These days, you can’t throw a stone in Hollywood without hitting someone working on a reboot or sequel of a beloved film/television show. One franchise that has so far managed to escape the curse of the unnecessary reboot is theBack to the Futuretrilogy. In an interview with Collider, the franchise’s writer Bob Gale explained whyBack to the Future 4will never happen.
“We told a complete story with the trilogy. If we went back and made another one, we’d have Michael J. Fox, who will be sixty next year, and he has Parkinson’s Disease. Do we want to seeMarty McFlyat age sixty with Parkinson’s Disease? Did we want to see him at age fifty with Parkinson’s Disease? I would say ‘No, you don’t want to see that.’ And you don’t want to see Back to the Future without Michael J. Fox. People say, ‘Well, do it with somebody else.’ Really? Who are you going to get? All you’re gonna do is beg comparisons to the originals, and you’re not going to match up.”
While there is a popular movement online that wants to seeTom Holland and Robert Downey Jr.replace Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd in the iconic roles of Marty and Doc, it is true that Holland and Downey, or any other actors, will never be able to match up to the nostalgic love that fans have for Fox and Lloyd. For Gale, maintaining the integrity of the work they did with the originalBack to The Futuretrilogy is more important than continuing to attempt to profit off the franchise
“We’ve seen this repeatedly with sequels that go back to the well after many, many years, and they go ‘Ah, well, The Phantom Menace, maybemy life would have been betterif I hadn’t seen it.’ There are a lot of extra sequels like that. We didn’t want to be those guys who did a movie that was basically a moneygrab. Universal says to us, ‘You’d guys would make a whole lot of money,’ but we’re like, ‘Well, we’ve already made a whole lot of money with these movies, and we like them just the way they are. And as proud parents, we’re not going to sell our kids into prostitution.'”
So clearly, Gale feels very strongly about letting theBack to the Futurefranchise rest in peace. But hey, this is Hollywood. Studios don’t give a damn about the feelings of the creators if their creations can make them an extra buck or two. Fortunately, Gale revealed he has an agreement in place to make sureBack to the Futureis not rebooted or restarted with any other group of creatives.
“We have an understanding with Spielberg and Amblin [Entertainment] that there would never be another Back to the Future movie without our blessing or being involved. So it’s not going to happen.”
