60 Fun Facts About Pitch Perfect

Who directed the original Pitch Perfect (2012)?

Moore drew on his own college years at Northwestern, and later returned to direct the Cups music video.

Which screenwriter wrote all three Pitch Perfect films?

Cannon shared the third script with Mike White, and the whole franchise is 'based on characters created by Kay Cannon'.

The first film is loosely based on a non-fiction book about collegiate a cappella by which GQ editor?

Rapkin's 2008 book 'The Quest for Collegiate a Cappella Glory' followed real groups for a season, and two of them loosely inspired the Bellas and their rivals.

What is the name of the fictional college the Bellas attend?

Beca's father is a professor there, which is why she agreed to try a year of college before chasing a music career.

Beca auditions with which song, played on an upturned plastic cup?

She only sang it because she had no idea the set audition piece was 16 bars of a Kelly Clarkson hit.

Chloe recruits Beca after hearing her sing which David Guetta hit in the shower?

Beca is uninterested until the shower ambush; the pair harmonise on the Sia-voiced chorus.

The first film opens with the Bellas' finals appearance going 'terribly'. What does Aubrey do on stage?

The stage-fright disaster is why the disgraced group is rebuilding from scratch at club rush.

Fat Amy proudly introduces herself as the best singer from where?

Rebel Wilson won the part instantly after producers saw her in Bridesmaids; her audition song was Lady Gaga's 'The Edge of Glory'.

What career does Jesse Swanson dream of in the first movie?

It is why he keeps pushing The Breakfast Club on Beca, and why the finale mash-up's use of its theme wins him over.

In Pitch Perfect, Bumper quits his a cappella group after being offered a back-up singer job for which musician?

His exit opens a spot for Benji, the magician roommate Bumper had earlier rejected.

Aubrey makes the new Bellas swear never to get romantically involved with which group?

Two recruits break the promise and are thrown out; Beca's own flirtation with Jesse is the film's central complication.

Which Kelly Clarkson song was the official 16-bar audition piece nobody told Beca about?

The auditions montage of the same song is one of the film's best-remembered gags.

After a disastrous frat-party gig, Chloe confesses to the group that she has what?

She later has surgery and discovers a newly deep register, which the Bellas use in the finals.

The first Pitch Perfect was shot on the campus of which real school in Baton Rouge?

Filming in Baton Rouge wrapped in December 2011; the sequel returned to the same campus.

Pitch Perfect grossed over $115M worldwide. What was its production budget?

It opened at number three behind Taken 2 and Hotel Transylvania before word of mouth took over.

Which pair of producers/actors appear throughout the series as tactless commentators?

Elizabeth Banks and John Michael Higgins play Gail and John, and their play-by-play was praised by critics; Banks later directed the second film.

Producers cast Adam DeVine as Bumper after seeing him on which TV comedy?

Banks and her husband Max Handelman were 'big Workaholics fans' and thought of him during a casting-season viewing.

Rebel Wilson auditioned for Fat Amy by singing which Lady Gaga song while beating her chest?

Director Jason Moore said he never heard the end of the song because he was laughing too hard.

Anna Kendrick's cup-percussion audition song became a hit. Where did it peak on the Hot 100?

It was Kendrick's first top-10 single and went triple platinum in the US.

Beca's audition song is based on a 1931 tune by A. P. Carter, patriarch of which country-music dynasty?

The original 'When I'm Gone' is about death; it took a British duo's cup routine to turn it into a party piece.

Which British act first added the cup-tapping routine to 'When I'm Gone' in a 2009 YouTube video?

Heloise Tunstall-Behrens and Luisa Gerstein uploaded it as 'You're Gonna Miss Me'; a 2011 cover then went viral.

Anna Kendrick first saw the cup-song routine on which website?

A cover by Anna Burden had gone viral there in 2011, sparking a wave of copycat cup videos.

The Pitch Perfect soundtrack was the best-selling soundtrack in the United States in which year?

It sold 793,000 copies that year, a year after the film came out, and three of its tracks reached the Hot 100.

Which real college group was the inspiration for the Bellas' male rivals?

Rapkin followed the Beelzebubs and Oregon's Divisi for his book; the Hullabahoos have a cameo in the film.

Which founder of the real ICCA competition ran the cast's month-long 'a cappella boot camp'?

Sharon and Ed Boyer, both characters in Rapkin's book, arranged the songs and produced the vocals.

Pitch Perfect 2 (2015) was the directorial debut of which cast member?

Its $69.2 million opening weekend was more than the first film's entire domestic run.

Fat Amy rips her pants performing for President Obama at the Kennedy Center. What did the press dub the scandal?

The scandal gets the Bellas suspended, and only a world title can get them reinstated.

What is the name of the German powerhouse group that replaces the Bellas on their victory tour?

Led by Kommissar and Pieter Krämer, DSM is the favourite going into the World Championship.

Hailee Steinfeld joined the cast in the second film as which freshman?

Because the suspended Bellas cannot hold auditions, she simply turns up at their house and sings.

