Like a college graduate seconds after kissing campus good-bye, Elizabeth Banks is so totally over a cappella. As of today, she is stepping down from her duties as director of Pitch Perfect 3. The film, which will star the very enthusiastic Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson, doesn’t have a new director onboard yet. Universal also recently pushed back its release date from July 2017 to December of the same year. If you were worried about that truckload of cash Banks was probably getting to direct, rest assured that she’ll stay on as a producer (she produced the first two films) and reprise her role as kooky judge Gail. Now, the cash just won’t come in same size of truck — a minivan, maybe, instead of an 18-wheeler.
Banks confirmed the news on Twitter:
Update: During a panel at the annual PGA Produced By conference, Banks went into more detail about her decision to exit the directorial role, specifically on how the film’s “timing†didn’t work out in regard to her duties as a parent. “We have been in development and it took longer than we thought, and I needed to shoot another movie in the summer, and I can’t shoot it in the fall because it butts up against our kid’s stuff in a way that I wasn’t comfortable with,â€Â she told the audience. “We feel obligated to put out the best movie, and anyone who has done sequels, this third one is hard to figure out what the story is. We want to give the audience what it wants but not [make] it repetitive.â€