Bill & Ted | |
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![]() Title logo taken from Bill & Ted Face the Music | |
Created by | Chris Matheson Ed Solomon |
Original work | Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure |
Owner | Orion Pictures (Amazon MGM Studios) |
Years | 1989–present |
Print publications | |
Comics | Bill & Ted's Excellent Comic Book (1991–1992) Bill & Ted Go to Hell (2016) |
Films and television | |
Film(s) |
|
Television series | Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures (1990–1991) Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures (1992) |
Games | |
Traditional | |
Audio | |
Soundtrack(s) | Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey: Music from the Motion Picture (1991) |
Bill & Ted is an American science fiction comedy franchise created by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon. It features William "Bill" S. Preston Esq. and Ted "Theodore" Logan, portrayed by Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves, respectively, two metalhead slacker friends who travel through time and beyond while trying to fulfill their destiny to establish a utopian society in the universe with their music. The series spans a film trilogy: Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991), and Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020). [1] [2] The series has been mainly produced by Scott Kroopf.
There have been numerous spin-offs, including an animated television series (with Winter and Reeves reprising their roles), a live-action television series in 1992, video games and comic books. Originally released and co-produced by Orion Pictures, ownership moved to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer following the purchase of Orion in 1997, and MGM has been the main licensee and distributor since. The series has grossed $85 million and received generally positive reviews from critics.
The series follows the pair of William "Bill" S. Preston Esq. (Alex Winter) and Ted "Theodore" Logan (Keanu Reeves), initially two teenagers living in San Dimas, California in 1988. They want to make their rock band "Wyld Stallyns" successful, but their ambitions and lackadaisical attitudes leave them close to flunking out of high school and threatening to split the band up forever. Unbeknownst to them, their music will form the basis of a utopian society in the future. The leaders of this society send Rufus (George Carlin) to help Bill & Ted pass school and assure the future with the aid of a time machine, which appears as a phone booth. Later films focus on attempts by others to break up Bill & Ted so that their music will never lead to a utopian future.
Excellent Adventure introduces Bill and Ted who are trying to write a history report. Rufus, a guide from the year 2688, arrives to provide them the time machine which allows them to travel back in time and meet historical figures in order to 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 high school, which will lead to Wyld Stallyns never forming, in turn destroying a Utopian future built around their music.
In Bogus Journey, Chuck De Nomolos, a resident of the utopia, is sick of it and sends a pair of Bill & Ted robot doubles back into the past to kill Bill and Ted and make a future based on his ideals. Bill & Ted are killed, face the Grim Reaper, and manage to beat him at several games. This gives them the opportunity to find allies to stop their robot doubles and De Nomolos before an upcoming Battle of the Bands where they must also rescue the princesses to whom they are engaged and start their musical careers.
Bill and Ted are now middle-aged parents, yet to realize the music that the future Utopian society will follow. They are warned by the Great Leader and Rufus's daughter Kelly from the future that they only have a short time in their present to create the great song or reality will collapse. Bill and Ted decide to travel to their future to try to find their song, but are hunted by a time-travelling robot. Kelly warns their teenage daughters, Billie and Thea, about their plight, and the two go off into the past to help create a band to make the great song for their fathers in time.
Shortly before the release of Face the Music, Winter and Reeves discussed the possibility of a fourth Bill & Ted movie, the latter telling Rachel Smith of Entertainment Tonight that it would be "up to the fans". [3] [4] When asked in an interview with DiscussingFilm in August 2020 if the characters of Billie and Thea could result in a sequel or spin-off film, writer Ed Solomon stated, "It wasn't when we were first writing it, but as we saw Brigette and Samara inhabit these roles, I thought for sure if there was interest and people wanted to carry this forward, the Bill & Ted spirit, I would absolutely let those characters carry it forward. I think we've finished with the Alex and Keanu Bill & Ted story. I think it's done, but if people were interested in a Billie & Thea continuation, I think it'd be cool." [5] [6]
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.
A later live-action series, featuring none of the cast from the films, included Christopher Kennedy as Bill and Evan Richards as Ted (who also voiced the same roles in the animated season produced by DIC). [7] This version aired seven episodes in 1992 on Fox. William Sadler additionally reprised his role as the Grim Reaper in "The Assassin", a 1994 episode of Tales from the Crypt.
