On July 3, 1985, the world of mainstream science fiction was changed forever. Before Back to the Future hit, there had never been a truly massive time-travel blockbuster. Back in 1960, The Time Machine was a modest success with $2.61 million, but, broadly speaking, the sci-fi subgenre of time travel TV and film was relatively untested before Back to the Future was released.
So, calling Back to the Future a surprise hit in 1985 wouldn’t be wrong, and, in some ways, is a massive understatement. As has been extensively documented (particularly in Caseen Gaines’ excellent 2015 book We Don’t Need Roads), the production of the original Back to the Future was a troubled one, specifically because the entire movie was nearly shot before director Robert Zemeckis realized he wanted to trade Eric Stoltz for Michael J. Fox in the role of Marty McFly. How many other classic films completely reshot nearly everything with a different lead actor and lived to tell the tale?
