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
Released by Universal Pictures in 1989, Back to the Future Part II arrived as the immediate sequel to one of the defining hits of the decade, pushing Robert Zemeckis's time travel saga into 2015, an alternate 1985, and a return to 1955. Bold in structure and ambitious in effects for its era, it expanded the mythology of the original while cementing the franchise as a cultural touchstone, its hoverboards and self-lacing shoes becoming shorthand for a certain vision of the future.
This piece bears the name Marty McFly, the character whose ordinary teenage identity anchors the entire trilogy against its shifting timelines and eras. Collectors seek him because he is the throughline audiences follow across every version of the story, the constant amid paradox. A cell reading simply with his name suggests a straightforward identification frame, the kind used to mark his presence in the reel rather than any single scripted beat, making it a foundational piece for anyone assembling a run built around the character himself.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Back to the Future Part II.
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 dual bilateral variable-area pattern.
Edge print
Edge text reads 'EASTMAN' and 'SAFETY' along the top edge of the strip.
Base & colour
Base shows a slight blue-cyan tint consistent with Eastman color print stock; dye image appears warm with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
Light vertical scratching is visible across the frames, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate.
Picture
Positive color image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single shot, consistent with a theatrical release print of Back to the Future Part II.
Era check
The Eastman safety base, variable-area optical soundtrack, and color dye structure 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 000064278
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
