Pitch Perfect is a 2012 American musical comedy film directed by Jason Moore and written by Kay Cannon.

[3] It features an ensemble cast, including Anna Kendrick, Skylar Astin, Rebel Wilson, Adam DeVine, Anna Camp, Brittany Snow, Hana Mae Lee, Alexis Knapp, Ester Dean, Kelley Jakle, Shelley Regner, Wanetah Walmsley, Ben Platt, Utkarsh Ambudkar, John Michael Higgins, and Elizabeth Banks.

The film received generally positive reviews from critics and became a sleeper hit,[6] earning $115.4 million worldwide.

Four months later, aspiring music producer Beca Mitchell enrolls as a freshman at Barden at the insistence of her father, a psychology professor there.

To his chagrin, Beca spends her time making mash-ups of songs and gets an internship at the school radio station, where she befriends fellow freshman Jesse Swanson.

At the university's activities fair, Aubrey and her friend Chloe Beale attempt to recruit new Bellas members, but find that interest in their group has decreased significantly after the incident.

Despite initially declining their invitation, Beca auditions with a rendition of "Cups (When I'm Gone)" after Chloe overhears her singing in the shower and implores her to try out.

Beca earns a place in the Bellas alongside seven more newcomers - tough tomboy Cynthia Rose Adams, promiscuous Stacie Conrad, soft-spoken but eccentric Lilly Onakuramara, friendly and humorous Patricia "Fat Amy" Hobart, as well as Jessica Smith, Ashley Jones, and Denise.

In the midst of their next performance, Beca inserts an impromptu layering of "Bulletproof" into the group's first song, "The Sign" to reinvigorate the bored audience.

However, the leader of second-place group the Footnotes is discovered to be a high school student, leading to their disqualification and allowing the Bellas to advance to the Finals.

Jesse convinces the Trebles to open a spot for his friend Benji Applebaum, which had been previously denied to him due to his socially awkward behavior despite his impressive audition.

At the Finals, the Bellas perform a medley arranged by Beca, including "Don't You (Forget About Me)", the ending credits song for The Breakfast Club, one of Jesse's favorite movies.

Additionally, Kelley Alice Jakle, Wanetah Walmsley, Shelley Regner, Caroline Fourmy, and Nicole Lovince respectively appear as Barden Bellas Jessica, a bubbly and absent-minded soprano, Denise, an unobtrusive alto, Ashley, an alto and beatboxer, and short-lived Bellas Mary-Elise and Kori.

Joe Lo Truglio, Har Mar Superstar, Jason Jones and Donald Faison appear as the Tonehangers, an older, long-graduated a cappella group that gets into a fight with the Bellas and Treblemakers.

The film is based on Mickey Rapkin's 2008 period piece non-fiction book Pitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate a Cappella Glory.

[9] Producer Elizabeth Banks appears throughout the film alongside John Michael Higgins as commentators for the competitions.

"[11] 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."

"[11] Rebel Wilson was recognized for her performance in the comedy film Bridesmaids upon auditioning for the role of Fat Amy, which she won instantly.

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.

The site's critical consensus reads, "Pitch Perfect's plot is formulaic, but the performances are excellent and the musical numbers are toe-tapping as well.

[23] Roger Ebert gave the film 2 stars out of 4, praising Rebel Wilson for her "ebullient, unstoppable and raucous" performance, but also stating that "It's a twentysomething song-and-dance movie built around rival a cappella groups.

Pitch Perfect: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was released digitally on September 25, 2012, and physically on October 2, 2012.

[28][29] On September 14, Kira Kazantsev won Miss America 2015 after performing "Happy" with cup percussion,[30] in a manner that was similar to Anna Kendrick's character in Pitch Perfect.

Kendrick, Astin, Wilson, Camp, Snow, Platt, DeVine, Dean, Knapp, Jakle, Regner, Walmsley, Banks and Higgins would all reprise their roles in the sequel.

On January 2, 2017, Ester Dean and Chrissie Fit both confirmed that they were heading to Atlanta to film the third installment, reprising their roles.