Back to the Future is one of the most celebrated and beloved franchises of all time.
Rumours are rife among Back to the Future fans that a fourth film could be coming to cinemas in 2024, with Tom Holland playing the lead role, after a new ‘trailer’ started doing the rounds on YouTube.
The Back to the Future trilogy was released from 1985 to 1990, and followed the time travelling escapades of high school student Marty McFly (Michael J Fox) and Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd), a scientist who invents the DeLorean time machine.
Given the trilogy’s dedicated fan base, it’s hardly surprising that rumours of a Back to the Future 4 continue to pop up from time to time.
But is a fourth film actually coming out in 2024? Read on for everything you need to know.
Will there be Back to the Future 4? Rumours debunked
Unfortunately, the trailer that has been doing the rounds on YouTube is nothing but a fake.
The fan-made trailer features Lloyd and Fox revisiting their time travelling adventures from the first three movies, as well as Tom Holland playing ‘Jake McFly’ as he talks to Fox.
The video description is as follows:
“In Back to the Future 4, Tom Holland takes on the role of a brilliant young inventor, Jake McFly, who stumbles upon Doc Brown’s long-lost journal. The journal contains secrets to enhance time travel capabilities, opening up new possibilities and unforeseen consequences.
“As Jake navigates through various timelines, he encounters both familiar faces and new challenges, all while trying to prevent a mysterious adversary from rewriting history.”
The footage of present-day Lloyd appears to have been lifted from a promo video for 2015’s LEGO Dimensions game, while the footage of Fox has been taken from the 2019 Netflix movie See You Yesterday.
The clip of Holland is from a scene in Spider Man: Far From Home, in which his character Peter Parker gets his suitcase checked in an airport and realises his Spider-Man suit inside.
While a fourth film centred around a younger version of Marty McFly, or even a new character, would certainly be an interesting concept, it doesn’t look like Back to the Future 4 will be materialising anytime soon.
During an interview with Variety at a performance of Back to the Future: The Musical for the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, the franchise’s co-creator Bob Gale said fans’ desire for a nostalgic experience will be satisfied by the musical.
He said: “People say, ‘Why don’t you guys do Back to the Future Part 4?’ When they say that, they’re saying, ‘I want something that makes me feel as good as the original did.’”
He continued: “That’s what this is. That’s the feeling you’re going to get here when you see this show. There’s no need to go back to that well. You’ve seen too many people go back too many times.
“As I’ve said many times, the characters in Back to the Future are my family, my children. You don’t sell your kids into prostitution.”
In addition, while the idea was never ruled out by director Robert Zemeckis, he previously admitted the movie didn’t happen because he didn’t have an idea for it.
“If I had an idea that I could have pitched to Bob [Gale] with a straight face, we would have made it,” he said.
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