Bill & Ted (franchise)

Bill & Ted
DVD covers of the Bill & Ted films Excellent Adventure (left) and Bogus Journey (right)
Bill & Ted
Directed by	Stephen Herek (Excellent Adventure) Peter Hewitt (Bogus Journey)
Produced by	Scott Kroopf (both films) Michael S. Murphey Joel Soisson (Excellent Adventure)
Written by	Chris Matheson Ed Solomon
Starring	Keanu Reeves Alex Winter
Music by	David Newman
Release dates	February 17, 1989 – present
Running time	183 minutes (both films, in total)
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$30 million (both movies, in total)
Box office	$78.5 million (both movies, in total)

Bill & Ted is a series of two films (and their spin-offs) featuring William "Bill" S. Preston Esq. (Alex Winter) and "Ted" Theodore Logan (Keanu Reeves) as two metalhead slackers who travel through time. The first Bill & Ted film, Excellent Adventure, was released on February 17, 1989, followed two years later by Bogus Journey. A third film has been in the works since 2010, but there is no current release date.

In 1990, a spin-off animated television series Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures was produced with Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves reprising their roles. A second season featuring none of the original cast was made in 1991 followed by a short-lived live-action television series in 1992. The characters have also featured in other media including several video games and a comic book. Since Orion Pictures is defunct, MGM now owns the rights to Bill & Ted.

Movies

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

Excellent Adventure introduces Bill Preston and Ted Logan who are trying to write a history report, and encounter a traveler from the future who gives them access to a time machine (shaped like a telephone booth) which allows them to travel back in time and where they meet historical figures and learn about key historical events. If Bill and Ted fail to pass, their teacher will have to flunk them and Ted's father will transfer him to an Alaskan military academy. In this movie, it is also revealed that Bill and Ted are in a band called Wyld Stallyns.

Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)

Bogus Journey sees Bill and Ted being killed by robot doubles who capture their fiancées, and their attempts to get back from the afterlife by challenging the Grim Reaper to a series of games. Bill and Ted (along with the Grim Reaper) eventually return to present-day Earth just prior to the Wyld Stallyns' performance at the Battle of the Bands, which takes place later that night.

Potential third film

In 2010, Reeves indicated that Matheson and Solomon were working on a script for a third film.^[1][2]

Winter has stated that the role of Rufus (previously played by the late George Carlin) would not be recast.^[3]

In April 2011, Reeves stated that a third film was close to happening.^[4] On April 24, 2011, Winter tweeted that the script for the third installment had been finished.^[5]

The plot was suspected to be about Bill and Ted writing a song that could save the world, although in a pre-San Diego Comic-Con International interview, Alex Winter stated the storyline may also involve time travel to the prehistoric era, and the film would likely see a cameo by Eddie Van Halen as well as the return of Socrates and Billy the Kid, who appeared in the first movie.^[6]

The current script does not feature William Sadler reprising his role as the Grim Reaper, but the screenwriters are looking for a way to include him, and Sadler has expressed interest in returning to the role.^[7]

In August 2012, director Dean Parisot of Galaxy Quest and Red 2 was attached to direct.^[8]

In March 2013, at the SXSW Film Festival, Winter confirmed progress on the film was still moving forward.^[9][10]

In August 2013, when asked about a third film, Reeves replied, "There have been a couple of drafts [of a Bill & Ted 3 script] and right now, we're waiting on the writers to come up with another draft. But we're all very excited."^[11] In an October 20, 2013 Reddit AMA, Reeves revealed that he has seen the script for Bill & Ted 3, stating, "We are working on trying to get Bill & Ted 3. There's a script and we are trying to put it together."^[12]

In a September 2014 interview with Yahoo! Movies, Winter revealed more details on the plot, stating that "[Bill and Ted] will be 40-something and it's all about Bill and Ted grown up, or not grown up". Winter also stated that the film would not be a reboot of the franchise, stating that "it's a Bill & Ted movie, that's what it is. It's for the fans of Bill & Ted. It fits very neatly in the [series]. It's not going to feel like a reboot."^[13]

On the March 28, 2015 episode of The Jonathan Ross Show, Reeves confirmed that Bill & Ted 3 is still being planned, stating, "Yes, they want to do that. The writers wrote a script, which is a really cool idea and Alex Winter and I – Alex played Bill, I played Ted – so we're trying to get it made".^[14]

In April 2016, Alex Winter told Forbes that they have a script, a director and a studio and they are planning to start filming most likely early 2017. New information states that they may start filming at the end of 2016.^[15]

Television

Animated

The first season was produced by Hanna-Barbera and ran for 13 episodes on CBS in 1990, featured the voices of Carlin, Winter, and Reeves returning to their roles in the film. A second season of eight episodes ran on Fox Kids and was produced by DIC Entertainment, with none of the original cast.

Live action

A later live-action series, featuring none of the cast from the film, included Christopher Kennedy as Bill and Evan Richards as Ted (who also voiced the same roles in the animated season produced by Dic).^[16] This version aired seven episodes in 1992 on Fox.

Cast and characters

Note: A gray cell indicates character did not appear in that medium.

Comics

A one-shot comic book adaptation of the sequel was published to coincide with the second film's release. Its popularity led to the series Bill & Ted's Excellent Comic Book by Evan Dorkin and produced by Marvel Comics.

Cereal

A cereal based on the cartoon adaptation. It was made by the now-defunct Ralston Purina. It was short-lived, like the cartoon, and it included many giveaways and promotions.

Musical

A musical based on the film was produced in 1998 called Bill and Ted's Excellent Musical Adventure.^[17]

Video games

There were also Game Boy, NES and Atari Lynx games released, which were very loosely based on the film's plot. A PC title and nearly identical Amiga and Commodore 64 port were made in 1991 by Off the Wall Productions and IntraCorp, Inc. under contract by Capstone Software and followed the original film very closely.

Home computer

A single player graphic adventure PC game based on the 1989 film Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. It was released by Capstone for DOS, Commodore 64, and Amiga systems in 1990.

GameBoy

An action-puzzle game loosely based on Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.

Atari Lynx

A video game for the Atari Lynx handheld based on the Bill & Ted films and the Saturday morning cartoon.

NES

An action-adventure video game based on Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure that was released in North America by LJN for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Halloween Horror Nights

Bill & Ted also feature in an annual live-action show at Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood during Halloween Horror Nights. Typically the show will parody the past year's worth of notable pop culture events, featuring locally cast performers as the title characters.

In 2013, the Universal Studios Hollywood Bill and Ted's Excellent Halloween Adventure show was cancelled following allegations by Jamie Lee Curtis Taete^[18] from Vice (magazine) of homophobia and racism in that year's show.^{[19][20][21][22]} The show still continues at Universal Studios Florida, as of the 2016 event.^[23]

References