Ever since 1985, people have loved going "Back to the Future." The movie trilogy/franchise has become a beloved series. Vox wrote in an essay in 2015 — the original movie's 30th anniversary — that it was the most perfect blockbuster ever made.
In late 2022 and early 2023, claims intensified about a fourth possible movie in the works. Alas, we found those claims to be false.
A YouTube video titled "BACK TO THE FUTURE 4 (2023) Movie Teaser Trailer | Universal Pictures" was posted in October 2022. It had over 500,000 views at the time of this writing.
It's not an official trailer for the movie. The YouTube channel Screen Culture, where the video can be found, describes itself as making fan-made trailers for already existing intellectual property.
The channel wrote on its about page, "'Screen Culture' is the home of scintillating and extravagant 'Concept/Fan-Made' trailers from various cinematic universes like Marvel, DC, Star Wars and many more!"
Many fans thought a fourth "Back to the Future" movie could be in the works when one of the lead actors in the originals, Christopher Lloyd, posted references to the movies on social media. He played Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown in the trilogy.
On Nov. 3, 2022, Lloyd tweeted, "I can't say yet, but the future holds something very special for you…stay tuned!"
I can't say yet, but the future holds something very special for you…stay tuned!
— Christopher Lloyd (@DocBrownLloyd) November 3, 2022
Michael J. Fox, the main actor in the films, posted on Instagram the day after asking, "Doc and I are up to something heavy… @mrchristopherlloyd should we spill it?" Lloyd later posted the same picture saying they shouldn't say anything yet because they had time.
It turned out they were teasing a "Back to the Future"-themed store. When one fan replied to his tweet saying. "Please please don't say you're remaking BTTF," Lloyd wrote, "We are not."
In a 2020 interview with entertainment website Collider, co-writer of the series Bob Gale explained why the fourth movie would never happen: They had already told a complete story with the original trilogy. "There are a lot of extra sequels like that," he said. "We didn't want to be those guys who did a movie that was basically a moneygrab."
He also said there was an understanding with Steven Spielberg and his production company Amblin Entertainment that there would never be another movie without the writer's blessing or involvement. Amblin was the main production company that worked on the films.
"So it's not going to happen," Gale said.