Is this aca-awesome?
Adam Devine will reprise his role as Bumper in a straight-to-series comedy sequel to the Pitch Perfect film trilogy. Elizabeth Banks, who starred as half the announcing team in the features and directed the second one, will exec produce via her Brownstone Productions banner.
Unlike the movies, which followed an all-female a cappella group, the TV series will pick up several years after Devine’s last appearance in Pitch Perfect and see Bumper moving to Germany to revive his music career when one of his songs becomes big in Berlin. Banks will exec produce alongside Brownstone’s Max Handelman, Gold Circle’s Paul Brooks, Scott Neimeyer, Devine and Megan Amram (The Good Place). Amram will serve as writer and showrunner. An episode count has not yet been determined.
“Our upcoming Pitch Perfect series is another example of the unmatched synergy NBCUniversal is able to expand upon with our wide-ranging library of IP,” said Susan Rovner, chairman of entertainment content at NBCUniversal Television and Streaming. “When we saw the opportunity to create a series for Pitch Perfect with Elizabeth Banks, Max Handelman and Paul Brooks plus more earworm classics for super fans to enjoy, we jumped at it. And to top it off, we are so fortunate that Adam Devine is headlining the series and bringing fans the quirky, laugh-out-loud sensibility they loved in the film franchise.”
To Rovner’s point, Pitch Perfect becomes the latest Universal Pictures title to get the TV treatment, joining Field of Dreams and Ted, which hail from Mike Schur (The Good Place) and Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy), respectively. Other updates based on Universal film and TV titles are also in the works at Peacock, including Battlestar Galactica and Saved by the Bell, the latter of which was renewed for a second season. The strategy mirrors that of other upstart streamers, with HBO Max, Disney+ and Paramount+ all mining their deep vaults of IP in a bid to draw subscribers.
“We’re so happy to have the opportunity to bring the beloved Universal Pictures franchise Pitch Perfect to the small screen and to explore the hilarious and distinct characters in this (musical-filled) world,” said Erin Underhill, president of Universal Television, which produces the new Pitch Perfect series. “We’re lucky to partner with the talented Elizabeth Banks, Max Handelman and Paul Brooks, who produced the iconic films; the exceptionally funny and memorable Adam Devine; and Megan Amram, whose clever adaptation of Pitch Perfect is sure to have audiences laughing out loud and tapping their feet.”
Inspired by the Mickey Rapkin book of the same name, the three Pitch Perfect features have grossed nearly $600 million worldwide. While Devine’s Bumper was the central girl-group’s rival in season one, he became a love interest for Rebel Wilson’s “Fat Amy” in the second feature. Anna Kendrick, Anna Camp, Brittany Snow and Wilson starred in all three features, with Hailee Steinfeld joining for the second and third. Ben Platt and Skylar Astin starred alongside Devine in the first two.
For Banks, meanwhile, the Pitch Perfect TV series falls outside of her first-look TV deal with Warner Bros, where she has Flinstones offshoot Bedrock in the works at Fox and other series in multiple stages of development. Banks and her Brownstone banner also have a feature deal with Universal, for whom they’re doing Invisible Woman, The Magic School Bus and others.
Source: Hollywood
