Quite possibly the most famous film franchise to come out of Hollywood in the 80s besides Star Wars, the Back to the Future trilogy by Robert Zemeckis is nothing short of a cultural milestone. With 3 very successful films about time travel hijinks, it was a no-brainer that the makers behind the trilogy would try to go for another one as well. But fate had other plans, and as we will see below, not only did such plans not materialize, but there might never be a Back to the Future 4 film in our lifetime.
Back to the Future charts the adventures of high school student Marty McFly (played by Michael J. Fox), and an eccentric scientist, Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown (played by Christopher Lloyd), as they use a time machine incorporated inside the famed DeLorean to time travel from 1985 to different periods in the history of the fictional town of Hill Valley, California. Each of the three films is directed by Robert Zemeckis, with both Zemeckis and Bob Gale writing each feature.
In the first film, McFly is inadvertently sent to 1955, where he mistakenly interferes with his future parents falling in love and thus, threatens his own existence. McFly then must reconcile them and somehow get back to the future/his original present. In Back to the Future Part II (1989), McFly and Doc travel from 1985 to 2015 to prevent Marty's future son from destroying their family's future. When their arch-enemy Biff Tannen gets his hands on the DeLorean time machine and uses it to alter the past for his benefit, the duo must return to 1955 once more to try to fix everything before the fabric of reality is altered forever.
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Back to the Future 4
Part 3 was filmed back-to-back with Part 2 and released in 1990. Beginning immediately after the second one, the film finds McFly stranded in 1955 during his time travel adventures. During this ordeal, he discovers that Doc was somehow trapped in 1885 and was killed by Biff's great-grandfather, Buford Tannen. Marty travels to 1885 to rescue Doc and return once more to 1985, but matters are complicated when he discovers that Doc has fallen in love and does not intend to leave.
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Each of the three Back to the Future films was a colossal box office success. On a combined budget of $100 million, the film trilogy grossed close to $1 billion in total. In addition, the sheer cultural impact of the trilogy means that home media sales, merchandise sales, and theme park revenues have only compounded in the past forty years. Thus, it came as a major surprise to everyone when the cast and crew never united for more films following Part III.
Sure, the critical reception of the sequels was not as great as the first one, but, as everyone understands, there was more than enough juice left in the franchise to transform it into something like Jurassic Park or Star Wars with new films releasing every decade. An animated TV series and a musical did indeed follow the trilogy, but that was never intended to be a replacement for theatrically released sequels.
Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment, the two studios behind the trilogy, have had a great track record developing franchises that span decades. From Jurassic Park to Men in Black and from Twisters to Gremlins, Amblin has ensured sequels to beloved franchises well into the 2020s, and so it's a little surprising why it never worked out with Back to the Future. With almost 35 years having passed since Back to the Future III was first released, it is pertinent to look under the hood and see how attempts to make the fourth film failed continuously.
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While filming Parts II and III back to back, Zemeckis and company had no plan to proceed further, and any talk of further sequels after Part III was released was rebuffed. An important point to consider here is that, as opposed to the general rule where film rights are held by studios, here it is Robert Zemeckis and co-writer Bob Gale who hold the rights to the franchise and no sequel can proceed without their express approval.
As a result, the studios cannot proceed on another sequel without the duo, and the duo, so far, have pushed back strongly on any such attempt. Zemeckis has gone so far as to state that the studios would certainly try to remake the film after he and Gale are dead, but he is hoping their respective estates will block all such attempts to do so. Comparing remaking or continuing Back to the Future to remaking or sequel-izing Citizen Kane, Zemeckis has said on the record that even considering such a possibility is insane.
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A sequel to Back to the Future is also complicated by the fact that Michael J. Fox has been diagnosed with Parkinson's, which has forced him to cut back significantly on future acting gigs. In addition, Christopher Lloyd is nearing 90, and any sequel without its two main stars would never see the realm of possibility. Also, both Fox and Lloyd have publicly stated that they would be interested only if the original creative team can somehow reunite to make it happen.
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Back to the Future 4
In 2020, actor Tom Holland claimed in an interview that he was approached by a producer over a possible reboot of the franchise with him starring in the lead role as Marty McFly or someone with the same attributes. However, Holland stated that he did not take this offer as he described the existing films as "perfect films". Thus, despite numerous attempts to make it a reality, a fourth Back to the Future hasn't happened yet and probably won't in our lifetimes.
Zemeckis has shot down all attempts to do so, believing that there is no further story to be told that can justify an additional film. Since he holds the final say, the sequel won't see the light of day until he is on board. Despite Fox and Lloyd having stated that they would love to return, it therefore pains us to say: there will not be a Back to the Future 4 (at least not in our lifetimes).
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Back to the Future 4
