Pitch Perfect

Not to be confused with Perfect pitch.

Pitch Perfect
Promotional poster
Directed by	Jason Moore
Produced by	Elizabeth Banks Paul Brooks Max Handelman
Screenplay by	Kay Cannon
Based on	Pitch Perfect  by Mickey Rapkin
Starring	Anna Kendrick Skylar Astin Rebel Wilson Anna Camp Brittany Snow Adam DeVine Ben Platt John Michael Higgins Elizabeth Banks
Music by	Christophe Beck Mark Kilian
Cinematography	Julio Macat
Editing by	Zach Chemberlene
Studio	Relativity Media Gold Circle Films
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	October 5, 2012 (2012-10-05)
Running time	112 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$17 million
Box office	$112,092,852

Pitch Perfect is a 2012 American musical comedy film directed by Jason Moore. The screenplay was written by Kay Cannon. The musical comedy features an ensemble cast consisting of Anna Kendrick, Skylar Astin, Rebel Wilson, Anna Camp, Brittany Snow, Ester Dean, Alexis Knapp, Hana Mae Lee, Ben Platt, Adam DeVine, with John Michael Higgins, and Elizabeth Banks. The plot follows an all-girl college a cappella group, The Barden Bellas, as they compete against another a cappella group from their college to win Nationals. The film is loosely adapted from Mickey Rapkin's non-fiction novel, also titled Pitch Perfect. Filming concluded in Mid-December 2011, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The film premiered in Los Angeles on September 24, 2012. Released on September 28, 2012 in the United States, Pitch Perfect grossed over $65 million domestically and 45 million dollars internationally, as well as peaking at #3 at the box office. The film became the second highest grossing musical comedy film behind School of Rock.

The film was also met with positive reviews from critics, receiving an 81% positive rating on the review website Rotten Tomatoes based on 135 reviews. It was mostly praised by critics for its comedic approach, its flashy musical numbers, and the performance of Wilson.

Plot

Beca Mitchell (Anna Kendrick), newly arrived freshman at Barden University, has no desire to attend college, but she is forced to do so by her father (John Benjamin Hickey), a professor at the university. Wishing she could instead move to Los Angeles to pursue a career in music making, Beca takes up an internship at the school radio station, where she meets fellow freshman Jesse Swanson (Skylar Astin), who develops a crush on her. When Beca's father discovers she has not been attending classes, he comes to her with a proposition: if she joins a club and still does not want to remain at college after a year, he will allow and pay for Beca to move to Los Angeles. After some persuasion from group leader Chloe Beale (Brittany Snow), she reluctantly joins the all-girl a cappella group Barden Bellas. Aubrey Posen (Anna Camp), another group leader doesn't initially approve of recruiting Beca, but yields nonetheless due to a desperate need for members and Beca's own talent. Beca joins alongside a group of other women who do not fit the Bellas' typical mold: the misunderstood Cynthia-Rose (Ester Dean), the sex-obsessed Stacie Conrad (Alexis Knapp), the quiet Lilly Onakuramara (Hana Mae Lee), and the eccentric Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson).

At group rehearsals, Aubrey's uptight and controlling nature gets on the nerves of the other girls, especially Beca. She is constantly critical and insists that they use the same set list the Bellas have been using for years. Meanwhile, Beca continues hanging out with Jesse, who has joined the Treblemakers, the Bellas' main rival. After learning that Beca doesn't like movies, Jesse tries to get Beca to watch The Breakfast Club.

Meanwhile, the Bellas participate in the southeastern regional competition at Carolina University. In spite of their distasteful and old set list, the group manages to place second, which gives them the bid to semi-finals. A brief scuffle after the competition leads to Beca's arrest by the police. Jesse tries to help by calling Beca's father, which infuriates Beca and turns their budding friendship sour.

A series of complications during the road trip to semi-finals forces the Bellas to get a ride from the Treblemakers, led by Bumper Allen (Adam DeVine), and some smack talk ensues.

Once at the semi-finals, Beca notices how bored the audience is with Aubrey's traditional and overused arrangement, so she provides an impromptu back-up. The Bellas come in third in the competition behind the Treblemakers and the Footnotes; even though the audience seemed to enjoy Beca's remix, Aubrey becomes furious and yells at Beca, who quits the group. When the Footnotes are disqualified after the discovery that their lead singer is still a high school student, the Bellas are called to the national competition in their place. The Bellas get back together after returning from spring break, with the notable exception of Beca.

During this time, Beca begins working as a DJ at the Barden radio station, playing her music on the overnight shift while also steadily distancing herself from Jesse. Upon finding a copy of The Breakfast Club and watching it on her own, however,she realizes how much she misses the Bellas and Jesse. Her father convinces her to rejoin the Bellas, whom she finds falling apart during rehearsal. After having a group heart-to-heart conversation, the Bellas appoint Beca as their group leader and decide to adopt Beca's more modern and original music style. Meanwhile, Bumper leaves the Treblemakers after being offered a job as a back-up singer for John Mayer. With Nationals approaching and the group short a member, Jesse becomes the new group leader and persuades the Trebles to allow Benji (Ben Platt), Jesse's roommate, to join the group in Bumper's place.

At the a cappella national competition at the Lincoln Center, the Bellas sing a piece arranged by Beca. After their performance, Beca reunites her and Jesse with a kiss. Six months later, auditions are beginning for the new year while the Treblemakers and Bellas are preparing to select new members for their groups; Jesse and Benji are shown sitting at a desk in the audition hall, followed by Beca and the Barden Bellas, along with their trophy from nationals.

