Aca-awesome! Elizabeth Banks will be directing the upcoming musical comedy “Pitch Perfect 3,” according to Variety. Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, and Rebel Wilson will all be returning to reprise their roles. Kay Canon, who wrote the first two “Pitch Perfect” films, was the first to be confirmed for the third chapter.

The original film was adapted from Mickey Rapkin’s book “Pitch Perfect: The Quest for Collegiate A Cappella Glory,” and followed Beca (Kendrick), a freshman at Barden university, as she joined the Bellas, an all girls acapella group. The sequel takes place three years later, with Beca, “Fat Amy” (Wilson), and Chloe (Snow) leading the Bellas during their senior year. The girls lead the newbies, including Emily (Hailee Steinfeld). No plot has been revealed for the third installment, although it’s a pretty fair guess that the story will continue with Emily leading the new Bellas with the help of her predecessors.

Banks made her directorial debut with “Pitch Perfect 2,” which had an opening weekend gross of $69 million. This gave her the record for highest domestic opening ever for a first-time director. The sequel has now grossed over $183 million domestically. With all her success it’s no surprise Banks has branched out to other directing work; she has also signed on for the film adaptation of “Red Queen” and a “Charlie’s Angels” reboot.

“Pitch Perfect 3″ is slated for a summer 2017 release.

Anna Kendrick is probably one of everyone’s favorite celebrities, and she proved why in her promos for SNL this week. While Pharrell will be the musical guest. Anna will be making her hosting debut on Saturday? During the day? Night time, on live TV? Find out what we mean in the video full of promos with Taran Killam below:

The nominees for the MTV Movie Awards were announced today. The winners will be announced live for Los Angeles, CA on April 14th, with host, Rebel Wilson. This year, Will Ferrel will receive the first ever Comedic Genius Award. No performers have been announced yet, but check out the nominees below and you can vote here!

Movie of the Year:
The Avengers
The Dark Knight Rises
Django Unchained
Silver Linings Playbook
Ted

Best Male Performance
Ben Affleck, Argo
Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Channing Tatum, Magic Mike
Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln
Jamie Foxx, Django Unchained

Best Female Performance
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserable
Emma Watson, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Mila Kunis, Ted
Reba Wilson, Pitch Perfect

Best Scared-as-s**t Performance
Alexandra Daddario, Texas Chainsaw 3D
Jennifer Lawrence, House at the End of the Street
Jessica Chastain, Zero Dark Thirty
Martin Freeman, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Suraj Sharma, Life of Pi

Breakthrough Performance
Eddie Redmayne, Les Misérables
Ezra Miller, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Quvenzhané Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild
Rebel Wilson, Pitch Perfect
Suraj Sharma, Life of Pi

Best On-Screen Duo
Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo, The Avengers
Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis, The Campaign
Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel L. Jackson, Django Unchained
Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Mark Wahlberg and Seth MacFarlane, Ted

Best Shirtless Performance
Channing Tatum, Magic Mike
Christian Bale, The Dark Knight Rises
Daniel Craig, Skyfall
Seth MacFarlane, Ted
Taylor Lautner, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2

Best Fight
Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, and Jeremy Renner vs Tom Hiddleston, The Avengers
Christian Bale vs Tom Hardy, The Dark Knight Rises
Jamie Foxx vs Candieland Henchmen, Django Unchained
Daniel Craig vs Ola Rapace, Skyfall
Mark Wahlberg vs Seth MacFarlane, Ted

Best Kiss
Emma Watson and Logan Lerman, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, Silver Linings Playbook
Kara Hayward and Jared Gilman, Moonrise Kingdom
Kerry Washington and Jamie Foxx, Django Unchained
Mila Kunis and Mark Wahlberg, Ted

Best WTF Moment
Anna Camp, Pitch Perfect
Denzel Washington, Flight
Jamie Foxx and Samuel L. Jackson, Django Unchained
Javier Bardem, Skyfall
Seth MacFarlane, Ted

Best Villain
Javier Bardem, Skyfall
Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained
Marion Cotillard, The Dark Knight Rises
Tom Hardy, The Dark Knight Rises
Tom Hiddleston, The Avengers

Best Musical Moment
Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables
Channing Tatum, Matt Bomer, Joe Manganiello, Kevin Nash and Adam Rodriguez, Magic Mike
Emma Watson, Logan Lerman and Ezra Miller, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Anna Camp, Brittany Snow, Alexis Knapp, Ester Dean and Hana Mae Lee, Pitch Perfect
Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook

Pitch Perfect movie poster (courtesy of Universal Pictures)

While the title may recall thoughts of the TV show “Glee,” “Pitch Perfect” has all of the catchy beats and snazzy dance numbers without the PSA feel.

