The Back to the Future franchise is an American science fiction–comedy film series written and directed by Robert Zemeckis, produced by Bob Gale and Neil Canton for Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, and distributed by Universal Pictures. The franchise follows the adventures of a high school student, Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox), and an eccentric scientist, Dr. Emmett L. Brown (Christopher Lloyd), as they use a DeLorean time machine to time travel to different periods in the history of Hill Valley, California. The first film was the highest-grossing film of 1985 and became an international phenomenon, leading to the second and third films, which were back-to-back film productions, released in 1989 and 1990, respectively. Though the sequels did not perform quite as well at the box office as the first film, the trilogy remains immensely popular after 30 years and has yielded such spinoffs as an animated television series and a motion-simulation ride at the Universal Studios Theme Parks in Universal City, California; Orlando, Florida (now closed); and Osaka, Japan, as well as a Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, iPad, PS3, and Wii video game. The film's visual effects were done by Industrial Light and Magic. The trilogy was nominated for five Academy Awards all together, winning one (Best Sound Editing). Contents [hide] 1 Films 1.1 Back to the Future (1985) 1.2 Back to the Future Part II (1989) 1.3 Back to the Future Part III (1990) 1.4 Future 2 Cast and crew 2.1 Characters and portrayers 2.2 Crew 3 Reception 3.1 Box office performance 3.2 Critical and public response 4 Soundtrack albums 5 Video releases 5.1 2002 DVD release: "The Complete Trilogy" 5.2 2009 DVD reissue 5.3 2010 Blu-ray release: "25th Anniversary Trilogy" 5.4 Release formats and features 6 Other media 6.1 Television series 6.2 Comic books 6.3 Books 6.4 Games 6.5 Stage musical 6.6 Keith Lemon 6.7 Automotive commercials 7 Theme park ride 8 Back in Time 9 Back to the Future Day 10 See also 11 References 12 External links Films[edit] Back to the Future Directed by Robert Zemeckis Produced by Bob Gale Neil Canton Written by Robert Zemeckis Bob Gale Starring Michael J. Fox Christopher Lloyd Thomas F. Wilson Lea Thompson Music by Alan Silvestri Cinematography Dean Cundey Edited by Harry Keramidas Arthur Schmidt Production company Amblin Entertainment Distributed by Universal Pictures Release dates 1985–1990 Running time 337 minutes Country United States Language English Budget $99 million Box office $970.4 million Back