Cast

• Anna Kendrick as Beca Mitchell, a reclusive and rebellious girl who wants to pursue a music career; she joins the Barden Bellas to appease her father and finds herself being caught up in their world.
• Skylar Astin as Jesse Swanson, a member of the Treblemakers who has crush on Beca
• Anna Camp as Aubrey Posen, the uptight and traditionalist co-leader of the Bellas; when she vomited at Nationals, she ruined the Bellas' chance at winning the previous year. She is constantly critical and insists that The Bellas use the same set list the Bellas have been using for years.
• Brittany Snow as Chloe Beale, the kinder and more civil co-leader of the Bellas, whose attempts to get Aubrey to listen to Beca's suggestions get ignored. Chloe gets "nodes" (nodules) but continues to sing when she discovers she can now sing in a lower tone after the surgery.
• Rebel Wilson as Fat Amy, a comedic and eccentric member of the Bellas from Tasmania.
• Ester Dean as Cynthia-Rose Adams, a lesbian member of the Bellas.
• Alexis Knapp as Stacie Conrad, a highly sexually-driven member of the Bellas.
• Hana Mae Lee as Lilly Onakuramara, a strange member of the Bellas who speaks too quietly to be heard but is later revealed to be a talented beatboxer
• Ben Platt as Benji Applebaum, Jesse's nerdy roommate and an illusionist, who is initially rejected from the Treblemakers, and is later accepted.
• Adam DeVine as Bumper Allen, the egotistical leader of the Treblemakers.
• Utkarsh Ambudkar as Donald, Bumper's right-hand man, who beatboxes, raps, and is a main vocalist.
• Freddie Stroma as Luke, the radio station manager who plays Beca's DJ mixes on the air.
• Jinhee Joung as Kimmy-Jin, Beca's unfriendly Korean roommate.
• Christopher Mintz-Plasse as Tommy, the university's constantly harassed audition launcher.
• John Michael Higgins as John Smith, a misogynistic commentator for the ICCAs.
• Elizabeth Banks as Gail Abernathy-McKadden, a commentator for the ICCAs.
• John Benjamin Hickey as Dr. Mitchell, Beca's father, a professor at the college who insists that she attends classes and get involved.

Production

The film is based on Mickey Rapkin's non-fiction novel Pitch Perfect. 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), writing about the singing, groupies, partying and rivalries. Two members of the a cappella community, Ed Boyer and Deke Sharon, both in Rapkin's book, were brought on board to arrange songs, produce vocals and act as on-site music directors. 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. The film stars Anna Kendrick, Anna Camp, and Brittany Snow. Producer Elizabeth Banks appears throughout the film alongside John Michael Higgins as commentators for the competitions.

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 for the movie.” 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." 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."

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". Adam DeVine was personally chosen by Banks and Handelman for the role of Bumper after they saw him on the television series Workaholics. Banks confessed 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. However, he declined because he wasn't a singer. However, DeVine eventually surprised Banks and Handelman with his vocal skills. 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."

Release

The world premiere of Pitch Perfect took place on September 24, 2012 in Los Angeles, California. Pitch Perfect has earned $64,666,000 (63.5%) in the United States, and a further $37,200,000 (36.5%) elsewhere, for a worldwide box office gross of $101,866,000 since release. The film opened to limited release in the United States and Canada on September 28, 2012 and wide release in the United States and Canada on October 5, 2012. It grossed $1,755,935 upon its opening day of limited release and $4,889,050 on its wide release. In its opening weekend the film opened at number 3 behind Taken 2 and Hotel Transylvania grossing $14,846,830 million. The opening weekend audience was 81 percent female, which is considered overwhelming. The opening weekend also attracted a younger audience with 55 percent of the opening weekend audience being under the age of 25. The film has become the second highest grossing Music Comedy film behind School of Rock ($81.2M). It is also the seventh highest grossing college comedy film behind Road Trip (68.5M). Pitch Perfect was released on Blu-ray and DVD on December 18, 2012

Critical reception

Rebel Wilson was praised for her performance by critics.

Pitch Perfect received an 81% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 124 reviews as well as 65 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 30 "generally favorable reviews". The film was mostly praised for its comedic approach, which some critics have compared to Bring It On, as well as the film's flashy musical numbers and Rebel Wilson's performance.^{[citation needed]} NPR's David Edelstein selected it as one of the top movies of the year and Entertainment Weekly chose the soundtrack as one of the year's best.

Accolades

List of awards and nominations for Pitch Perfect

Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award	Best Actress in a Comedy	Rebel Wilson	Nominated
Detroit Film Critics Society Award	Breakthrough Performance	Rebel Wilson	Nominated
Motion Picture Sound Editors	Best Music in a Musical Feature Film	Pitch Perfect	Pending
MTV Movie Award	Best Breakthrough Performance	Rebel Wilson	Won
	Best Musical Moment	Rebel Wilson, Anna Kendrick, Anna Camp, Brittany Snow, Alexis Knapp, Ester Dean, and Hana Mae Lee	Won
	Best WTF Moment	Anna Camp	Nominated
People's Choice Award	Favorite Comedy Movie	Pitch Perfect	Nominated
San Diego Film Critics Society	San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Supporting Actress	Rebel Wilson	Nominated

Soundtracks

Main article: Pitch Perfect (soundtrack)

Sequel

Producer Paul Brooks and director Jason Moore told Variety that since the reception to the film was good, a sequel could potentially happen next year. In December 2012, Skylar Astin revealed that he and Rebel Wilson had meetings with Universal Studios about the potential sequel.

On April 16, 2013 it was confirmed that a sequel would be released in 2015. Rebel Wilson confirmed she will return for the sequel, while Anna Kendrick is in negotiations to reprise her role as Beca.

External links

• Official website
• Pitch Perfect at the Internet Movie Database
• Pitch Perfect at Box Office Mojo