Few people have had a better 2015 than Elizabeth Banks. She was in Magic Mike XXL, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, Love & Mercy and soon she'll be seen in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2, which will no doubt be one of the biggest movies of the year. Oh, and she also produced, directed and acted in Pitch Perfect 2, a monster hit given its humble origins.
While it may seem like 2015 is going to be a very hard year to top, Banks' career is only on the rise from here. Her name is already being floated around as a potential contender for some pretty high-profile movies, including Captain Marvel (which still doesn't have a director) and a Charlie's Angel reboot, but now we know for sure that her next directorial project will be Pitch Perfect 3.
Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow and Rebel Wilson are all already on board to star in the movie. Kay Cannon, who wrote the last two, is returning to write this new installment. And Universal has already carved out an August 4, 2017 release date for it. We don't know the exact plot this early on, but we're sure Banks and her crew of very funny ladies will come up with another fun reason for the Barden Bellas to take the stage.
Banks isn't the only director to officially return for a sequel to one of their movies this week. Paddington writer-director Paul King is now signed on to come back for the tentatively titled Paddington 2.
Producer David Heyman told Movies.com earlier this year they were only going to make a sequel if they came up with a good enough story, so Paddington 2 getting the green light hopefully means they've cracked it. The script hasn't been written yet, though, so it may be a few years before we actually see it.
If you did miss Paddington when it came out earlier this year, we couldn't recommend it enough. It's a smart, funny, truly delightful movie that's genuinely fun for the entire family.
