Aca-believe it! Pitch Perfect hit theaters in 2012 and became an instant classic.
The film centers on the Barden Bellas a cappella team — who make music using only their mouths — and has proven its staying power. The franchise has since released two aca-awesome sequels.
In 2015, the musical group took on international competitors in hopes of keeping their group’s performance abilities intact. Three years later, The Bellas reunited as college graduates to sing in Europe as a part of the USO Tour and a spot on DJ Khaled’s label.
Characters have been added along the way, but the original Bellas — made up of Beca (Anna Kendrick), Aubrey (Anna Camp), Chloe (Brittany Snow), Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) and more — cemented their place in fans’ hearts early on.
There are also a few Barden Treblemakers — including Bumper (Adam DeVine), Jesse (Skylar Astin) and Benji (Ben Platt) — who made a lasting impression from their first appearance on screen.
The friendships between the actors have become stronger with each movie as well.
“It’s our favorite thing to do,” Snow told Us Weekly exclusively in October 2017. “We would do these movies forever, not only because we’re such a family, but also because we’ve now gotten into a routine and a system and we understand each other’s comedy.”
That family dynamic led to the stars being able to add in their own lines and actions in the third film. “Our director let us improve anything that we wanted to do,” the Florida native explained. “The majority of the movie is basically what we wanted to say and how we would say it, which in the other two was pretty much always being stuck to the script.”
Off screen the cast has remained close, attending each other’s weddings, bachelorette bashes, throwing holiday cookie decorating parties and more. Camp, Kelley Jakle and Pitch Perfect 2 addition Chrissie Fit were even bridesmaids in Snow’s March 2020 nuptials.
The ladies are also “Dixie Chicks serious” about their bond and WhatsApp group chat.
“Yeah, of course,” Kendrick told Us exclusively in November 2019. “It’ll go a while without a reason to talk but then sometimes people will have events that they’ll ask us to come [to]. Someone will be performing [and they’ll text], or sometimes it will just be, ‘Hey, what’s up,’ or a little gossip, or did you guys see this? It’s very cute.”
Scroll down to see what the original Bellas, some of their later additions and rivals have been up to since the musical franchise began.