Keanu Reeves Says Bill & Ted 3’s Current Script Would Be Too Expensive To Make

By Rudie Obias | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

Bogus JourneyThe third installment of the Bill & Ted film series has been publicly in development since the summer of 2012. Over the past year and a half, the film’s writers, Chris Matheson & Ed Solomon, have been trying to complete a script that would see Bill S. Preston, Esquire and Ted Theodore Logan in middle age. The film’s stars, Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, are more than willing to return to the film series that made them Hollywood stars, and it appears that the script is ready, but it still needs financing.

In an interview, while promoting his new film 47 Ronan, Keanu Reeves revealed how big Bill & Ted 3‘s scale is on the page. Apparently, the third film has a lot of special effects and big creatures, and at this point, would cost too much money for any movie studio to be interested. Reeves says:

‘The script is funny and there’s a story to tell there,’ he explained. ‘[But] it needs to be adapted because right now it would cost, you know, $400 million to make. There’s a rift in the universe and there’s all sorts of creatures. [CGI], it ain’t cheap!

Co-star turned director Alex Winter added his two cents about Bill & Ted 3‘s financing during a Reddit AMA. When asked the question “On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely is it that B&T 3 will be financed and actually get made?” Winter responded, “I’d say 10 but it’s Hollywood… so 9.9?”

At the moment, there are no plot details confirmed surrounding Bill & Ted 3, but Keanu Reeves did reveal that the new film would follow Bill & Ted 20 years later, still trying to write the world’s greatest song as the band Wyld Stallyns. The best buds would once again travel through history, time, and alternate universes to meet other versions of themselves who have also failed to write the world’s greatest song. Reeves described the film as being closer to Hot Tub Time Machine, in terms of comedy.

About a year ago, Galaxy Quest director Dean Parisot was attached to helm Bill & Ted 3. Since so much time has passed, it’s unclear if Parisot would still be directing the third film in the Bill & Ted film series. Dean Parisot would be a good choice, considering his background combining comedy with science fiction. As dark as Bill & Ted 3‘s premise might be, the film would still fall in line with the comic tone of its predecessors.

It certainly looks like Bill & Ted 3 is in a better position to be made, when compared to other big franchise films like Ghostbusters 3. If everything moves quickly with financing and production, maybe we could be enjoying Bill & Ted 3 in theaters by the end of 2015 or in 2016. If that’s the case, it would be almost 30 years since the release of the first film, and 25 years since the 1991 release of its sequel, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey.