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 sequel shot back to back with its follow up, expanding the time travel premise into 2015, an alternate 1985, and a return to 1955. Directed by Robert Zemeckis and reuniting Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, the film pushed the franchise's mythology further while introducing Biff Tannen's darkest incarnation, the tyrannical Biff of the alternate timeline. It remains a fixture of late eighties studio filmmaking, prized for its structural ambition and its place in one of cinema's most beloved trilogies.
This cell pairs Marty McFly and Biff Tannen, the franchise's central antagonistic duo, whose recurring conflict runs through every era the story visits. Collectors seek Marty and Biff material for the way it distills the series' core tension, the everyman hero measured against his bully across decades. A 35mm cell of this pairing preserves a physical fragment of that dynamic, a single frame excised from release printing, offering a tangible artifact of a scene built around their opposition rather than a reproduction or promotional still.
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; punched edges appear clean with no visible tearing or deformation.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, appearing as a dual bilateral variable-area format.
Edge print
Edge print reads mirrored; decoded it reads 'A3 28 69' along the bottom edge and partially repeated along the top edge.
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight warm-neutral tint; 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 a single continuous shot with consistent framing, consistent with Back to the Future Part II.
Era check
The dual bilateral variable-area optical track and colour dye stock base are consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print from the late 1980s to early 1990s period.
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 000064206
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
