Elizabeth Banks Taking Up Directorial Duties On Universal's 'Pitch Perfect 2'

The Hunger Games’ Elizabeth Banks is about to make her directorial debut with Pitch Perfect 2, the sequel to Universal and Gold Circle’s hit 2012 musical comedy. Banks produced the original and took on a supporting role. She will return in those capacities, as well as directing the sequel, which is also expected to see the return of Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The film is due out sometime in 2015.

The original Pitch Perfect was a satirical teen comedy/musical, centered on Beca (Anna Kendrick) a freshman, who is forced to join a campus a cappella group, The Barden Bellas. Despite the group’s underdog status, a flood of under-qualified auditionees, and resistance from the Bellas’ Type A leader, Beca manages to take the team to finals and, of course, win the affections of the spiky-haired love interest in the process. The movie grossed more than $115 million worldwide on a $17 million budget (and cemented itself as the internal soundtrack of a generation of teenage girls). It also earned additional profits estimated at roughly $135 million in physical and digital home entertainment sales across North America to date, making it one of the top-performing DVD and VOD titles of 2013.

Anna Kendrick starred in the first Pitch Perfect and is expected to return.

"Elizabeth originated the idea for Pitch Perfect and was instrumental in making the first film such a huge success,” said Universal Pictures chairman Donna Langley for THR. “She brings an enormous amount of energy and experience to everything she works on and we’re thrilled that she is making her feature directorial debut on Pitch Perfect 2.”

According to the studio, Banks was instrumental in the first movie's success.