In fact, it’s established very early on in the film that the similarities between the popular TV show and “Pitch Perfect end with the singing. A cameo from Christopher Mintz-Plasse during an audition scene reveals the following jab, “This isn’t a high school club where you can sing and dance your way through any social issue or confused sexuality.”

The kids from Barden University aren’t here to preach, they’re here to sing some kick ass songs and have a good time. The film is director Jason Moore’s first film project (he’s usually seen on Broadway doing productions like “Avenue Q”). It’s also writer Kay Cannon’s (“30 Rock”) first venture into film writing.

Loosely, based on the non-fiction book by Mickey Rapkin, “Pitch Perfect” feels like a musical version of “Mean Girls.”

The film follows Beca (Anna Kendrick), an antisocial aspiring DJ, through her first year in college. Beca is perfectly content hanging out at the campus radio station or mixing beats alone in her room, but her father has other plans. Upset by her lack of effort to fit in, he offers her a deal. He tells her that if she gives the college thing a real chance and still doesn’t like it by the end of the year, then he will pay for her to move to Los Angeles.

Suddenly Beca does a complete 180 and decides to join an all girl A Capella group, the Barden Bellas. Normally the Bellas wouldn’t give Beca and her alt girl persona a chance, but they are in desperate need for new talent after a very embarrassing incident at nationals. Aubrey (Anna Camp), the overbearing leader of the group, has a bad habit of throwing up when she’s nervous (you can use your imagination to figure out how that scene went) and after “the incident” most of the Bellas leave the group.

Thus, Aubrey and her sidekick, Chloe (Brittany Snow) end up with a new, more unconventional group. The new Bellas include an array of memorable characters, each with her own archetype. Cynthia Rose (Ester Dean) is a lesbian with lots of swag and a gambling problem. Lilly (Hana Mae Lee) is the soft-spoken Asian-American anime character. Lily is so quiet none of the other girls can ever hear what she says, which gives her the opportunity to say things like “I ate my twin in the womb.” Stacie (Alexis Knapp) is the resident slut…she says so herself. And finally “Fat Amy” (Rebel Wilson) is the loud-mouthed blonde who created the derogatory nickname as a way of beating others to the punch.

Aubrey takes her girls and tries to whip them into shape for competition season–Aubrey’s main goal in life is to make it back to nationals, redeem herself and beat the Treblemakers (the school’s all male A Capella group and their biggest rival).

The rivalry between the Bellas and the Treblemakers runs so deep that the girls are forbidden from having any kind of relationship with them. Any Bella who is caught having a romantic relationship with a Treblemaker is immediately kicked off the team. It kind of puts Beca in an awkward situation since she has instant chemistry Jesse (Skylar Astin), a young Dane Cook look-alike who plans on becoming a film composer. Their friendship may be forbidden, but we all know exactly how things are going to end up from the moment they set eyes on each other.

Therein lies the only real problem with this film– everything is extremely predictable.  We know that eventually Beca will decide that being part of a team is better than hanging out in her room all day. We know that Aubrey’s iron fisted way of leading the Bellas isn’t going to work out. We know that Jesse and Beca will have a “we beat all the odds” romantic kiss at the end, but somehow that is all irrelevant.

The musical numbers are so wonderfully arranged they make even the most anti-choir viewer want to get up and sing. Really, the mashups in this film are 10 times better than anything you’ve ever seen on “Glee.” With a broad soundtrack ranging from Blackstreet to Bruno Mars, to Ace of Base and The Bangles, there’s a little something for everyone in there.

Kay Cannon’s writing balances out the fuzziness from all the singing perfectly–most of the jokes are snarky and well timed. Although there are a few eye roll inducing lines that the film could have done without. For example, all the characters have a strange obsession with using “aca” in front everything—“we’re going to have aca-babies,” “that’s aca-awesome,” aca-why-don’t-you-shut-the-hell-up.

Aca-annoyingness aside, the film is 113 minutes of fun and laughs that you don’t want to end.

“Pitch Perfect” hits theaters on Sept. 28.

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