the saga Back to the Future could rise from its ashes, if director Robert Zemeckis could bring his astonishing project to fruition.
It is not for nothing if the cult trilogy Back to the Future has, to date, never suffered the outrage of a remake or a legacyquel. The director, Robert Zemeckis, and his co-writer, Bob Gale, have always wanted to protect their work from this type of enterprise, and as long as they are alive, the adventures of Marty and Doc should not see any continuation, reboot or other opportunistic joys of this kind which revived Scream or Ghostbusters in recent years.
However, Robert Zemeckis really wants to make a new Back to the Futurebut which would have nothing to do with a revival of the original saga with Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd. Unfortunately, the Universal studio doesn't seem to see it that way…
Back to the future in song
The only way to make a new one Back to the Futurefor Robert Zemeckis, would beadapt to the screen the musical itself adapted from the films. Because yes, there is a stage and sung version of the temporal adventure from the 80s: Back to the Future : The Musicalwhose libretto was written by the same Bob Gale who had scripted the films. The music is also composed by Alan Silvestri, already composer of the original work and to whom we owe the famous epic theme of the trilogy.
First presented in Manchester in 2020, the show is playing today in London, on Broadway (in addition to a North American tour) and in Tokyo. Having been dubbed by Zemeckis and enjoying an excellent reputation, this musical could really represent the future of the franchise in cinema. Indeed, at the microphone of the podcast Happy Sad Confusedthe director revealed that he would like to adapt the show, and that it would be the only way for him to make a film again Back to the Future :
“I would like to adapt Back to the Future: The Musical into a film. I would love to do that. […] I think it would be great. I pitched the idea to the people at Universal, but they didn't see the potential. So I can’t do anything.”
According to these comments reported by Varietyit is therefore the Universal studio, holder of the license, which does not wish to see this astonishing project come to fruition, even though musical films and adaptations of musicals on the big screen are multiplying (Wonka, Mean Girls, Wicked…). However, Zemeckis says that Universal has long wanted to see the birth of a Back to the Future 4and that the studio regularly raises it on the subject. But this concept still does not speak to the director who holds on:
“Doing a remake of the film or suggesting a Back to the Future 4 is not likely to happen.”
The future of the saga therefore seems very blocked as long as Universal does not give in to Zemeckis' desire to adapt the musical, or the director does not give in to the sirens of the remake or the sequel. Perhaps we should say to ourselves that it is ultimately better this way. On the other hand, the new film by Robert Zemeckis, called Here and the cast includes Robin Wright and Tom Hanks, can be found in theaters from November 6.
