British Academy Film Awards — 2 wins, 1 nominationAcademy Awards — 1 nominationKids' Choice Award — 1 nominationSaturn Award — 1 nominationAll 2 wins · 4 nominations on record
British Academy Film Awards: Best Special Visual Effects
Scholarship
Named in the title of 1 peer-reviewed work
Examples
Sources: Wikidata · OpenAlex · Library of Congress. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Released by Universal Pictures in 1989, Back to the Future Part II arrived as the ambitious middle chapter of Robert Zemeckis's time travel trilogy, pushing the franchise into 2015, 1985A, and 1955 within a single sprawling narrative. Building on the original's massive success, the sequel doubled down on invention, introducing hoverboards, self-drying jackets, and a darker alternate timeline that reshaped Hill Valley entirely. It remains a touchstone of late-eighties blockbuster filmmaking, prized for its intricate plotting and cultural footprint.
This 35mm cell centers on Marty McFly and Biff Tannen, the film's defining adversarial pairing whose rivalry drives much of the trilogy's tension across every era visited. Biff, in his various guises, stands as one of cinema's most enduring antagonists, making any frame pairing him with Marty a natural focus for collectors tracing the saga's core conflict. As a physical artifact from the theatrical release, this strip preserves a fragment of that ongoing confrontation, a small tangible piece of the larger story these two characters carry through time.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm colour theatrical release print of Back to the Future Part II.
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three complete frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge, evenly spaced; punched holes appear clean and regularly shaped with no visible tearing.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical soundtrack track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a dual-bilateral (two-track) variable-area pattern.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read manufacturer text or key numbers clearly.
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight warm-neutral tint consistent with colour dye couplers; dye image shows no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
Light vertical scratching is visible across the frame area, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, and the setting is consistent with the laboratory interior prominent in Back to the Future Part II.
Era check
The dual-bilateral variable-area optical track, colour positive base, and perforation pitch are all consistent with a theatrical release print from the late 1980s to early 1990s, matching the 1989 release date on record.
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000064156
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
