Back to the Future (franchise)
Back to the Future is an American science fiction adventure comedy film series written and directed by Robert Zemeckis, produced by Bob Gale and Neil Canton for Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, and distributed by Universal Pictures. The franchise follows the adventures of a high school student, Marty McFly, and an eccentric scientist, Doctor Emmett L. Brown, as they use a DeLorean time machine to time travel to different periods in the history of Hill Valley, California.
The first film was the highest-grossing film of 1985 and became an international phenomenon, leading to the second and third films, which were back-to-back film productions, released in 1989 and 1990, respectively. Though the sequels did not perform quite as well at the box office as the first film, the trilogy remains immensely popular and has yielded such spin-offs as an and a at the Universal Studios Theme Parks in Universal City, California; Orlando, Florida; and Osaka, Japan, as well as a and a stage musical. The film's visual effects were done by Industrial Light and Magic. The trilogy was nominated for five Academy Awards altogether, winning one.
Films
''Back to the Future'' (1985)
Seventeen-year-old Marty McFly is accidentally sent back in time from 1985 to 1955 in a time machine built from a DeLorean by eccentric scientist Emmett "Doc" Brown, when they are attacked and Doc is apparently killed by Libyan terrorists for whom he stole the plutonium that gives the flux capacitor the 1.21 gigawatts it needs to time-travel. Soon after his arrival in 1955, Marty's mother Lorraine falls in love with him, rather than with his father George McFly, threatening to cause a paradox that would result in Marty ceasing to exist. Without plutonium to power the time machine, Marty must find the 1955 Doc Brown to help him reunite his parents and return to 1985.The efforts of Biff Tannen, George's bully and supervisor, further complicate Marty's situation until Marty successfully causes his parents to fall in love and simultaneously convinces George to finally stand up to Biff. Returning to the future via a lightning strike that powers the machine, Marty discovers a vastly improved situation for the McFly family, as a much more confident George has become an accomplished science fiction author, Marty's two older siblings have better lives, he owns the car of his dreams, and an apparently-softened Biff is now an auto detailer, rather than George's supervisor. Despite 1955 Doc's insistence on not knowing details of the future, a note Marty leaves in his pocket prevents him from being killed by the terrorists. But in the film's final moments, Doc Brown appears in a modified version of the DeLorean and tells Marty and his girlfriend Jennifer Parker that they must travel to the future to fix a problem caused by Marty and Jennifer's kids.
''Back to the Future Part II'' (1989)
The series continues as Doc Brown travels with Marty and Jennifer to the year 2015 where he has discovered Marty's family is in ruins. Shortly after rectifying the situation, Marty buys a sports almanac containing the outcomes of 50 years worth of sporting events to make easy money. However, Doc talks him out of it and throws the almanac in the trash bin, where the 2015 Biff Tannen finds it. A sleeping Jennifer has been taken by police to her future home, needing Marty and Doc to retrieve her before returning to 1985. While Marty and Doc are at the 2015 McFly home, 2015 Biff steals the DeLorean time machine and gives the book to his 1955 self just before he goes to the dance at the end of the first film. When Doc and Marty return to 1985, they find that Biff has used the sports almanac's knowledge for financial gain, which allows him to turn Courthouse Square into a 27-story casino, take over Hill Valley, get away with the murder of Marty's father, and later marry Marty's mother. Marty learns that Biff was given the book by 2015 Biff on November 12, 1955, so he and Doc go back to that date in order to steal the almanac from Biff before he can use it to destroy their lives. They accomplish this in a complex fashion, often crossing their own past-selves' paths. When the duo is about to travel back to 1985, a lightning bolt strikes the DeLorean and activates the time circuits, sending Doc back to 1885 and leaving Marty stranded once again in 1955.''Back to the Future Part III'' (1990)
