Robert Zemeckis, who directed the film and its two sequels, has vowed that Back to the Future will never be remade in his lifetime – and hopes that his estate will figure out a way to continue blocking remakes after his death.

“Oh, God no,” the 63-year-old director told the Telegraph, when asked if – as one of the two rights holders to the original film, along with co-writer Bob Gale – he would ever consider signing off on a remake.

“That can’t happen until both Bob and I are dead. And then I’m sure they’ll do it, unless there’s a way our estates can stop it.

“I mean, to me, that’s outrageous. Especially since it’s a good movie. It’s like saying ‘Let’s remake Citizen Kane. Who are we going to get to play Kane?’ What folly, what insanity is that? Why would anyone do that?”

 

The original contracts Zemeckis and Gale made with Universal and Amblin Entertainment in 1984 accord the two men final say on the production of any Back to the Future-related films for as long as they live.

Zemeckis admitted a remake would almost certainly be a financial success because of the original trilogy’s established fan base. In Hollywood jargon, it’s what’s called a "pre-sold title" – much like this summer’s Jurassic World, a sequel to 1993’s Jurassic Park, which became the eighth highest-grossing film of all time earlier this week.

“Pre-sold title, that’s the reason,” he shrugged, before adding with a smile: “But can you imagine them getting skewered?”

 

Gale suggested that the story would never truly be Back to the Future if Marty McFly wasn’t played  by Michael J Fox, whose Parkinson’s disease has forced him to cut back on acting work since the early 2000s. 

“The idea of making another Back to the Future movie without Michael J Fox – you know, that’s like saying, ‘I’m going to cook you a steak dinner and I’m going to hold the beef,’” was how he memorably put it at a 2008 fan convention in Florida.