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
Back to the Future Part II arrived in 1989 from Universal Pictures, a sequel built to expand the time travel mythology that Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale had established four years earlier. Landing at the height of blockbuster sequel culture, it pushed its characters into 2015, sending audiences into a future imagined with hoverboards, self-lacing shoes, and flying cars, all while deepening the stakes of the original story. It remains a touchstone of late eighties studio filmmaking, prized for its ambition and its role in cementing the trilogy as a cornerstone of popular science fiction cinema.
This cell centers on the DeLorean, the time machine at the heart of the franchise and one of its most recognizable icons. For collectors, a DeLorean cell represents the mechanical soul of the series, the vehicle that carries the narrative across decades and stands in for the film's entire premise of temporal displacement. Whether drawn from a trailer, a title card, or footage tied to the credits, a piece bearing this subject speaks directly to the object collectors most associate with the franchise, a car transformed into myth.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Back to the Future Part II (1989).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched edges appear clean throughout the visible strip.
Soundtrack
Two variable-area optical tracks run along one edge beside the picture area, consistent with a stereo optical print.
Edge print
Edge code reads, mirrored as captured: 'M3 28 67 89' — reversed text indicating emulsion-up presentation.
Base & colour
Base appears neutral to very slightly cool; the dye image reads as a dark, high-contrast scene with no visible colour shift or fading.
Projection history
No visible splices, cue marks or heavy scratching are apparent; fine longitudinal lines consistent with projection use are faintly present.
Picture
Positive image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, consistent with a release print of Back to the Future Part II (1989).
Era check
The dual variable-area optical soundtrack, neutral safety base, and edge-code format are consistent with a 1989 theatrical release print era.
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 000064163
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