After finding out that Doc Brown is trapped in 1885, Marty sets out to find the 1955 Doc to help have him fix the DeLorean, which has been waiting for him in a mineshaft for seventy years and restore it to working order. Learning that Doc gets shot in 1885 by Biff's great-grandfather, Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen, Marty travels back in time to save Doc and bring him back to the future. Arriving in the middle of a melee between the United States Cavalry and American Indians, Marty is forced to flee to a cave, the uneven terrain tearing the DeLorean's fuel line in the process, emptying the fuel tank and rendering the engine useless. Marty convinces Doc to come back with him and find a way to get back to his time before it's too late. After several dramatic action scenes involving using a speeding locomotive to push the DeLorean to, Marty returns to 1985 without Doc Brown. When the DeLorean appears in 1985 on the same train track as planned, a modern train destroys the DeLorean, with Marty jumping out just in the nick of time. Marty reveals to Jennifer the time travel adventure and they visit the scene of the wreckage of the DeLorean. He worries that Doc has been lost in the past forever, when suddenly Doc appears in a new time machine, modeled after a locomotive. When Marty asks if Doc is going to the future, Doc replies that he has "already been there." Doc's last words of wisdom are that nobody knows their future, so they "must make it a good one." The locomotive flies across the sky and disappears, ending the trilogy.Future
Co-writer and director Robert Zemeckis, who has final rights to all films in the Back to the Future franchise, has stated that he will block all attempts to remake or reboot the original film. Co-writer Bob Gale has stated that he did not wish to see another film in the series without the Marty McFly character nor any other actor than Michael J. Fox playing him, while acknowledging that Fox's current health condition would make this impossible. He illustrated this at a 2008 fan convention in Florida, stating "The idea of making another Back to the Future movie without Michael J. Fox – you know, that's like saying, 'I'm going to cook you a steak dinner and I'm going to hold the beef." Gale also said that the is the closest thing to what a fourth film could be like. In an interview on October 21, 2015, the day of Marty McFly's purported arrival in the future, Christopher Lloyd stated that he would consider making a fourth film under the condition that the original cast and creative team returned, along with a story "worth telling". The same day, Lloyd reprised his role as Doc Brown in a brief segment in which the character returns to announce a special message, explaining the discrepancy between reality and the future as depicted in the film.Short film
''Doc Brown Saves the World'' (2015)
Doc Brown Saves the World is a 2015 direct-to-video short film directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Christopher Lloyd as Emmett Brown. The short is featured on the 2015 Blu-ray and DVD release of the Back to the Future trilogy commemorating the franchise's 30th anniversary. The short was written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale and produced by Bob Gale and Neil Canton through Amblin Entertainment. Music for the short was performed by Alan Silvestri. The short was released in the United States on October 20, 2015.Emmett Brown is in an undisclosed location outside Hill Valley, California. He sets a video camera to track his body in order to videotape a message for Marty McFly. He explains that it is October 21, 2015, one hour before Marty, Doc, and Jennifer Parker arrive from 1985. He explains that when he traveled to the future, he discovered that there was a nuclear holocaust that occurred on October 21, 2045. He tracked it down to four inventions: the food hydrator, self-lacing shoes, the hoverboard, and the Mr. Fusion home energy reactor.
The former three inventions led to the world becoming lazy and obese, leading to widespread waste. The invention of hoverboards led to hovercars, which led to people throwing their trash out of the windows, causing a great trash storm in 2021. All of this trash needed to be disposed of, which led to 100 million Mr. Fusion units being manufactured. All of the Mr. Fusion units had a tiny nuclear reactor inside, and all of them detonated on October 21, 2045. The chain of events that led to this happening began less than twenty-four hours after Marty caused Griff Tannen to crash his hoverboard into the Hill Valley Courthouse when Griff was sentenced. He vowed to get back at the world for laughing at him and planned to do it through a company that he would found, GriffTech.
Doc holds up a tablet computer with a digital version of the Hill Valley Telegraph. On June 13, 2032, GriffTech invented a social media network called ThingMeme, which secured funding from Douglas J. Needles. ThingMeme allowed inanimate objects to post selfies on the internet. However, it was a scam, as it allowed Griff to gain access to every object on Earth. On the 30th anniversary of his arrest, on October 21, 2045, he uploaded a virus that was supposed to flash the word "butthead" on everything. However, it short-circuited the Mr. Fusion network, causing nuclear explosions in 100 million homes worldwide.
Doc Brown travels to an unknown date to ensure these inventions are never created, which will prevent the nuclear explosion. He leaves his camera on, which captures the inventions being erased from history. He arrives back in 2015, in a winter jacket and ski goggles, declaring that the mission was more complicated than he calculated, but declaring it a success. He holds up the tablet computer, where the headline on the Hill Valley Telegraph changes from "Griff Tannen Founds Grifftech" to "Griff Tannen Found Guilty".
