three years after the first film, The Bellas are the leading a cappella group with Beca as the leader until Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) accidentally rips her pants during a performance, effectively suspending the group. They could be reinstated if they win an international a cappella competition, where no American team has ever won. With new members, tough competition, and doubts everywhere from almost everyone, they try to regain their glory, only to find it harder than it looks with their focus being split up and losing their harmony along the way.

Pitch Perfect 3 (2017)

Main article: Pitch Perfect 3

Two years after the second film, the now graduated Bellas find themselves split apart and struggling with their real life jobs. However, after a brief reunion, Aubrey comes up with an idea to perform for the USO tour, which will reunite them for a series of shows. The Bellas go overseas for the USO where they find out that they are actually competing with other bands on tour to be the opening act for DJ Khaled.

Television series

Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin (2022)

Main article: Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin

In September 2021, it was announced that a television series based on the film series had been ordered at Peacock for a 2022 release, with Adam DeVine reprising his role as Bumper Allen. It will be written by Megan Amram, who will also serve as executive producer and showrunner and Elizabeth Banks serve as executive producer.^[1] In March 2022, Sarah Hyland, Jameela Jamil, and Lera Abova were announced to be joining the cast alongside Flula Borg, who is reprising his role as Piëter Krämer from the second film.^[2]

Development of the first film

Development and production

The film is based on Mickey Rapkin's non-fiction book Pitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate a Cappella Glory. Rapkin, senior editor at GQ magazine, spent a season covering competitive collegiate a cappella. He followed the Tufts University Beelzebubs, the University of Oregon Divisi (the loose inspiration for the Bellas), and the University of Virginia Hullabahoos, who have a cameo in the film. Rapkin's book mainly covers the singing, groupies, partying and rivalries. Two members of the a cappella community, Deke Sharon, who founded the International Championship of College A Cappella, and Ed Boyer, both in Rapkin's book, were brought on board to arrange songs, produce vocals and act as on-site music directors, where they ran a month-long "a cappella boot camp".^[3] The film was shot throughout campus and inside buildings at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Elizabeth Banks is a co-producer and a co-star in the film.

Casting

The casting department included Justin Coulter, Rich Delia, Allison Estrin, and Michael Roth. One of the producers, Paul Brooks, stated "First and foremost, we were looking for actors who had comedic instincts and thought we'd get lucky with terrific actors who happened to be funny and can actually dance and maybe sing. It turns out we did get lucky with our cast!" According to producer Elizabeth Banks, "The character Beca required someone who was grounded, who has a strong point of view on the world, who is funny and empathetic and someone who we can all relate to and root for." Of Kendrick she said, "Anna is all those things, and there was no other choice." Fellow producer Brooks said "I saw Anna in Up in the Air and thought it was the most exquisite, elegant, balanced, sublime performance. Anna was our first choice for the role of Beca."^[4]

When casting the character of Jesse, Max Handelman said "We were looking for a young John Cusack-type guy. We needed to find someone who was kind of awkward but not a geek, but not so cool that you're not rooting for him." Skylar Astin was chosen for the role. Of Astin's audition, Banks said the chemistry between Skylar and Anna when they read together prior to shooting was "clear and they were able to riff off each other."^[4]

Rebel Wilson was recognized for her performance in the comedy film Bridesmaids upon auditioning for the role of Fat Amy, which she won instantly. Moore recalled Wilson singing Lady Gaga's "The Edge of Glory" while beating "on her chest with her fists." He said, "I didn't even hear the end of the song because I was laughing so hard. There's this beautiful openness to the way Rebel approaches everything, and that's what works great for the character. She's fearless."^[4] Adam DeVine was personally chosen by Banks and Handelman for the role of Bumper after they saw him on the television series Workaholics. Banks said that she and her husband are "big Workaholics fans," and after watching one night during the film's casting, they saw DeVine and "immediately thought" he would be a good choice for Bumper. He initially declined because he was not a singer. DeVine eventually surprised Banks and Handelman with his vocal skills.^[4] Anna Camp was chosen for the role of Aubrey. Producer Max Handelman said, "Elizabeth and I were huge fans of Anna's from True Blood. Aubrey is set up as the antagonist for Beca, and Beca's already a bit hard-edged, so it was so important to find an actress who could play Aubrey as someone who could marshal the crazy but also was sympathetic."^[4] Kelley Jakle was brought in as a "ringer" due to her past experience as a two-time ICCA champion with the SoCal VoCals and had also appeared on two seasons of The Sing-Off.^[5]

