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A third film in the “Bill & Ted” comedy series, to be called “Bill & Ted Face the Music” and starring Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves as the title characters, will go into production this summer and is planned for a summer 2020 release.
The production and release details were announced Wednesday by Hammerstone Studios, which is producing the film, as well as Reeves and Winter themselves.
The original film in the series, “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure,” was released in 1989, and chronicled the headbanging pair’s time-traveling adventures, as they crossed paths with Socrates, Billy the Kid and Joan of Arc while trying to pass their high school history class.
“Excellent Adventure” was an unexpected hit, boosting the film careers of Reeves (“The Matrix,” “John Wick”) and Winter (director of documentaries like “Deep Web” and “The Panama Papers”).
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The movie and the easygoing, hey-dude charm of its two leads also helped usher in a brief era of rock ‘n’ roll-obsessed comic twosomes.
A sequel, “Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey,” in which they battled their evil robotic duplicates, visited the afterlife and encountered the Grim Reaper, was released in 1991. It received mixed reviews from critics who were wrong.
“Bill & Ted Face the Music” is written by Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon, who also wrote “Excellent Adventure” and “Bogus Journey.” It will be directed by Dean Parisot (“Galaxy Quest,” “Red 2”).
In a news release, press representatives for “Bill & Ted Face the Music” offered a brief synopsis of the film:
“Yet to fulfill their rock ‘n’ roll destiny, the now middle-aged best friends set out on a new adventure, when a visitor from the future warns them that only their song can save life as we know it and bring harmony to the universe. Along the way, they will be helped by their families, old friends and a few music legends.”
Orion Pictures is planning to release “Bill & Ted Face the Music” under its United Artists banner Aug. 21, 2020. Its executive producers totally include Steven Soderbergh, dude.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.