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 from Universal Pictures in 1989, a rare direct sequel that split its story across three timelines and pushed the franchise's mythology further than most audiences expected from a summer follow-up. Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale expanded the world established in 1985, sending Marty McFly and Doc Brown into a dystopian 1985 alternate reality and a hoverboard-filled 2015, cementing the trilogy's reputation for structural ambition inside a mainstream studio release.
This cell carries the name Lorraine Baines, the character audiences first know as Marty's mother, a figure whose identity across timelines makes her one of the more prized names for collectors tracing the saga's alternate realities. A 35mm cell under her name preserves a single strip from the physical release print, the kind of artifact archivists and collectors value for holding an actual frame of the theatrical run rather than a reproduction, tying this particular fragment to Lorraine's presence within the film's shifting timeline.
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, evenly spaced, cleanly punched with no torn or deformed holes visible
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read manufacturer text or key numbers
Base & colour
Base appears neutral to very slightly warm; dye image shows rich colour saturation with no visible 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; all three frames appear to be from the same continuous shot and the production design is consistent with Back to the Future Part II
Era check
A variable-area optical track on a colour positive 35mm print with neutral base is consistent with a theatrical release print from 1989–1990
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 000064170
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