Cast and crew

Cast

Character	Films			Television series
	Pitch Perfect	Pitch Perfect 2	Pitch Perfect 3	Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin
	2012	2015	2017	2022
Beca Mitchell	Anna Kendrick
Aubrey Posen	Anna Camp
Chloe Beale	Brittany Snow
Patricia "Fat Amy" Hobart	Rebel Wilson
Lilly Onakurama / Esther	Hana Mae Lee
Stacie Conrad	Alexis Knapp
Cynthia-Rose Adams	Ester Dean
Jessica Smith	Kelley Jakle
Ashley Jones	Shelley Regner
Emily Junk		Hailee Steinfeld
Florencia Fuentes		Chrissie Fit
Alice / Former Bella	Kether Donohue
Jesse Swanson	Skylar Astin
Benji Applebaum	Ben Platt
Bumper Allen	Adam DeVine			Adam DeVine
Donald	Utkarsh Ambudkar
Luke	Freddie Stroma
John Smith	John Michael Higgins
Gail Abernathy-McKadden-Feinberger	Elizabeth Banks
Tonehanger Jason	Jason Jones			Jason Jones
Dr. Benjamin Mitchell	John Benjamin Hickey
Tommy	Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Katherine Junk		Katey Sagal
Kommissar		Birgitte Hjort Sørensen
Pieter Krämer		Flula Borg		Flula Borg
Fergus Hobart			John Lithgow
Calamity			Ruby Rose
Charity			Andy Allo
Theo			Guy Burnet
Chicago Walp			Matt Lanter
Heidi Miller				Sarah Hyland
Gisela				Jameela Jamil
Thea Krämer aka DJ Das Boot				Lera Abova

Note: A light grey cell indicates a character who did not appear in that film or the television series.

Crew

Crew/Detail	Films
	Pitch Perfect (2012)	Pitch Perfect 2 (2015)	Pitch Perfect 3 (2017)
Director(s)	Jason Moore	Elizabeth Banks	Trish Sie
Producer(s)	Paul Brooks, Max Handelman and Elizabeth Banks
Screenwriter(s)	Kay Cannon		Kay Cannon and Mike White
Composer(s)	Christophe Beck and Mark Kilian	Mark Mothersbaugh	Christopher Lennertz
Cinematographer(s)	Julio Macat	Jim Denault	Matthew Clark
Editor(s)	Lisa Zeno Churgin	Craig Alpert	Craig Alpert and Colin Patton
Production company(s)	Gold Circle Films Brownstone Productions		Gold Circle Films Brownstone Productions Perfect World Pictures
Distributor	Universal Pictures
Release date	September 28, 2012 (2012-09-28)	May 15, 2015 (2015-05-15)	December 22, 2017 (2017-12-22)
Runtime	112 minutes	115 minutes	93 minutes

Reception

Critical response

Each film is linked to the "Critical response" section of its article

Film	Critical		Public
	Rotten Tomatoes	Metacritic	CinemaScore
Pitch Perfect	81% (156 reviews)[6]	66 (33 reviews)[7]	A[8]
Pitch Perfect 2	66% (216 reviews)[9]	63 (39 reviews)[10]	A−[11][12]
Pitch Perfect 3	28% (151 reviews)[13]	40 (33 reviews)[14]	A−[15]

Box office performance

Film	Release date	Box office gross				Box office ranking		Budget
		United States opening weekend	North America	Other territories	Worldwide	All time North America	All time worldwide
Pitch Perfect	October 5, 2012 (2012-10-05)	$14,846,830	$65,001,093	$50,349,333	$115,350,426	#1,197	#1,634	$17 million[16]
Pitch Perfect 2	May 15, 2015 (2015-05-15)	$69,216,890	$184,296,230	$103,209,964	$287,506,194	#197	#454	$29 million[17]
Pitch Perfect 3	December 22, 2017 (2017-12-22)	$19,928,525	$104,778,485	$79,000,000	$183,778,485	#624	#1,027	$45 million[18]
Total			$343,948,548	$221,259,297	$565,205,845	—		$91 million[19]

References

1. White, Peter (September 21, 2021). "Adam Devine To Star In TV Reboot Of 'Pitch Perfect' For Peacock". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
2. Goldberg, Lesley (March 4, 2022). "'Pitch Perfect': Sarah Hyland, Jameela Jamil Join Peacock Comedy". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 7, 2022.
3. "PITCH PERFECT - Movie Production Notes...CinemaReview.com". www.cinemareview.com.
4. "Production Notes" (PDF). Universal Studios. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-02-14. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
5. "Deke Sharon Makes A Cappella Cool Again". NPR.org.
6. "The Incredibles". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved October 27, 2024.
7. "Pitch Perfect". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
8. Andrew Stewart (October 7, 2012). "'Taken 2′ nabs $50 mil to double predecessor's debut take". Variety.
9. "The Incredibles". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved November 25, 2024.
10. "Pitch Perfect 2". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
11. Busch, Anita (18 May 2015). "'Pitch Perfect 2' Sings With $69.2M; 'Mad Max' Rolls With $45.4M – Final Box Office". Deadline Hollywood.
12. "Cinemascore :: Movie Title Search". CinemaScore. Archived from the original on 20 December 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2016.
13. "The Incredibles". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
14. "Pitch Perfect 3". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved December 23, 2017.
15. Anthony D'Alessandro (December 22, 2017). "Last Jedi' Raises Cume To $296M+; 'Jumanji' At $16M+ Through Two Days, 'Pitch Perfect 3' Sings $2.1M In Previews". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 22, 2017.
16. "Pitch Perfect". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved October 17, 2016.
17. "Pitch Perfect 2". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved October 17, 2016.
18. "Pitch Perfect 3 (2017)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
19. "Pitch Perfect Trilogy". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved January 7, 2017.

External links

IMDb links for Pitch Perfect films

• Pitch Perfect at IMDb
• Pitch Perfect 2 at IMDb
• Pitch Perfect 3 at IMDb