Doc's excitement is short-lived, however, as he reaches in his pocket. He pulls out the Quantum Mind Jar, which he thought he disposed of in 2075. He is worried that not doing so will unravel everything they accomplished. The artificial intelligence of the Quantum Mind Jar tells Brown that they need to go back to the future, which he dismisses as he does not want to risk further time travel.
Another Emmett Brown then arrives, also declaring his experiment a success. Both versions of Brown, along with the artificial intelligence of the Quantum Mind Jar, are shocked at discovering that there are two Emmett Browns present.
Television
''Back to the Future'' (1991–1992)
An animated television series, Back to the Future: The Animated series, lasted two seasons, each featuring 13 episodes, and ran on CBS from September 14, 1991 to December 26, 1992.Cast and crew
Principal cast
Marty McFly and Doc Brown were included in Empires 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time, ranking No. 39 and No. 76 respectively.Additional crew
Reception
Box office performance
, the Back to the Future series is the 14th-highest-grossing trilogy of all time at the domestic market, 17th-highest-grossing trilogy of all time at the domestic market, and the 13th-highest-grossing trilogy of all time, worldwide.The trilogy was re-released in certain countries worldwide on October 21, 2015 to commemorate the date traveled to by the protagonists in Back to the Future Part II and generated $4.8 million on its opening day. In the United States and Canada, it earned $1.65 million from ticket sales across 1,815 North American theaters on its opening day. Germany opened with $1.4 million and the United Kingdom with $345,000. Revenues from other territories such as Australia, Austria, France, Italy were moderate.
Critical and public response
Cultural impact
''Back to the Future'' Day
October 21, 2015, the date used for the setting of the future events during the first act of the second film, has been called "Back to the Future Day" by the media. The year 2015 also commemorated the 30th anniversary of the release of the original film.Many promotions were planned to mark the passing of the date, with many playing to the depiction of the future in the film, including:
- Universal Pictures created a trailer for Jaws 19, the fictional 3D film advertised in the future setting.
- Universal and Mattel produced an advertisement for the hoverboard seen in the film.
- Pepsi produced a limited run of the "Pepsi Perfect" soft drink, including the unique bottles, which sold out before October 21, 2015.
- The Ford Motor Company allowed users configuring a Ford Focus on their website to add a Flux Capacitor as a $1.2 million option.
- Nintendo released the game Wild Gunman, which Marty is seen playing in the Cafe '80s scene, on the Wii U's Virtual Console service.
- The October 22, 2015 edition of USA Today used a mock-front page which was a recreation of the one seen in the film on that date. The back of the mock page contains an advertisement for Jaws 19, as well as ads for the 30th anniversary Back to the Future box set and The Michael J. Fox Foundation. On the real front page, the USA Today blue dot is replaced with a drone camera like the one seen in the film. The print edition of this edition sold out in record time, according to USA Today.
- Nike revealed that they had recreated the Nike Mag shoes that Michael J. Fox wears in the film, complete with self-lacing power laces. Although the laces operated more slowly than those seen in the film, they were nonetheless shown to work as intended in an eight-second video featuring Fox wearing the shoes. Pairs of the shoes were sold via auction in 2016 to benefit The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.
- Toyota and Universal Pictures celebrated the 30th anniversary of the film series with a Toyota Tacoma Concept that was inspired by the original 1985 pickup that Toyota created for the 1985 film. The 2016 Tacoma 4WD was recreated using the same features and black color paint trim, KC HiLite driving lamps, modified headlights and taillights, the Toyota badging to the truck's tailgate, as well as the same D-4S fuel injection, the 1985-inspired mudflaps, and customized license plates matching the 2015 vehicles in Part II. The only difference between the 1985 original and the 2016 concept is the tires: Goodyear was featured in the 1985 film, while BF Goodrich is used on the concept. Toyota notes that this is a one-off concept as there are no plans to offer it as a package or level trim. Toyota also produced a promotional video starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd and featuring many of the locations depicted in the film series, wherein the Delorean's Mr. Fusion is used as a comparison for Toyota's hydrogen powered Mirai.
- Universal re-released all three films on DVD and Blu-ray disc on October 21, 2015.
