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
FILM NOTES
Released by Universal Pictures in 1989, Back to the Future Part II arrived as the immediate sequel to one of the defining blockbusters of the decade, pushing Robert Zemeckis's time-travel saga into more ambitious territory with hoverboards, dystopian alternate timelines, and a structure that doubled back on the events of the original film. It expanded the mythology established in 1985 while setting up the trilogy's concluding chapter, and it remains a touchstone of late-eighties studio filmmaking, prized for its inventive plotting and its confidence in asking audiences to hold multiple timelines in mind at once.
This 35mm cell is drawn from a sequence built around Time Travel itself, the mechanic at the very center of the franchise. Any frame tied to this theme speaks to the machinery and concept that made the series so enduring, the leap between eras that drives the plot forward and backward at once. For collectors, a piece marked to this idea represents the core engine of the story rather than a single character beat, making it a foundational entry for anyone assembling a collection centered on the trilogy's defining premise.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Stereo 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; spacing appears even and the punched corners are rounded and cleanly cut throughout the visible strip.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible between the lower perforation row and the picture area, appearing as a dual bilateral variable-area (stereo) track with a separate narrow timecode or pilot line alongside it.
Edge print
Upper edge reads, mirrored: 'FILM X' followed by additional characters not fully legible in this capture; 'SAFETY' designation not fully readable.
Base & colour
Base appears with a slight cool-blue tint consistent with a colour print stock; dye image shows strong cyan, magenta and yellow saturation with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
Light vertical scratching is visible running through all three frames, 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 and the visual content is consistent with a special-effects sequence from the film on record.
Era check
The dual bilateral variable-area optical track with an adjacent timecode line is consistent with a Dolby Stereo release print from the late 1980s, matching the 1989 release period of the film 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 000064235
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
