Bill & Ted

About

Bill & Ted is an American film series starring Alex Winters and Keanu Reeves as two slacker teenagers from southern California named Bill and Ted, respectively. The film series features them in a variety of fantastical adventures, including time travel and into the after life, as well as spawning a series of spin-off properties, such as video games and television shows. In 2019, following a number of rumors, Winters and Reeves announced their involvement with a third film in the series, Bill & Ted: Face the Music.

History

Films

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, the first film in the series, was released in the United States on February 17th, 1989 (trailer below, left).^[1] The film was a box office success, grossing more then $40 million on a $6.5 million budget.^[2][3]

The film's sequel, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, released on July 19th, 1991, was also successful, grossing more than $38 million on a $20 million budget (trailer below, right).^[4]

Bill & Ted Face the Music

In 2010, Reeves reported that he, Winters and series creators Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon were working on a script for a new Bill & Ted film.^[4] He said, "I'm still friends with Alex and we're talking to Chris and Ed to see if they can write something. I'd love to play the role and work with them again. We'll see what they do."

Over the next decade, they continued to mention details about the film in interviews, both with press and with fans. On October 20th, 2013, Reeves participated in a Reddit Ask Me Anything. ^[5] During the discussion, he said, "We are working on trying to get Bill & Ted 3. There's a script and we are trying to put it together."

On March 20th, 2019, Orion Pictures, the producing studio of the Bill & Ted series, published a video to YouTube of Reeves and Winter formally announcing Bill & Ted Face the Music. The video received more than 1 million views in two days (shown below).

Other Media

In addition to films, Bill & Ted has also been adapted to two television series, an animated and a live action (clips below, left and right). There have also been various other products, such as a variety of Bill & Ted video games, comic books and breakfast cereals.^[6]

Reception

The first Bill & Ted film received positive reviews upon release. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure received a 78% fresh rating (based on 46 reviews) on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. ^[7] However, the followup, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey was not as well received. Rotten Tomatoes reviewed Bogus Journey with a 54% rotten rating (based on 50 reviews).^[8]

Related Memes

Conspiracy Keanu

Conspiracy Keanu is an advice animal image macro series featuring a still photo of the Hollywood actor Keanu Reeves wearing a frightened expression from the 1989 comedy film Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. The images are typically captioned with paranoid conjectures and absurdly philosophical questions that bear similarities to the Paranoid Parrot, Philosoraptor and Stoner Dog advice animal series.

Search Interest

External References