There was a time when the time traveling dufus duo of Bill and Ted ruled the world. In their day the California rockers defined an era with two movies in 1989 and 1991 (Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey), a Saturday morning cartoon in 1990 (Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures), a live action television show in 1992 (also titled Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures), a line of Kenner action figures and even their own breakfast cereal.
The Bill and Ted franchise has become somewhat of a cult classic. In the modern era of nostalgia and geek culture Bill and Ted 3 may finally find new life with the long-awaited third film, according to a recent interview with Alex Winter (The Lost Boys), who portrayed Bill in the films.
There has been talk for several years now about a third installment in the Bill and Ted film franchise. Winter has been carrying the torch for the film for some time and Keanu Reeves (who portrayed Ted) hasn’t forgotten where he came from either, despite enjoying a successful film career since. The duo have been discussing the third film publicly for years, now we have a little more insight from Winter about the method they may be seeking to release the film on and the progress of the time-table in a new interview with Forbes:
“It’s looking good. This is Hollywood so I don’t believe it’s happening until it’s coming out on VOD but we’re all working on the film everyday at the moment in terms of the pre-prep type work so it’s an active project. Hopefully we’ll be shooting it shortly.”
The mention of VOD (Video On Demand) is a telling clue that perhaps Bill and Ted will be crafted to sell directly to a streaming service like Netflix, Hulu or Amazon Prime, rather than enjoying a theatrical release. The precedent for this is pretty strong; the latest film in the Pee-Wee Herman film franchise, Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday, was released directly to Netflix this year. These are classic cult franchises that certainly have an audience, and could probably rope in some new younger viewers, by being accessible on streaming media. This would probably make the most economic sense for the film and may very well be what helps Bill and Ted 3 finally see the light of day.
Winter went on to discuss the script and the team behind it:
“We’ve been working on it for, like, six years. We’re knee deep in the script, it’s been written by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon who wrote the first two, they are fantastic writers, and the script is great. We have a script, we have a director, we have a studio – we’re just trying to nail down a start date.”
Keanu has commented publicly that they are still trying to get the story right. Having a long time to tweak a script can sometimes ensure excellence, but can also be an indicator of a lack of direction or serious vision. Let’s hope in this case it’s the former.
Sadly, the world lost comic legend George Carlin back in 2008. Carlin played Rufus, a disciple of theirs from the future that was sent back in time in a mystical telephone booth to guide them to their collective destiny.
In this era of grim, gritty and serious films, perhaps the smile that another Bill and Ted movie would bring to our faces is long overdue.
We will continue to keep you updated on any developments and release dates for Bill and Ted 3
