Bill and Ted Face the Music has a new trailer, a new release date, and a new release strategy: the long-awaited third film in the franchise will now be released both in theaters and on-demand through digital retailers on September 1st.
The new Face the Music trailer showcases more of what to expect from the film, which will see Alex Winters and Keanu Reeves reprising their respective roles as Bill S. Preston, Esq. and Ted “Theodore” Logan. They are now down-on-their-luck singers who have failed to write a song so good it literally saves the world.
As the trailer teases, the duo embarks on a time-traveling adventure to steal the song from their future selves. At the same time, Wilhelmina Billie “Little Bill” Logan (Brigette Lundy-Paine) and Thea “Little Ted” Preston (Samara Weaving) embark on their own excellent adventure to recruit a band from across time to help out their dads.
It’s not entirely clear when Bill and Ted Face the Music will hit theaters, given the tumultuous summer release schedule caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Theaters across the country have shut down, and nearly every single major theatrical blockbuster release is delayed as a result. The movie was originally scheduled to release on August 21st, but the new trailer and poster just promise it’ll be out sometime “this summer.”
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As coronavirus cases continue to surge in the United States, however, it seems unlikely that theaters will be able to get the kind of audiences that they would in a typical summer, leading to the side-by-side release strategy of offering the film both in theaters (should any be open by then) and at home on September 1st.
It also speaks to the size of Bill and Ted Face the Music, which was never going to be a $1 billion blockbuster. Other films, like Warner Bros. Tenet or Disney’s Mulan, have opted to delay releases rather than go straight to digital in hopes of capitalizing on a larger and more lucrative theatrical audience down the line.