- Telltale Games re-released their licensed in a 30th Anniversary edition for newer consoles a week in advance of October 21. Several video games released downloadable content related to Back to the Future to coincide with October 21, 2015, including Rocket League and LittleBigPlanet 3.
Music
Soundtracks
In 1985, MCA Records released the. It featured eight tracks performed by Huey Lewis and the News, Lindsey Buckingham, Eric Clapton, Marvin Berry and the Starlighters, and Etta James. Only two tracks were culled from Alan Silvestri's orchestral score.In 1989, MCA Records released with 13 tracks.
In 1990, Varèse Sarabande released with 18 tracks.
In 1999, Varèse Sarabande released The Back to the Future Trilogy soundtrack with eight tracks from the first film, seven from the second, four from the third, and one from the ride.
In 2009, Intrada released a two-CD Back to the Future set as Intrada Special Collection Volume 116. It features the complete original motion picture soundtrack from Back to the Future with 24 tracks, 15 tracks of alternate early sessions and one unused source cue from the scoring sessions.
Home media
2002 DVD and VHS release: "The Complete Trilogy"
In July 1997, Universal Studios announced that Back to the Future would be one of their first ten releases to the new format, though it ended up being delayed for five years. The films were finally released on DVD and VHS on December 17, 2002 in both Widescreen and Full Screen.2009 DVD reissue
On February 10, 2009, Universal released each of the Back to the Future films individually. The first film was released as part of a 2-disc set featuring the documentary Looking Back to the Future and .2010 DVD and Blu-ray release: "25th Anniversary Trilogy"
In June 2008, a special screening of the trilogy was held in Celebration, Florida. Bob Gale told the crowd they were seeing the digitally remastered version that was going to be used for the Blu-ray version of the movies. Gale also spoke to potential supplemental features on a Blu-ray version of the trilogy, saying only that never-before-seen bonus materials may appear, though he stopped short of offering any specifics. On June 28, 2010, Universal announced that the Blu-ray edition of the films would be released on October 26, 2010, twenty-five years to the day from the date of the fictional events from the first film. There have been numerous complaints about the R1 packaging, leading to the release of an instruction sheet on how to safely remove and insert discs.Other media
Comic books
A comic book series was published by Harvey Comics in 1992 detailing further adventures of the animated series. Only seven issues were produced. IDW is publishing a mini-series which presents the first meeting of both Marty and Doc Brown and is written by co-screenwriter Bob Gale, which was released in stores on October 21, 2015, the same date that Marty travels with Doc Brown to the future depicted in the storyline for Part II. In issue 3, it was revealed that it had become an ongoing monthly comic due to popular demand. Beginning in issue #6, the original format of one or two untold stories per issue was replaced with a multi-issue ongoing story arc. The original subtitle for the comic, "Untold Tales and Alternate Timelines", was used for the trade paperback which contained the first five comics in the series. Other series published by IDW include "Citizen Brown", which adapts the, "Biff to the Future", which depicts Biff Tannen's rise to power after being given the almanac by his future self. The latter is also co-written by Gale. The series has now gone on to what IDW calls "chapter 2" of the series with "Tales from the Time Train." This is a series of stories detailing where Doc and the Brown family went after time traveling at the end of Back to the Future Part III.Books
Each film in the trilogy also received a novelization that expanded on the movies by adding scenes, characters, and dialog, often culled from early-draft scripts.In 2012, Hasslein Books released A Matter of Time: The Unauthorized Back to the Future Lexicon, written by Rich Handley. The book was released in cooperation with BTTF.com, the official Back to the Future website. A second volume, Back in Time: The Unauthorized Back to the Future Chronology, by Greg Mitchell and Rich Handley, was released in 2013.
Video games
Various video games based on the Back to the Future movies have been released over the years for home video game systems, including the Atari ST, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Master System, Genesis, Nintendo Entertainment System, and Super Famicom platforms. Additionally the game trilogy has also been released for Windows, for Apple and for Apple.The 2015 video game Lego Dimensions features two Back to the Future-themed toy packs. The Level Pack adds a bonus level that adapts the events of the first film and includes a Marty McFly Minifigure, along with a constructible DeLorean and Hoverboard. The Fun Pack includes a Doc Brown Minifigure and a constructible Time Train from Part III. Both unlock access to an in-game open world set in Hill Valley. Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd reprise their respective roles.