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 rare sequel that expanded rather than repeated its predecessor's premise. Directed by Robert Zemeckis and reuniting the original cast, it pushed Marty McFly and Doc Brown into 2015, then looped back through 1955 and an alternate 1985, a structural gamble that paid off with audiences and cemented the trilogy's reputation for inventive, time-bending storytelling. It remains a touchstone of late eighties studio filmmaking, prized for its ambition as much as its box office success.
This cell centers on Marty and Doc, the trilogy's essential pairing, the reluctant time traveler and the eccentric inventor whose partnership drives every installment. Collectors seek frames pairing these two because their dynamic, equal parts mentorship and mischief, defines the franchise's identity. A 35mm cell holding both figures together preserves a piece of that established chemistry, a physical fragment of the collaboration that carried audiences across decades within the story and made the sequel's layered timeline comprehensible through familiar faces.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm colour 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 torn or deformed holes.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical soundtrack track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a single variable-area track.
Edge print
Edge print reads 'EASTMAN SAFETY' along the top edge; frame numbers visible include '220' and '223'.
Base & colour
Base shows a slight warm-neutral tint consistent with colour print stock; dye image appears well-saturated with 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, consistent with a release print of Back to the Future Part II (1989).
Era check
The Eastman Safety stock designation, single variable-area optical soundtrack, and colour dye saturation are all consistent with a theatrical release print from the late 1980s.
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 000064185
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
