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Jul 23, 2020 By Christopher Roberts Alex Winter

Following a teaser trailer in June, the first full trailer for the long in the works Bill & Ted Face the Music has been shared, along with a new poster for the film. The film was originally due out August 21, but now has a new release date of September 1 and it has been announced that the film will be available on demand to rent and watch at home, as well as screening in those theaters (and drive-ins) open then. This is all due to the pandemic of course. Check out the trailer below and the poster above, and be excellent to each other.

Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves return to their iconic roles as William “Bill” S. Preston Esq. and Theodore “Ted” Logan for the first time since 1991’s Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, which was the sequel to 1989’s Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. The third film has been in development for many years, but is finally scheduled to come out via Orion Pictures.

In the original Bill & Ted movies, the heroes were a couple of hapless struggling teenaged musicians, the only two members of the band Wyld Stallyns. In the first film they were on the verge of failing their history test when a time traveler from the far future named Rufus (George Carlin) informs them that later on their band and its music will be the foundation for a utopian society, but only if they pass the history test. Armed with a time machine disguised as a phone booth (perhaps in a nod to Doctor Who) they travel across the ages, gathering up famous historical figures and bringing them to the present. The film was a surprise hit and spawned Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, which some argue is the superior film and found our heroes literally going to hell and back, as well as to heaven, and playing Battleship and Twister with the Grim Reaper, all in the quest to win a local battle of the bands to launch their musical career. Alas Bill & Ted Face the Music finds them middle aged and performing at weddings.

Here is the official synopsis for the film: “The stakes are higher than ever for the time-traveling exploits of William ‘Bill’ S. Preston Esq. and Theodore ‘Ted’ Logan. Yet to fulfill their rock and roll destiny, the now middle aged best friends set out on a new adventure when a visitor from the future warns them that only their song can save life as we know it. Along the way, they will be helped by their daughters, a new batch of historical figures, and a few music legends—to seek the song that will set their world right and bring harmony in the universe.”

Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, who wrote the first two Bill & Ted movies, return. This time the director is Dean Parisot, whose best regarded film is probably 1999’s Star Trek parody Galaxy Quest and whose last movie was 2013’s Red 2. William Sadler returns as the Grim Reaper. Brigette Lundy-Paine and Samara Weaving play Bill and Ted’s teenaged daughters, with Jayma Mays and Erinn Hayes as their wives (the two princesses they rescued in Excellent Adventure, but played by different actresses). Hal Landon Jr. and Amy Stoch return from the original films as Captain Jonathan Logan, Ted’s father, and Missy, who ended up being a stepmother to both Bill and Ted. The film also stars Kid Cudi (as himself), Kristen Schaal, Anthony Carrigan, Jillian Bell, Holland Taylor, and Beck Bennett, with archival footage of the late George Carlin taken from the original films.

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