The Barden Bellas have sung their way past a major milestone. The “Pitch Perfect” franchise has now grossed more than $500 million worldwide, Deadline reports. We’d say half a billion dollars calls for a celebratory rendition of “Cups.” The third installment of the Anna Kendrick-led series dropped in U.S. theaters December 22.
“Pitch Perfect 3” has earned over $98 million worldwide so far, and while it doesn’t seem destined to be a huge box office success — especially compared to the first two films — it’s far from a flop. With a budget of $45 million (excluding print and advertising), the latest, and supposedly final, chapter of the aca-saga is doing perfectly respectable numbers.
The original “Pitch Perfect” earned over $115 million worldwide and the sequel took in over $287 million, with respective budgets of $17 and $29 million (again, before print and advertising costs were factored in). They struck box office gold, and convinced execs a female-led story about an a cappella group had franchise potential — territory usually reserved for super hero movies.
Elizabeth Banks has appeared in every installment of the franchise and produced all of them. She made her directorial debut with “Pitch Perfect 2,” which grossed over $69 million opening weekend, marking the third biggest opening ever for a female director at the time. (Since the release of Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman,” “Pitch Perfect 2” is now the fourth biggest opening behind that, Catherine Hardwicke’s “Twilight,” and Sam Taylor-Johnson’s “50 Shades of Grey.”) Trish Sie (“Step Up All In”) helmed “Pitch Perfect 3.”
Kay Cannon (“Girlboss,” “30 Rock”) wrote the first two films and co-wrote the third with Mike White (“Beatriz at Dinner”).
Half a billion dollars is, of course, a lot of money, but especially when you consider the modest budgets “Pitch Perfect” was working with. It’s yet another example of the fact that films by and about women aren’t box office anathema — and shouldn’t be treated as such.
