Aca-Scuse Me? ‘Pitch Perfect 3’ Loses Director Elizabeth Banks
Earlier this week we heard Universal Pictures had delayedPitch Perfect 3by five months, moving it from summer 2017 to Christmas. Now it appears some of that extra time will go toward finding a new director.Elizabeth Banksis no longer set to helmPitch Perfect 3, although she will continue to serve as a producer as she did on the first two films.
Banks made her feature directing debut onPitch Perfect 2, and it was a big fat hit, grossing $287 million worldwide — or nearly ten times its reported $29 million production budget. That success put her in high demand as a filmmaker, and she’s been weighing a few different options including aCharlie’s Angelsreboot and the YA adaptationRed Queen. Meanwhile, her acting career is still going strong. She plays villain Rita Repulsa inPower Rangers, due out next year.
According toVariety, Banks' departure from thePitch Perfect 3director’s chair was “amicable.” Their sources don’t cite scheduling conflicts, exactly — they note that she’s not droppingPitch Perfect 3for any one specific project — but do say her very busy schedule is partly to blame. Banks has been a driving force behind thePitch Perfectseries since the beginning. In addition to producing the first movie, she co-starred as a cappella commentator Gail, and reprised the role in the sequel that she directed. As of now, there’s no word on which directors might replace Banks.
Anna Kendrick,Rebel Wilson,Brittany Snow, andHailee Steinfeldare all on board to return forPitch Perfect 3, which will be written byPitch PerfectandPitch Perfect 2scribeKay Cannon. The film franchise started out as an adaptation ofMickey Rapkin’s nonfiction tomePitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate A Cappella Glory, withJason Mooredirecting the first installment.Pitch Perfect 3opensDecember 22, 2017.
