Well, this is turning out to be a big week for sequel news.
Not only are Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson returning for “Pitch Perfect 3,” which will come out sometime in 2017, but Disney has commissioned a sequel to “Maleficent” from screenwriter Linda Woolverton.
Kendrick confirmed the news with an Instagram post Monday.
We will refrain from moaning about how sequels are cynical and often creatively bankrupt cash grabs, and instead try to look at this news critically.
It’s great news for Kendrick and Wilson and certainly reinforces their credibility as major box-office draws. In fact, both “PP2” — which beat out “Mad Max: Fury Road” in its opening weekend — and “Maleficent” serve as high-profile examples that women-led films are more than capable of crushing ticket sales. “Maleficent” pulled in nearly $760 million worldwide.
But sequels, as usual, are also where we encounter tricky territory. Are the Barden Bellas comprised solely of undergraduates? Kendrick will be 31 by the time “Pitch Perfect 3” comes out on July 21, 2017, and Wilson will be 37. Would it be so awful if they played harried graduate students in their return? And if the first movie was focused on a national championship and the second had the a capella group trained on a world title, what exactly comes next? Do they turn pro? Is that a thing?