Back to the Future Director Wants To Make an Adaptation No One Is Asking For

It’s been nearly 35 years since the Back to the Future trilogy concluded with the third entry in the time-travel saga, but if director Robert Zemeckis had his way, he’d love to make another movie, but not one that fans are exactly clamoring for. Zemeckis helmed all three films in the Michael J. Fox-led science fiction series, which began with Back to the Future in 1985, and finished in 1990. Since then, there’s been an animated show that lasted for 26 episodes, and a short film, Doc Brown Saves the World, that was featured on the 2015 DVD and Blu-ray 30th anniversary sets.

Appearing on the Happy Sad Confused podcast with Josh Horowitz (seen below), Zemeckis touched on the future of the Back to the Future franchise. While he’s stated in the past that he’ll block all attempts to remake or reboot the original series, the director commented that if given the chance, he’d love to try and make a feature film version of Back to the Future: The Musical, which began at the Manchester Opera House in England in 2020, and is currently on the North American leg of its tour. Unfortunately for him – and possibly fortunate for us – Universal isn’t too keen on the idea.

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“I would like to do the Back to the Future, the musical. Just like [Mel] Brooks did The Producers. I would love to do that. I think that would be great… I floated that out to the folks at Universal. They don’t get it. So, nothing I can do.”

Serving as an adaptation of the first film in the trilogy, Back to the Future: The Musical features all-new songs, as well as some favorites found in the movie, such as “The Power of Love” and “Johnny B. Goode.” While the Manchester performance was praised by critics, its Broadway debut in 2023 was met with a mixed bag of responses, despite receiving two Tony Award nominations. While we’re sure a film version would be fun in its own right, it’s not exactly the answers fans were hoping to hear when it comes to the future of the franchise. It should be noted that The Producers, which Zemeckis referenced in his answer, was a box office failure, only taking in $38 million against its $45 million production budget, so it’s no wonder Universal is in no hurry to give it the go-ahead.

Will There Ever Be A Back to the Future 4?

With many considering the original Back to the Future the perfect film, its sequels haven’t fared as well over the years. They’re fun for what they are, but they nowhere near match the magic of the first movie, which was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, but only took home the trophy for Best Sound Effects Editing.

As to the future of the franchise and if there will ever be a fourth entry, Zemeckis said it’s not something that fans should expect, though he didn’t rule out the possibility of doing something with the series down the line, like a spin-off. That’s mostly due in part to the health of Fox, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1991. Both he and co-writer Bob Gale have said on numerous occasions they’d never make another sequel without the star, but that hasn’t stopped Universal from approaching the director “every six months,” he joked, before adding:

“No, that’s an exaggeration. Yeah, they say ‘is there anything we can figure out to do here,’ and we have to say ‘yeah there are different things that might work,’ but to remake the movie or suggest that there is a Back to the Future 4, it just isn’t in the cards.”

That’s probably for the best, as a Back to the Future movie without Fox would just be a shell of itself. As for singing and dancing? No thanks. That’s best left on the stage where it belongs.