Bill & Ted Face the Music could skip theaters and go straight to VOD. Thirty years after their original excellent adventure, Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves are set to return as slacker rock heroes Bill S. Preston, Esq. and Ted “Theodore” Logan in a third Bill & Ted movie.
Of course, the last Bill & Ted movie itself came out way back in 1991, so it’s been nearly a three-decade absence from the big screen for the famed characters. In Face the Music, the founding members of epic rock group Wyld Stallyns are now middle-aged, and have still not fulfilled their destinies by saving the universe through rad guitar solos. With their young daughters in tow, Bill and Ted now embark on yet another adventure, this time trying to find the greatest song ever written.
Fans have longed to see Winter and Reeves back together on the big screen for thirty long years, but now it seems there’s a chance that Face the Music will not make it to theaters at all thanks to the coronavirus. CNN reported on Hollywood’s struggle to get on with its release schedule as things begin reopening after the lockdown, and quoted entertainment research analyst Jeff Bock as explaining why he thinks the third Bill & Ted movie is likely to see a digital release instead of heading to theaters in August as planned:
"We just don't know at this point what the world will look like in June and July, but what we do know is if studios are planning to release these films in theaters, they'd have to begin advertising them right now. That's more money that they might be risking. That's why some of these films make a lot of sense going straight to digital."
Already studios have sent a few movies originally headed for theaters, including the animated film Scoob!, to VOD and seen good results. As of now, some of the bigger movies like Mulan and Tenet are still planning to release in theaters this summer, but the thinking is that a smaller movie like Bill & Ted Face the Music would have a better chance flourishing at home rather than being released in theaters on time or pushed back. The late 2020 release schedule is of course already crowded with delayed movies like A Quiet Place II, Top Gun: Maverick and No Time to Die, creating lot of competition.
It would obviously be very disappointing for diehard Bill & Ted fans to see the long-awaited third movie receive no theatrical run at all, but Orion and United Artists of course have to do what they think is right for the film, and it’s true that given the circumstances it would probably be better for the movie’s performance to put it out digitally rather than risk a potentially disastrous theatrical release with the studio also spending a lot of marketing money in vain. The excellent news is that, one way or another, Bill & Ted Face the Music is going to arrive after decades of waiting, and fans have reason to be stoked about that even if it's somewhat bogus that they may only get to watch the movie at home.
Source: CNN
