Hey, Robert Zemeckis, 'Back to the Future: The Musical' Should Not Be a Movie!

Remember how we all laughed when we found out Joker: Folie à Deux was going to be a musical, but we gave Todd Phillips the benefit of the doubt given the success of the first film? Ah, those were good times. Fun times. That sequel's failure is already at near-mythical status at this point, but it can serve as a warning for others. First: Musicals are death. Sure, Wonka did alright, and so far the word on Wicked has been positive. But, by and large, the genre is more miss than hit these days. Second: Don't mess with what worked for the original film. Do you know who isn't heeding these warnings? Robert Zemeckis, who apparently would be keen to make a movie version of Back to the Future: The Musical, which first opened in England before moving to Broadway in 2023. Let's be clear about this: Zemeckis should absolutely not do that.

'Back to the Future: The Musical' Took Its Time to Reach the Stage

The journey of Back to the Future's debut as a musical began in 2004, with Bob Gale, who co-wrote the film with Zemeckis, bringing up the idea at a 2004 DeLorean Car Show and Convention, asking the audience, "You know how they bring back movies as Broadway musicals? It seems like 'Back to the Future' would make a great Broadway show." The project gained traction in 2012, with Zemeckis, Gale, and Alan Silvestri "in preliminary creative discussions." Workshops for the musical started in 2014, with the intent to open on London's West End in 2015, but after director Jamie Lloyd left over "creative differences" (over whether the character of Biff should sing), previews were pushed all the way to 2020, when the show was again delayed by the Covid pandemic. The show did finally open in the West End in 2021.

The show's production manager, Simon Marlow, said that getting the iconic DeLorean to "work" on stage was a yearlong process, but that work paid off, with reviews largely raving about the technical aspects used to make the film's effects come alive. Those same reviews also make it clear that the rest of the production pales in comparison. The story on stage, smartly, doesn't deviate from the original screenplay, but the songs lack the 1.21 gigawatts that make songs in musicals timeless.

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Why We Don't Need 'Back to the Future: The Musical ... The Movie'

On a recent episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast, Zemeckis admitted that he's floated the idea of making a movie version of Back to the Future: The Musical to Universal. What makes this such a horrifying prospect? After all, the stage production doesn't stray far from the story line of the film, so why not? Here's why: It seems pointless to make a movie where the only difference from the original, in theory, is the addition of some songs, none of which stand out as highlights on stage. On top of that, you'd have the unenviable task of finding actors who can both fill the roles made iconic by Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox and sing, too.

During the podcast interview, Zemeckis says, "I would like to do the Back to the Future: The Musical. Just like [Mel] Brooks did The Producers. I would love to do that." Well, that right there is another red flag. The original The Producers movie is classic Mel Brooks, sporting a 91% on Rotten Tomatoes. The move to a musical proved highly successful as well, with the production receiving glowing reviews. But the transition from musical back to movie? It didn't work, with the end result dropping to only a 51% on Rotten Tomatoes. Films have often made a successful leap from Hollywood to Broadway, but rarely has that success translated when brought back to Hollywood.

Yet the strongest argument for Zemeckis leaving Back to the Future: The Musical on stage where it belongs is Zemeckis himself. Zemeckis circa 2024 is decidedly not Zemeckis circa 1985, as reviews for his latest film, Here, would attest to. The last Zemeckis film to resonate with critics and moviegoers alike is 2015's The Walk, and since then there's been a litany of misses, including Welcome to Marwen and 2022's Pinocchio for Disney+. There may very well be a director who could pull off a Back to the Future: The Musical: The Movie miracle, but the odds that it's Zemeckis are unlikely. It might be a moot point, anyway, as Universal has little to no interest in the idea. As Zemeckis adds in the podcast, "I floated that out to the folks at Universal. They don't get it. So, nothing I can do." But here's the thing: Maybe Universal does get it. Maybe they get what a bad idea such an undertaking would be and decided to erase it from history before it's too late.

Back to the Future

Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.

Release Date July 3, 1985

Runtime 116 minutes

Main Genre Sci-Fi

Back to the Future is available to rent on Prime Video in the U.S.

WATCH ON PRIME VIDEO