Today (3rd July) marks a staggering 30 years since Back to the Future was first released in US theatres.
Robert Zemeckis’ time-travelling adventure, which was released back in 1985, has long been regarded as a sci-fi classic – cultivating a massive fan base, as well as stamping an impressively large mark on today’s popular culture.
The original film, which was produced by Steven Spielberg, follows a cool, suburban teenager from the 1980s called Marty McFly (Michael J Fox), who is thrown back in time to the 1950s, after an experiment by his eccentric scientist friend, Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) goes awry. Stuck in the past after Doc’s modified (and now infamous) time-travelling deLorean breaks down, Marty encounters the younger versions of his parents (Lea Thompson and Crispin Glover) and accidentally intervenes in their first meeting. Faced with the threat of his own extinction, Marty must make sure that they fall in love and get together before time runs out.
When the film first opened during the Fourth of July weekend of 1985, many executives at Universal mistakenly thought they had a flop on their hands; Michael J. Fox was unable to promote the film due to his commitment on the show Family Ties and many thought that the film was too confusing and old-fashioned for mainstream audiences. However, the movie’s charm and inventiveness soon proved all the naysayers wrong.
The film stayed at the number one spot for an impressive 11 weeks, and went on to become the highest grossing film of 1985 – making more than $380 million. The film also featured Huey Lewis and The News’ chart-topping single, ‘The Power of Love‘ – which was nominated for Best Original Song at the 1985 Academy Awards.
The film generated two sequels and has since become an iconic footnote in cinematic history. Director Robert Zemeckis recently stated that a reboot of the film “couldn’t happen” until both he and co-writer Bob Gale were dead.
In celebration of the film’s monumental anniversary, the cast are reuniting for an exclusive stage talk at this year’s London Film and Comic Con.
