Though the sequels did not perform as well at the box office as the first film, the trilogy remains immensely popular and has yielded such spin-offs as an animated television series and a motion-simulation ride at the Universal Destinations & Experiences in Universal City, California; Orlando, Florida; and Osaka, Japan (all later closed), as well as a video game and a stage musical.

[1] Seventeen-year-old Marty McFly is accidentally sent back in time from October 26, 1985, to November 5, 1955, in a time machine built from a DeLorean by eccentric scientist Emmett "Doc" Brown, when they are attacked and Doc is apparently killed by Libyan terrorists from whom he stole the plutonium that gives the flux capacitor the 1.21 gigawatts it needs to time-travel.

Returning to the future via a lightning strike that powers the machine, Marty discovers a vastly improved situation for the McFly family, as a much more confident George has become an accomplished science fiction author, Marty's two older siblings have better lives, he owns the car of his dreams, and an apparently-softened Biff is now an auto detailer, rather than George's supervisor.

Despite 1955 Doc's insistence on not knowing details of the future, a note Marty leaves in his pocket on November 12, 1955, prevents him from being killed by the terrorists.

While Marty and Doc are at the 2015 McFly home, 2015 Biff steals the DeLorean time machine and gives the book to his 1955 self just before he goes to the dance at the end of the first film.

Arriving in the middle of a chase between the United States Cavalry and American Indians, Marty is forced to flee to a cave, discovering the DeLorean's fuel line is torn.

After running afoul of and defeating Buford Tannen and several dramatic action scenes involving using a speeding locomotive to push the DeLorean to 88 miles per hour (142 km/h), Marty returns to 1985 without Doc Brown.

[3] In an interview on October 21, 2015, the day of Marty McFly's purported arrival in the future, Christopher Lloyd stated that he would consider making a fourth film under the condition that the original cast and creative team returned, along with a story "worth telling".

[4] The same day, Lloyd reprised his role as Doc Brown in a brief segment in which the character returns with a special message marking the 2015 date.

[5][6] In 2020, actor Tom Holland claimed in an interview with BBC Radio 1 that he was approached by an unnamed producer over a possible reboot of the franchise with him starring the lead role as Marty McFly (or a similarly new character).

The artificial intelligence of the Quantum Mind Jar tells Brown that they need to go back to the future, which he dismisses as he does not want to risk further time travel.

[14] The central premise of the TV series was that, after the conclusion of Back to the Future Part III, in 1991, Dr. Emmett Brown moved into a farm in Hill Valley with his wife Clara, their sons Jules and Verne, and the family dog, Einstein.

In addition, relatives of McFly, Brown, and Tannen families were plentiful in the past or future parallel time zones visited.

Unlike the films, which took place entirely in Hill Valley and the surrounding area, the series frequently took the characters to exotic locations.

The first season also included post-credits segments with Biff Tannen telling a joke related to the episode, alluding to Thomas F. Wilson's career as a stand-up comedian.

[26] The trilogy was re-released in certain countries worldwide on October 21, 2015, to commemorate the date traveled to by the protagonists in Back to the Future Part II and generated $4.8 million on its opening day.

In the United Kingdom, this was originally scheduled to begin on May 29, 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic the opening dates of various cinemas were delayed, and on a cinema-by-cinema basis slowly reopened.

Many promotions were planned to mark the passing of the date, with many playing to the depiction of the future in the film, including: Cast members appeared on Today and Jimmy Kimmel Live!

[60][61] Nearly 2,000 theaters worldwide showed back-to-back screenings of the Back to the Future trilogy on October 21 and continuing through that weekend, which earned over $4.8M in single day ticket sales.

In July 1997, Universal Studios announced that Back to the Future would be one of their first ten releases on the new DVD format, though it ended up being delayed for five years.

[70] The Blu-ray box set was released on October 26, 2010, and includes bonus features, such as a newly produced six-part retrospective documentary titled Tales from the Future.

[74] On October 20, 2015, one day before the date of the fictional events transpiring in the 2015 segment of Part II, the trilogy was once again released on Blu-ray and DVD.

This is a series of stories detailing where Doc and the Brown family went after time traveling at the end of Back to the Future Part III.

[79] Each film in the trilogy also received a novelization that expanded on the movies by adding scenes, characters, and dialog, often culled from early-draft scripts.

[80] In 2012, Hasslein Books released A Matter of Time: The Unauthorized Back to the Future Lexicon, written by Rich Handley.

[83] Back to the Future: The Ultimate Visual History is an officially licensed book which includes 224 pages of behind-the-scenes stories, interviews, rare and never-before-seen images, concept art, storyboards, photos, and special removable replicas of paper items from the films.

[59] It was released on October 16, 2015, to coincide with Back to the Future Day, and was published by Titan Books in the UK and Harper Design in the US.

[86] In April 2023, it was announced that Back to the Future and characters from the films would be featured in the upcoming video game, Funko Fusion, set to be released in 2024.

Originally slated to première in London's West End in 2015,[94] the setting for the film characters in Part II,[95] the production was delayed following the August 2014 departure of director Jamie Lloyd, due to "creative differences" with Zemeckis.

The commercial was released on October 21—the same date to which Marty, Doc and Jennifer traveled in Back to the Future Part II.