Entertainment

How Time Flies: It’s Back To The Future Day already

Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) and Marty McFly (Michael J Fox) in the original 1985 film 
Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) and Marty McFly (Michael J Fox) in the original 1985 film  Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) and Marty McFly (Michael J Fox) in the original 1985 film 

GREAT SCOTT! Back To The Future Day is here and fans of the film series across the world are preparing to celebrate.

Wednesday October 21 2015 is the date that Marty McFly and Doc travelled through time to reach in the classic 1989 film Back To The Future II.

The day will also commemorate the 30th anniversary of the original film.

The pair travelled to 2015 in a customised DeLorean DMC-12, a car which rolled off the production line of the DeLorean factory in Dunmurry from 1981 to 1983.  

Only around 9,000 DMC-12s were made at the plant, ensuring the cars are a rare and popular collector's item.

Collectors can get their hands on the classic car right this instant as a Co Armagh man has decided to part with his 1981 DeLorean DMC 1.

In an ad on Gumtree, Moira’s Ian Matthews is asking for £25,000 for his red DeLorean, which he says has been in his garage for eight years.

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Fans hoping to spend a little less cash can still celebrate Back To The Future Day by checking out events marking the day in and around Belfast.

A drive-in screening of the first film was held at the Bloomfield shopping centre in Bangor on Saturday.

Around 150 cars full of fans attended the sold out event, which Damian Connor, Marketing Manager of the Belfast Film Festival described as a “huge success.” 

“We were blown away by the response and it is a real testament to the passion people still have for the movie even 30 years on.”

The Belfast Film Festival are to continue their celebrations of Back to the Future with a screening of the original film in the Grand Opera House tonight at 9.30pm.

“The screening in The Grand Opera House is going to be a special one. We're expecting over 800 attendees,” Mr Connor said.

Mr Connor praised the 1985 film as “fun, fresh and fast” and said that three decades on audiences in the north still have a soft spot for the film and are still “drawn to its energy”.

“Back to the Future Day is literally an international day of celebration and the Belfast Film Festival is proud to be a part of it and so far our audience seems to agree,” he said.

The event will also feature film critic Brian Henry Martin showing clips from the trilogy and discussing where the second film went wrong in their predictions of life in 2015.

Mr Martin said that he has loved the films since the first one premiered.

“I was one of the first kids in the queue of the ABC cinema, when the film opened in Belfast in December 1985,” he said.

Thirty years on, he still finds the film to be a “a really enjoyable family adventure with great performances from Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd”.

“But more than that is how beautifully it blends science and comedy, creating a rare blockbuster that is both smart and funny,” he said. 

In the south, the Gardaí were shocked when they waved down a speeding DeLorean and arrested the driver. 

The stars of the film, Christopher Lloyd and Michael J Fox, have also pondered the world of 2015 in an ad for Toyota.

The film trilogy will be shown in movie theatres across the world as part of the celebrations. A new short film called Doc Brown Saves the World will be unveiled as part of the BluRay and DVD re-release of the trilogy.

It features Christopher Lloyd reprising his role as Doc Brown explaining why the 2015 we live in isn't quite the same as the one seen in Back to the Future II.

Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, actor Christopher Lloyd said that he would eager to reprise his role as Doc Brown again, in a fourth full movie.

“"I would love to do Doc again, no question," Lloyd said.

Lloyd added that he’d love for the original team to get back together for another film, including director Robert Zemeckis, writer Bob Gale and star Michael J.Fox.

"I think regardless of the Parkinson's, he'd probably jump on the role and he'd be great," Lloyd says. "I can't see doing another sequel without him.”

Although there may be a chance of a Back to the Future IV, director Robert Zemeckis has made it clear that he will never approve a remake of the original film.

“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,” Zemeckis told The Telegraph.

“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?”

ITV2 will also be screening the entire Back To The Future trilogy on Wednesday from 4.30pm while Keith Lemon's Back t'Future Tribute is on at 9pm.