Character | Films | Animated series | Television series | ||||
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Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure | Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey | Bill & Ted Face the Music | Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures | Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures | |||
Season 1 | Season 2 | ||||||
Bill S Preston, Esquire | Alex Winter | Alex Winter | Alex Winter | Alex Winter V | Evan Richards V | Evan Richards | |
William Throne Y | |||||||
Ted "Theodore" Logan | Keanu Reeves | Keanu Reeves | Keanu Reeves | Keanu Reeves V | Christopher Kennedy V | Christopher Kennedy | |
Brendan Ryan Y | |||||||
Rufus | George Carlin | George Carlin | George Carlin A | George Carlin V | Rick Overton V | Rick Overton | |
Pam Grier [lower-alpha 1] | Piotr Michael V | ||||||
Captain Logan | Hal Landon Jr. | Peter Renaday V | Unspecified voice actor | Matt Landers | |||
Missy | Amy Stoch | Kimmy Robertson V | Lisa Wilcox | ||||
Princess Joanna Preston | Kimberley Kates | Sarah Trigger | Jayma Mays | Kath Soucie V | |||
Princess Elizabeth Logan | Diane Franklin | Annette Azcuy | Erinn Hayes | ||||
Mr. Preston | J. Patrick McNamara | Unspecified voice actor | Don Lake V | Don Lake | |||
Deacon Logan | Frazier Bain | Beck Bennett | Danny Cooksey V | ||||
Mr. Ryan | Bernie Casey | Bernie Casey V | |||||
Napoleon Bonaparte | Terry Camilleri | ||||||
Billy the Kid | Dan Shor | ||||||
Socrates | Tony Steedman | ||||||
Abraham Lincoln | Robert V. Barron | ||||||
Sigmund Freud | Rod Loomis | ||||||
Genghis Khan | Al Leong | ||||||
Joan of Arc | Jane Wiedlin | ||||||
Ludwig van Beethoven | Clifford David | ||||||
Death The Grim Reaper | William Sadler | ||||||
Station | Ed Gale & Gil Arturo | Ed Gale & Gil Arturo A | |||||
Tom Allard [lower-alpha 2] | |||||||
Frank Welker V | |||||||
Tony Cox U [lower-alpha 3] | |||||||
Chuck De Nomolos | Joss Ackland | ||||||
Colonel Oats | Chelcie Ross | ||||||
Thomas Edison | Hal Landon Sr. | Unspecified voice actor | |||||
Albert Einstein | John Ehrin | Arte Johnson | |||||
Theodora "Thea" Preston [8] | Candace Mead U [9] | Samara Weaving | |||||
Wilhelmina "Billie" Logan [8] | Lauren Mead U [9] | Brigette Lundy-Paine | |||||
The Great Leader | Holland Taylor | ||||||
Kelly | Kristen Schaal | ||||||
Dennis Caleb McCoy | Anthony Carrigan | ||||||
Kid Cudi | Himself | ||||||
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | Daniel Dorr | Kath Soucie V | |||||
Babe Ruth | Reece Loustalot | Unspecified voice actor | |||||
George Washington | William Harris | ||||||
Jimi Hendrix | DazMann Still | ||||||
Louis Armstrong | Jeremiah Craft | ||||||
Ling Lun | Sharon Gee | ||||||
Grom | Patty Anne Miller |
Occupation | Films | ||
---|---|---|---|
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure | Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey | Bill & Ted Face the Music | |
Director(s) | Stephen Herek | Pete Hewitt | Dean Parisot |
Writers | Chris Matheson & Ed Solomon | ||
Producer(s) | Scott Kroopf, Michael S. Murphey, and Joel Soisson | Scott Kroopf | Scott Kroopf, Alex Lebovici, David Haring, Steve Ponce, Ed Solomon, and Alex Winter |
Composer(s) | David Newman | Mark Isham | |
Editor(s) | Larry Bock Patrick Rand | David Finfer | Don Zimmerman |
Cinematographer(s) | Tim Suhrstedt | Oliver Wood | Shelly Johnson |
Film | Release date | Box office gross | Budget | Ref. | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
North America | Other territories | Worldwide | ||||
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure | February 17, 1989 | $40,485,039 | $23,955 | $40,508,994 | $10 million [10] | [11] |
Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey | July 19, 1991 | $38,037,513 | $2,337 | $38,039,850 | $20 million [12] | [13] |
Bill & Ted Face the Music | August 28, 2020 | $3,439,660 | $2,834,367 | $6,274,027 | $25 million [14] [15] | [16] |
Total | $81,962,212 | $2,860,659 | $84,822,871 | $55 million | ||
Film | Critical | Public | |
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Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore | |
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure | 81% (54 reviews) [17] | 50 (16 reviews) [18] | — |
Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey | 56% (54 reviews) [19] | 60 (10 reviews) [20] | B+ [21] |
Bill & Ted Face the Music | 82% (261 reviews) [22] | 65 (41 reviews) [23] | — |
DC Comics produced a tie-in comic following the plot of the first movie timed to coincide with that film's release on home video. [24] The sequel was adapted by DC's competitor Marvel Comics, published to coincide with the second film's release in theaters. Its popularity led to the ongoing Marvel series Bill & Ted's Excellent Comic Book by Evan Dorkin, which lasted for 12 issues. [25]
