Back to the Future Part II Video cover Back to the Future Part II is a 1989 film and is the second part of a trilogy, coming after Back to the Future and followed by Back to the Future Part III. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis and written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale. The second and third parts of the trilogy were filmed at the same time and released six months apart.
Plot synopsis
The story continues with Marty McFly and Doc Brown as they now go into the year 2015 to stop Marty's kids from destroying their lives. But while Marty is in 2015, he finds in a future antique store a "futuristic" sports almanac (Grays Sports Almanac 1950-2000) with sports statistics from 1950 to 2000. Wanting to get rich when he goes back to 1985, Marty buys the almanac but Doc catches him and puts it in the trash, to avoid "distrupting the space-time continuum". However, the old Biff sees the almanac and when Doc and Marty are not around, he steals the DeLorean and travels back to 1955 and finds his younger self. Old Biff gives Young Biff the almanac and tells him not to tell anyone. So the Young Biff uses the almanac to win sporting bets, becomes rich and eventually marries Marty's mom Lorraine, after murdering Marty's father George. So Marty confronts Middle Age Biff about the book in the alternate 1985 and manages to get away back to 1955 where he burns the almanac.
There is one apparent flaw with the story, and that is the fact that if Biff stole the time machine from 2015, there would have been no way for Marty McFly and Doc Brown to travel back to 1985. Biff would've had to returned the time machine to 2015, but it would have been in an alternate reality (the reality in which he is rich and corrupt).
See also:
Main Cast
The characters of George McFly and Jennifer Parker were played by different actors to the original film, requiring that some previous scenes were reshot.
Release details
Back to the Future Part II earned $47 million in its first weekend of US release (22 November, 1989) and $118 million total US gross – $332 million worldwide. However, this was still not as much as the first film made. Part III came out only six months later. On 17 December, 2002 Universal Studios released all three movies in a three disc DVD and three tape VHS boxed set which did extremely well when it was released.
Awards
The movie won a Saturn Award for Ken Ralston (the special effects supervisor), a BAFTA Film Award for Ken Ralston, an AOL Movies DVD Premiere Award, a Golden Screen, and a Young Artist Award. A new computer-controlled camera system, called VistaGlide, was invented specifically for this movie — it enables one actor to play two or even three characters in the same scene while the boundary between the sections of the split screen and the camera itself can be moving.
Trivia
Replacement of Crispin Glover
Actor Crispin Glover was asked to portray the part of George McFly in this film, but he declined, saying he was not offered enough money for his part. During all new scenes with George McFly in both this film and Back to the Future III he is played by Jeffrey Weissman and seen wearing sunglasses, from the back, or in the background out of focus. This was to prevent audiences from realising that George McFly was a different actor. However, producers recycled various scenes from the original Back to the Future that included Crispin Glover's portrayal of George McFly. Glover sued Universal for compensation, on grounds that his contract for the first film did not allow subsequent uses of his portrayal of George McFly. Universal settled, and new Hollywood rules were written regarding the derivative use of actors' works.
Rumours and urban legends
During an interview, director Robert Zemeckis jokingly said that the hoverboards (flying skateboards) used in the movie were real. A surprising number of people thought he was telling the truth and demanded them at toy stores. After the release of Part III, Robert had the opportunity to explain in another interview that all of the flying scenes were accomplished using special effects.
During one scene, Marty watches a holographic sports news broadcast that states the outcome of the 2015 World Series, in which the Chicago Cubs have defeated a team from Miami. A significant number of people believe this scene correctly predicted the outcome of the 1997 and 2003 World Series, in which the Florida Marlins (based in Miami) were victors, and that this is especially remarkable because Miami did not have a baseball team the year this movie was made. This is obviously a case of selective memory; the movie deals with the year 2015 and not any other year, the Miami team lost the fictional World Series, and in the event that the Chicago Cubs did win a World Series, it would not come against the Marlins, as both teams are in the National League. It was also meant as a joke, since the Chicago Cubs had not won the World Series since 1908.
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