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The Legacy of ‘Back to the Future’ (July 3)

“Back to the Future” was such a big film, it’s hard to imagine that Hollywood just wasn’t interested in making the time-traveling movie – at first.

July 3, 2026

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

The script for the movie Back to the Future was written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale but it was a hard sell. In an interview with Box Office Mojo, Gale said that the script had been rejected 40 times! Over 40 years later and we’re still talking about this classic film.

1985 – We Went ‘Back to the Future’

Michael J. Fox boarding the time machine in "Back to the Future" — *(TVDB)*

Parents may be shocked that they forget just how racy the movie, Back to the Future is, when re-watching it with their kids. Written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale and directed by Zemeckis, the film featured Marty McFly who travels back in time when his parent fell in love in high school, only to find himself becoming his own mother’s love interest. Gross.

As popular as the film is today, it is hard to image that Zemeckis had a hard time convincing any movie studio to get on board. Many rejected the project. That is, until they saw the success of his other film, Romancing the Stone.

Michael J. Fox almost didn’t star in the movie. Though he was Zemeckis’ first choice, Fox wasn’t initially able to do the movie because of his filming schedule for his Family Ties TV series. So, Eric Stoltz was cast in the role, upon viewing his scenes it was decided that he just wasn’t right for the part. Then a deal was struck between the movie studio and Family Ties giving Fox time to shoot the film without interfering with his TV show.

Released on this day in 1985, Back to the Future also starred Lea Thompson as Marty’s mother, Crispin Glover as Marty’s father and Christopher Lloyd as Marty’s eccentric scientist friend, Dr. Emmett “Doc” Brown. It became the highest-grossing movie of that year. The movie received four Academy Awards nominations and won one Oscar for Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing.

Back to the Sequels

Two sequels followed the film’s success; part 2 in 1989 and part 3 in 1990. CBS aired an animated series based on the movie in 1991 and 1992. Zemeckis and Gale teamed up again to write the screenplay for the Back to the Future stage musical. It premiered in February 2020 at the Manchester Opera House in England and moved to the Adelphi Theatre in London’s West End and continued there until April 2026 after 1,913 performances. The musical also played on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theatre from 2023-2025. A tour of the musical has been going since 2024 including one production on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship.

In an interview with IGN in 2024, Zemeckis said that Universal Pictures continued to ask him to direct another sequel or remake, but he said that he would be more interested in bringing the musical to the big screen.