Elizabeth Banks bows out of 'Pitch Perfect 3' to do parental duty

Los Angeles: Actress-filmmaker Elizabeth Banks says her parental duties drove her decision to leave the directing gig for “Pitch Perfect 3”.

Banks made her directorial debut with "Pitch Perfect 2" last year and in October 2015 she signed on to reprise her role behind the camera for the next installment. 

She said she was planning to direct during the summer but the recent decision to move the third film’s release back to Christmas 2017 created a conflict with her obligations to her two children, reports variety.com. 

“My parental responsibilities are the reason why,” said Banks on Saturday at the Producers Guild’s conference here.

“The new schedule butts up against my parental responsibilities in a way I’m not really comfortable with,” she said. 

Banks and spouse Max Handelman will remain producers on the franchise through their Brownstone banner. They both appeared on the opening panel at the conference with Dan Lin moderating.

“Development always takes longer than you expect it to. We feel obligated to put out the absolute best next movie; we’ve been developing our a**es off,” she said. 

Universal Studios recently pushed the release date from July 21, 2017 to December 22, 2017. Banks indicated on Saturday that her departure as director was amicable.