The 25th anniversary of “Back to the Future” will be celebrated in style with the first release of the trilogy in the new future of HiDef Blu-ray on Oct. 26 by Universal Studios Home Video.
The 1980s franchise from director Robert Zemeckis, screenwriter Bob Gale, and executive producers Steven Spielberg, Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy, about a teenager (Michael J. Fox) and his eccentric professor mentor (Christopher Lloyd) who create chaos when they discover how to time travel earned more than $1 billion worldwide and featured the popular “Power of Love” song by Huey Lewis and the News. Along with “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones,” it has been one of the franchises most awaited for a Blu-ray release.
The new collection will offer more than two hours of new bonus features, including a six-part retrospective documentary with never-before-seen interviews with Fox and other cast, crew and filmmakers, U-Control pop-ups during the movie pointing out set-ups to future plot elements, trivia, and storyboard comparisons, 16 deleted scenes, Q&As and commentaries with Fox, Zemeckis, Gale, and others, and a 30-minute NBC special hosted by Leslie Nielsen prior to the TV broadcast of the first film.
The six-part documentary will focus on elements such as casting, the DeLorean, the music, the theme park ride at Universal Studios, and the original proposed ending of the film.
Previous bonus features will also be included, such as a 2002 DVD documentary and original making-of featurettes about all three movies, music videos, outtakes, and a TV special hosted by Kirk Cameron.
— By Scott Hettrick