Bill & Ted Face the Music begins streaming this Friday, but you can preorder it now

Strange things are afoot at the Circle K, my friends. It’s been 29 years since the last time Bill and Ted — those iconic time-traveling teenage slackers and cornerstones of future civilization — brought their excellence to the big screen. But Bill & Ted Face the Music arrives on streaming services on Friday, Aug. 28, and you can preorder the movie right now. (It hits theaters the same day.)

A few things to keep in mind:

• As far as we can determine, Fandango is $5 cheaper because it’s a rental only, not a purchase. The other streaming services are offering the movie as a purchase. 
• The Amazon rental is HD, though all the other streaming services include all resolutions through 4K UHD. 
• If you rent the new Bill & Ted movie at Fandango Now, the service gives you a promo code with purchase that you can use to rent any of about 118 other movies at 50% off. Fandango Now has built a Movie Duos page with every buddy flick you can imagine, including both of the original Bill & Ted movies, as well as Bad Boys, Hot Fuzz, Thelma and Louise, The Blues Brothers and many others. 

Cinema in the age of corona

In 2020, big theatrical releases don’t quite happen the same way they used to. Bill & Ted Face the Music, the third installment of the franchise starring Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, has been yet another movie contending with a global pandemic that’s keeping moviegoers out of crowded theaters, along with a whole laundry list of changes to everyday life.

While some movies are being pushed off until further notice, others are finding homes on the small screen through video on demand, like Disney’s Mulan.

Bill & Ted Face the Music’s fast-tracking to on-demand video follows in the footsteps of other 2020 releases like Trolls World Tour, Birds of Prey and Sonic the Hedgehog that allowed movie viewers to watch them from their quarantine bunkers.

In Face the Music, expect another tale about how the music of Bill and Ted is vital to the survival of the human race. A trailer revealed that the pair has to write a song to save the world, so they decide to visit the future and take the song, which has already been written, from themselves. Also, they now have daughters to help them on their excellent new quest.