'Bill & Ted Face the Music' skips theaters for a most excellent VOD release

This September, the party is coming to video on demand... the Wyld Stallyns party that is. The long-awaited sequel, Bill & Ted Face the Music — starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter as most excellent pals Theodore “Ted” Logan and Bill S. Preston, Esq. — is skipping its planned August 28 multiplex premiere for a September 1 debut via on-demand services, as well as an ultra-limited theatrical run.

As part of the announcement, Orion Pictures released a new trailer for the film, which shares more details about its top-secret plot. For example, it looks like Bill and Ted’s daughters, Billie "Little Bill" Logan (Brigette Lundy-Paine) and Theodora Thea "Little Ted" Preston (Samara Weaving) are going to go on a most excellent adventure of their own, traveling through time and space to collect famous musicians from history. The new trailer also gives us our first look at how the film will pay homage to dearly departed George Carlin: comedian Kristen Schaal plays Kelly — the name of Carlin’s real-life daughter — who stands in for sage mentor figure, Rufus. (Watch the trailer below.)

Face the Music’s pivot from a theatrical launch to a VOD premiere is an acknowledgment that multiplexes won’t be returning to business as usual anytime soon as coronavirus infection rates continue to rise around the nation. Many in Hollywood had their hopes pinned on Christopher Nolan’s Tenet as being the film that could rescue the summer moviegoing season with a mid-August release date, but the pandemic felled those plans last week when Warner Bros. indefinitely postponed the movie’s release. Walt Disney has also delayed the release of its live action version of Mulan, previously scheduled for August 21.

When Yahoo Entertainment spoke with Winter for his HBO documentary, Showbiz Kids, the actor and director acknowledged the challenging release climate for a mid-level movie like Bill & Ted Face the Music. (In a recent interview with Total Film, Reeves described the production as feeling like a “scrappy independent movie.”) But he also was eager not to make fans wait too long to rock out with Wyld Stallyns. “We love the movie, and are trying to figure out how to get it out there safely,” Winter told us. Breaking the news about the VOD launch on Twitter, Winter proclaimed that “The wait is over!” and reminded everyone to “be excellent” to each other. Twitter quickly responded in kind.

We’re prepared to have the most triumphant time when Bill & Ted Face the Music is available on September 1.

Bill & Ted Face the Music will premiere on-demand and in select theaters on September 1.

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:

• 'Tenet,' 'Black Widow,' 'The Batman,' 'Mulan,' 'Wonder Woman 1984' and 'Indiana Jones 5': All the major blockbuster movies that have been delayed due to the coronavirus

• 'Showbiz Kids' director and child star Alex Winter dismisses the 'Glee' curse: 'It doesn't have any bearing on reality'

• The It List: Joy Reid takes nightly anchor slot at MSNBC, San Diego Comic-Con goes virtual, celebrate One Direction's 10th anniversary and the best in pop culture the week of July 20, 2020