There was a weekly 2/4 page semi-adaptation of the animated series published for a year by UK's defunct Look-In Magazine from 1991 to 1992. [26]
In 2015, Boom! Comics revived the franchise in comic form with the six issue miniseries, Bill & Ted's Most Triumphant Return, [27] followed by a trade paperback collection of the Marvel Comics releases, Bill & Ted's Excellent Comic Book: Archive (2016). [28] The success of the miniseries led to two additional miniseries: the four issue Bill & Ted Go to Hell (2016) and the five issue Bill & Ted Save the Universe (2017). [29] [30]
As an official prequel to the third movie, Dark Horse Comics released the four issue miniseries Bill & Ted are Doomed (2020). [31]
A cereal based on the animated series adaptation. It was made by the defunct Ralston Purina. It was short-lived, like the cartoon and it included many giveaways and promotions.
A musical based on the film was produced in 1998 called Bill and Ted's Excellent Musical Adventure. [32]
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.
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 1989.
A video game for the Atari Lynx handheld based on the Bill & Ted films and the Saturday morning cartoon.
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.
An action-puzzle game loosely based on Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.
Wyld Stallyns is an action-RPG video game based on the Bill & Ted universe was released by Built Games in 2018 for iOS and Android devices.
Bill & Ted also featured in an annual live-action show at Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood during Halloween Horror Nights. Typically the show parodied 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 from Vice of homophobia and racism in that year's show. [33] [34] [35] [36] [37] The show continued at Universal Studios Florida, until 2017. [38]
Keanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor and musician. He is the recipient of numerous accolades in a career on screen spanning four decades. In 2020, The New York Times ranked him as the fourth-greatest actor of the 21st century, and in 2022 Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Reeves is known for his leading roles in action films, his amiable public image, and his philanthropic efforts.
Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey is a 1991 American science fiction comedy film, and the feature directorial debut of Pete Hewitt. It is the second film in the Bill & Ted franchise, and a sequel to Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989). Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter and George Carlin reprise their roles. The film, which partially spoofs The Seventh Seal, received mixed reviews from critics and made slightly less money than its predecessor, but has since gained a cult following.
Joseph "Jeph" Loeb III is an American film and television writer, producer and comic book writer. Loeb was a producer/writer on the TV series Smallville and Lost, writer for the films Commando and Teen Wolf, and a writer and co-executive producer on the NBC TV show Heroes from its premiere in 2006 to November 2008. From 2010 to 2019, Loeb was the Head of and Executive Vice President of Marvel Television.
Alexander Winter is a British-American actor and filmmaker. As an actor, he is best known for playing Bill S. Preston Esq. in the 1989 film Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and its sequels Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991) and Bill & Ted Face the Music (2020). He is also known for his role as Marko in the 1987 vampire film The Lost Boys, for co-writing, co-directing, and starring in the 1993 film Freaked, and for directing documentaries in the 2010s.
Gary Riley is a former child and teen American character actor with numerous film, made-for-TV films and television credits.
Bill & Ted's Excellent Video Game Adventure is an action-adventure video game that is part of the Bill & Ted franchise and is based on the film Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. It was released in North America by LJN for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1991. The plot is an original continuation to the film's events.
Bill & Ted's Excellent Comic Book was a twelve-issue comic book series published in 1991–1992 and based on the Bill & Ted franchise. The series was nominated for a 1992 Eisner Award in the category of Best Humor Comic.
Boom! Studios, is an American comic book and graphic novel publisher. They are headquartered in Los Angeles, California, United States. The Random House division of Penguin Random House agreed to acquire the company in July 2024.
