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 as Universal Pictures pushed Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale's time-travel saga into darker, more ambitious territory, expanding the original's premise into a dual-timeline structure spanning 2015, 1985, and an alternate 1955. Riding the momentum of the first film's success, it paired with its sequel in a rare back-to-back production, cementing the trilogy's place in blockbuster history and pushing visual effects technology forward with its hoverboards and multiplicity shots.
This cell carries the name Lorraine Baines, the character played across generations by Lea Thompson, whose arc from teenage optimist to disillusioned adult forms one of the trilogy's emotional anchors. Collectors seek her frames because Lorraine's shifting circumstances mirror the timeline's instability, making any authentic strip tied to her a marker of the film's central time-paradox conceit. As a single identified cell, it represents one excised moment from the reel, a physical fragment separated from the projected sequence, valued for its direct link to the character's presence within this specific production.
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 each edge, evenly spaced; punched edges appear clean with no visible tearing.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a single-track analog stripe.
Edge print
Edge print reads, mirrored: 'FUJI FG13' with additional frame-count key numbers visible along the strip.
Base & colour
Base shows a slight cool-blue tint consistent with Fuji color negative stock; the positive dye image appears warm and well-saturated with no visible fading.
Projection history
No splices, cue marks, or prominent scratches are visible on this strip.
Picture
Positive color image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, consistent with a theatrical release print of Back to the Future Part II.
Era check
The Fuji FG13 stock designation, single variable-area optical soundtrack, and color positive print format are all consistent with a late-1980s theatrical release print, matching the 1989 production 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 000064173
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
