41 Years Later, the Greatest Sci-Fi Adventure Movie of All Time Blasts Onto Apple TV Charts

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Image via Apple TV

Published Mar 13, 2026, 7:09 PM EDT

Makuochi Echebiri is a News Writer for Collider. He has been interested in creative writing from as far back as high school, and he would consume pretty much anything that’s film or TV. However, his truest love lies in the presence of historical epics and thrillers.

Lured by the brilliance of Middle Earth from an early age both in print and on screen, his palate has since expanded to other realms including Westeros, Kattegat among others. He also possesses a great appetite for the stories that emanate from the vastness of space. Even though he is no Avenger.

Obsessed with storytelling and having works of his own that have yet to make it to print, he is content to use that ability to communicate to as many as are reachable. In his spare time, he looks out for avenues where he can aid people aside from his plans to reign over this earthly realm. Yes…you heard that first here.

The sci-fi genre is one of the most prolific, influential, and popular in cinema, with an impressive catalog of films that people of all ages can enjoy. The genre is a lynchpin of the cinematic universe, offering several iconic stories over the years. From timeless masterpieces such as Metropolis to the more modern classics like Everything Everywhere All at Once. As one might expect, there have been many incredible sci-fi movies, some of which have polarized audiences.

However, there have been a select few that stand out and have proven to be truly groundbreaking, garnering truly universal appeal while also serving as a blueprint for future films. One such movie, which ultimately evolved into a franchise, is the Steven Spielberg-produced sci-fi comedy called Back to the Future. Any film can be great, but few prove capable of going one step further, abandoning familiar tropes and clichés while seeking out a unique direction. Speilberg's Back to the Future does exactly that as it marks itself special among many other time travel movies. The film spiced up the familiar troupe while bringing in pure entertainment value and providing a blueprint for narrative logic.

Now, more than 40 years since its release, the 1985 sci-fi film is making a significant comeback on streaming for the modern audience. According to data collected by FlixPatrol, the Michael J. Fox-led film has found itself in the Top 10 of the Apple TV Store in a couple of countries, including Portugal. Despite beginning with a simple time-travel concept, the 1985 classic went on to spawn not just a trilogy but also a lasting legacy through comic books, cartoons, and video games. With its further installments in Back to the Future Part II (1989), and Back to the Future Part III (1990), the franchise was able to, despite focusing on a paradox, simplified it for everyone.

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What Was 'Back to the Future' About?

Directed by Robert Zemeckis, who also co-wrote the film with Bob Gale, Back to the Future is a sci-fi comedy adventure starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, which follows the misadventures of high school teenager Marty McFly (played by Fox) and his genius mad-scientist friend, Emmett “Doc” Brown (Lloyd). When Doc’s time-travel experiment goes haywire, Marty is sent back in time and encounters younger versions of his parents, causing a temporal anomaly that he must fix before time runs out. Also starring in what is arguably one of the greatest time-travel comedy films ever made are Crispin Glover, Thomas F. Wilson, and Lea Thompson.

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