The freshman legacy Bella's mother, herself a former Bella, is played by which actress?

Katherine Junk joins the finale performance alongside Aubrey and other past Bellas.

What is the original song the freshman legacy Bella writes, which the group performs at the World Finals?

Singing it earlier at a riff-off broke the no-original-songs rule and cost the Bellas the round.

The original ballad the Bellas perform at the World Finals was co-written by which pair of pop stars?

Jessie J's radio version topped charts in Malaysia and the Philippines and reached number two in Australia.

Which NFL team's players appear as an a cappella group in the second film's underground riff-off?

Lineman David Bakhtiari got them the gig by messaging Elizabeth Banks on Twitter.

The NFL players' a cappella group performs which Beyoncé song at the riff-off?

Clay Matthews and four offensive linemen recorded their own vocals and learned the choreography.

The a cappella World Championship finals in Pitch Perfect 2 are held in which city?

The senior Bellas graduate first, then fly to Denmark to face DSM in the final two.

Which comedian hosts the underground riff-off, credited as 'Sir Willups Brightlysmore'?

His eccentric millionaire keeps the a cappella obsessives in a lavish basement.

After his backup-singer stint, what job does Bumper hold at Barden in the second film?

He is also singing with the Tone Hangers, and spends the film trying to make Fat Amy his official girlfriend.

Aubrey Posen returns in the second film running which retreat, where the Bellas rediscover their sound?

Chloe books the retreat to rebuild the group's 'synchronicity' after the pyrotechnics fiasco.

Whose hair catches fire when the Bellas' pyrotechnics go wrong at a practice performance?

The disaster convinces the group they have lost their sound and need the retreat.

Pitch Perfect 2 became the highest-grossing musical comedy ever, overtaking which film?

It made $287.5 million worldwide, passing the first film's entire total in just five days.

Which Devo co-founder composed the score for Pitch Perfect 2?

He was hired in December 2014, and the film's soundtrack debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.

Who directed Pitch Perfect 3 (2017)?

Sie, known for the OK Go treadmill video, was confirmed in September 2016.

Which creator of HBO's resort satire series co-wrote Pitch Perfect 3?

The third film sends the graduated Bellas on a USO tour for one last performance together.

The reunited Bellas join a USO tour in the third film. Which artist headlines it?

Khaled plays himself and ends up asking Beca to open for him without the rest of the group.

John Lithgow plays Fergus, the estranged criminal father of which Bella?

He is after the $180 million offshore account her mother set up, and ends up kidnapping the Bellas onto his yacht.

Ruby Rose plays Calamity, lead singer of which rival band on the USO tour?

The Bellas compete against the tour's other acts for the chance to open for the headliner.

Which Britney Spears song do the Bellas perform on the yacht as a distraction while a bomb is planted?

Fat Amy detonates the bomb, the Bellas escape, and Fergus is arrested.

The Bellas' final performance in Pitch Perfect 3 is a cover of which George Michael song?

Beca opens solo for the headliner and then brings the whole group on stage for the send-off.

Pitch Perfect 3 was filmed in Atlanta, Cádiz in Spain, and which French city?

Principal photography ran from January to April 2017.

The spin-off series Bumper in Berlin premiered in 2022 on which streaming service?

Adam DeVine reprised Bumper; a second season was ordered and then scrapped during the 2023 strikes.

In Bumper in Berlin, Sarah Hyland plays which secret songwriter?

She is Pieter Krämer's assistant and an American army brat; Jameela Jamil plays Pieter's ex, Gisela.

Roughly how much did the three Pitch Perfect films gross worldwide combined?

The second film alone accounts for $287 million; the third made $185 million.

Kelley Jakle (Jessica) was cast as a 'ringer' because she was a two-time ICCA champion with which real group?

She had also sung on two seasons of The Sing-Off before joining the Bellas.

Which comedian plays Sammy, Beca's rude boss at the Residual Heat record label?

Snoop Dogg turns up at the studio as himself, recording Christmas songs.

Which Bella deliberately failed her college classes three times so she could stay in the group?

By the second film she is a 'three-time super senior' co-leading the Bellas with Beca.

Which real college a cappella group was the loose inspiration for the Barden Bellas?

The Virginia Hullabahoos, also followed in Mickey Rapkin's book, get a cameo in the film.

Producers described Jesse as a young version of which actor when casting Skylar Astin?

Max Handelman wanted 'someone who was kind of awkward but not a geek, but not so cool that you're not rooting for him'.

Which two films beat Pitch Perfect to the top spots on its wide-release opening weekend in October 2012?

It opened at number three with $14.8 million, drawing an audience that was 81 percent female.

Which Miss America 2015 winner performed 'Happy' with cup percussion in the style of Beca's audition?

The soundtrack had three songs on the Hot 100 and sold 1.2 million US copies by April 2015.

Roger Ebert gave Pitch Perfect two stars, saying rival a cappella groups were more exciting than what?

He added that the quartets 'would be performing better material', though he praised Rebel Wilson as 'ebullient, unstoppable and raucous'.