Americans are more than ready to see Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown (Christopher Lloyd) in a possible fourth Back to the Future movie according to a brand new survey. The Robert Zemeckis-directed trilogy is regarded as a classic and almost three decades after it wrapped up, new data shows that people wouldn't mind seeing another installment from the franchise.
While Lloyd has previously hinted that a fourth installment in the film could be in the works, it was something that Zemeckis ultimately shot down to the dismay of Back to the Future fans. That said, if Universal Pictures decides to do a reboot of the beloved franchise, chances are that people will be lining up to see what the iconic duo are up to this time based on a brand new survey.
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THR reports citing data from the latest Hollywood Reporter/Morning Consult poll that out of the 2,201 adult surveyees, 71% would love to see another outing for Marty and Doc Brown in Back to the Future 4 - beating other franchises including Pixar’s Toy Story (69%), Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones (68%) and Universal’s Jurassic Park (67%). The Zemeckis-directed series also bested Star Wars when it comes to the franchise that has been mostly followed by the public nabbing 54% compared to 36%.
Morning Consult's vice president Tyler Sinclair explains that "there's a strong consumer demand for movie reboots and sequels, which spells good news for movie studios looking to capitalize on that nostalgic feeling." And Americans would rather "watch throwbacks and revivals," than new material. This reflects on box office numbers outside the popular comic book genre with fresh content like Annihilation and Widows - which are both critical hits. Meanwhile, Jill Pantozzi deputy editor of genre culture blog io9 says that she's "fairly surprised people want to see more Back to the Future, not the least of which is because director Robert Zemeckis basically said there'd be another film over his dead body. Nostalgia is a powerful thing.”
What's tricky when using this new data as an indication on whether or not a Back to the Future 4 coming to fruition is the fact that that the surveyees had Fox and Lloyd cast as Marty and Doc, and at this point, seeing them reprise the role in a full feature could be tricky to pull off. What reboots do is either recast the main characters or pass the brand new franchise installment as a sequel to the established narrative like what Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle did. Luckily, fans generally liked what director Jake Kasdan and Dwayne Johnson did with the film's modern take earning almost $1 billion against a $150 million budget. That said, while a well-known branding definitely helps, it doesn't guarantee a hit, case in point: Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049 which was a financial disappointment for Warner Bros. despite being lauded by critics.
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Source: THR