Back to the Future Part II is a 1989 American comic science fiction film and the second installment of the Back to the Future trilogy. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis, who directed all three films, scripted by Bob Gale, and stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Thomas F. Wilson and Lea Thompson. The plot picks up where the original film left off. After repairing the damage to history done by his previous time travel adventures, Marty McFly (Fox) and his friend Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown (Lloyd) travel to 2015 to prevent McFly's future son from ending up in jail. However, their presence allows Biff Tannen (Wilson) to steal Doc's DeLorean time machine and travel to 1955, where he alters history by making his younger self wealthy.
The film was produced on a $40 million budget and was filmed back-to-back with its sequel, Part III. Filming began in February 1989 after two years were spent building the sets and writing the script. It was one of the most ground-breaking projects for effects studio Industrial Light & Magic (ILM); in addition to digital compositing, ILM used the VistaGlide motion control camera system, which allowed an actor to portray multiple characters simultaneously on-screen without sacrificing camera movement. Two actors from the first film, Crispin Glover and Claudia Wells, did not return for the final two. Glover's character, George McFly, was not only minimized in the plot, but was obscured and recreated with another actor. Glover successfully sued both Zemeckis and producer Bob Gale, changing how producers can deal with the departure and replacement of actors in a role. The film was released by Universal Pictures on 22 November 1989. It received generally favorable reviews, although not as strong as the first one, with criticism on the plot for being predictable and implausible, but still had praise for the visual effects, acting and humor. A commercial success, it grossed over $331 million worldwide, making it the third-highest-grossing film of the year.
Appearances in EDP projects[]
- Animation Lookback: Hanna-Barbara in part 2, when talking about The Jetsons, he makes a side note about how we're advancing closer to having technology similar to what the show displays and a brief scene from Back to the Future Part II plays as another example.