Kimberley Kates is an American actress and film producer. Kates is best known for her role as Princess Elizabeth in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989). She founded and is currently the CEO of Big Screen Entertainment Group, a Los Angeles–based publicly traded film production and distribution company.
Matt Kindt is an American comic book writer, cartoonist, and graphic designer. His early creator-owned works were spy fiction, and their success led to mainstream work for hire projects in superhero fiction and other genres. His work has been nominated for Eisner Awards and Harvey Awards. In the comic industry, he is best known for his work on MIND MGMT, the Valiant Entertainment superhero universe, and BRZRKR, the first issue of which is the highest-selling single comic issue of the 21st century.
Matthew D. Adler is an American film actor. He is best known for his supporting roles in the 1980s teenage films: Teen Wolf, White Water Summer, North Shore, and Dream a Little Dream. He currently works on additional dialogue recording for feature films.
Edward James Solomon is an American filmmaker. He is best known for writing the screenplays to Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), Men in Black (1997), and Now You See Me (2013).
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure is a 1989 American science fiction comedy film directed by Stephen Herek and written by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon. The first installment of the Bill & Ted franchise, it stars Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter and George Carlin. It follows Bill (Winter) and Ted (Reeves), who travel through time to assemble historical figures for their high school history presentation.
Universal's Halloween Horror Nights is an annual Halloween-themed event at Universal Studios theme parks in Orlando, Hollywood, Japan and Singapore. The longest-running and most successful iteration of the event, in Orlando, Florida, began as Universal Studios Fright Nights in 1991 as a 3-night event at Universal Studios Florida. The following year, it was re-branded as Halloween Horror Nights, advertised as the "second annual event". Since then, it has evolved into a scare-a-thon event filled with themed haunted houses, scare zones and shows that runs over the course of select nights from early September until late October/early November, inspiring offshoots at other Universal Studios locations across the globe.
Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures is a 1990 animated television series spin-off from the 1989 film Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. It follows the titular protagonists, dimwitted teenage musicians Bill and Ted, who are visited by Rufus, a man from the future, who needs them to graduate from high school to start a rock band that inspires the people of the future. They travel to various time periods, making sure that history happens as it should, more or less.
Christopher David Matheson is an American film director and screenwriter. Matheson is best known for his collaborations with fellow screenwriter Ed Solomon, together creating the Bill & Ted franchise, writing the three films Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, and Bill & Ted Face the Music. Together they also wrote the films Mom and Dad Save the World and Imagine That.
Keanu Reeves is a Canadian actor who has appeared in films, television series and video games. He made his film debut in the short One Step Away in 1985. The following year, Reeves appeared in the crime film River's Edge, and the television films Babes in Toyland, Act of Vengeance, and Brotherhood of Justice. His first lead role was as a teenager dealing with his best friend's suicide in the 1988 drama Permanent Record. His breakthrough role came when he played time-travelling slacker Ted "Theodore" Logan in the science fiction comedy Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) with Alex Winter, which was an unexpected commercial success. Reeves followed this with a supporting role in Ron Howard's comedy Parenthood. In 1991 he starred in the action film Point Break with Patrick Swayze, the science fiction comedy sequel Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, and the independent drama My Own Private Idaho.
Stephen Christy is an American film and television producer, entertainment executive, and former graphic novel editor. He is the President of Development at graphic novel publisher Boom! Studios, where he oversees Boom!'s first look deals with Disney/20th Century Studios and Netflix. He was formerly editor-in-chief at Archaia Entertainment, where he won two Eisner Awards, as the editor of Jim Henson's Tale of Sand and Return of the Dapper Men.
Stephen DeStefano is an American comics artist, animator and storyboard artist best known as the co-creator of 'Mazing Man and Hero Hotline with writer Bob Rozakis.
Bill & Ted Face the Music is a 2020 American science fiction comedy film directed by Dean Parisot and written by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon. It is the third film in the Bill & Ted film series, and the sequel to Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991). Alex Winter, Keanu Reeves, and William Sadler reprise their roles as Bill, Ted, and the Grim Reaper, respectively; while Kristen Schaal, Samara Weaving, Brigette Lundy-Paine, Anthony Carrigan, Erinn Hayes, Jayma Mays, Holland Taylor, Kid Cudi, Jillian Bell and Beck Bennett join the cast. In the film, Bill and Ted must write a song to unite humanity before space-time is destroyed. The script was laid out as early as 2010, but a production deal was not confirmed until 2018. Filming commenced on July 1, 2019.