Few trilogies have burrowed into everyday language the way Back to the Future has. "88 miles per hour," "Great Scott," the flux capacitor — these aren't just movie references anymore, they're shorthand. Directed by Robert Zemeckis and written with Bob Gale, under Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment banner, the three films ran from 1985 to 1990 and sent Marty McFly and Doc Brown from 1955 to a speculative 2015 to the Wild West of 1885. Below is a complete breakdown of each film, plus the charts, quotes, cast lists, and trivia to go with them.
Worldwide box office by film
Combined trilogy total: roughly $964 million worldwide against a combined production budget of about $99 million.
Back to the Future
Released July 3, 1985Marty McFly is accidentally hurled 30 years into the past by his friend Doc Brown's time-traveling DeLorean, where he disrupts the moment his own parents are supposed to meet and fall in love — putting his own existence at risk.
“Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads.” — Doc Brown
Michael J. Fox replaced original star Eric Stoltz five weeks into filming, after producers decided Stoltz's performance was too dramatic for the film's tone.
The time machine was almost a refrigerator in early drafts of the script, before safety concerns led to the switch to a DeLorean.
Back to the Future Part II
Released November 22, 1989Doc whisks Marty and Jennifer to October 21, 2015, to head off a family disaster — but when elderly Biff Tannen steals the DeLorean to hand his younger self a sports almanac, 1985 turns into a corrupted, Biff-run dystopia that Marty and Doc must set right.
“Your future hasn't been written yet.” — Doc Brown
Nike later released a real version of Marty's self-lacing sneakers, the Nike Mag, with proceeds benefiting the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.
The film "predicted" the Chicago Cubs would win the World Series in 2015 — they actually won it the following year, in 2016.
Back to the Future Part III
Released May 25, 1990Marty travels back to 1885 to rescue Doc, who's stranded in the Old West and falling for local schoolteacher Clara Clayton. With no gasoline available, the pair need a steam locomotive to push the damaged DeLorean up to 88 miles per hour.
“Your future is whatever you make it.” — Doc Brown
Parts II and III were filmed back-to-back as one continuous production, which is why Part III arrived just six months after Part II.
Doc and Clara's two sons are named Jules and Verne, a nod to Doc's favorite author, Jules Verne.
Cast & release dates
A quick-reference summary of every film's release date and its lead cast.
| Actor | Character |
|---|---|
| Michael J. Fox | Marty McFly |
| Christopher Lloyd | Dr. Emmett “Doc” Brown |
| Lea Thompson | Lorraine Baines McFly |
| Crispin Glover | George McFly |
| Thomas F. Wilson | Biff Tannen |
| Claudia Wells | Jennifer Parker |
| Wendie Jo Sperber | Linda McFly |
| Marc McClure | Dave McFly |
| James Tolkan | Mr. Strickland |
| Actor | Character |
|---|---|
| Michael J. Fox | Marty McFly / Marty Jr. / Marlene McFly |
| Christopher Lloyd | Dr. Emmett “Doc” Brown |
| Lea Thompson | Lorraine McFly |
| Thomas F. Wilson | Biff Tannen / Griff Tannen |
| Elisabeth Shue | Jennifer Parker |
| Charles Fleischer | Terry |
| James Tolkan | Mr. Strickland |
| Jeffrey Weissman | George McFly |
| Actor | Character |
|---|---|
| Michael J. Fox | Marty McFly / Seamus McFly |
| Christopher Lloyd | Dr. Emmett “Doc” Brown |
| Mary Steenburgen | Clara Clayton |
| Lea Thompson | Lorraine McFly / Maggie McFly |
| Thomas F. Wilson | Buford “Mad Dog” Tannen / Biff Tannen |
| Elisabeth Shue | Jennifer Parker |