Marty, fire up the flux capacitor! Christmas has come early for fans of the time-hopping Back to the Future trilogy, with a raft of special events to mark what’s being called ‘Back to the Future Day’. In another ungentle reminder of the arrow of time’s unstoppable flight, having already sailed past Judgement Day (Aug 29, 1997) and the X-Files‘ alien invasion (Dec 22, 2012), this Wednesday marks the date that Doc and Marty crash-landed into the future in the 1989 sequel: 21/10/15 at 4:29pm. It’s also the 30th anniversary of the first film’s release (handy that).
Robert Zemeckis’ Back to the Future trilogy is a classic of weirdo bubblegum 80s film-making, full of clocks and paradoxes and smartly constructed set-pieces. Michael J. Fox’s Marty McFly pairs up with Christopher Lloyd’s Doc Brown, one of the great mad scientists the screen has ever given us, for high spirited chrono-displaced adventures in their souped-up DeLorean DMC-12. In the original, they head back to 1950s California and Marty’s still-teenage mom gets the hots for him. Along the way he invents rock and roll. It was a smash hit, topping 1985’s gross list and yielding two sequels, shot back to back. Part II turns the dials in the other direction, Marty and his girlfriend racing to the then-future to help their children. Their 2015 has hoverboards and powerlaces. We got Vine. Finally, Part III goes full-on period, for a rootin’, tootin’ trip into the Wild West and the id of every twelve year old in the audience.
In celebration of the day, staff and students from Queen’s University Belfast’s School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science will unveil their customised electric DeLorean, the first of the ill-fated model to be built in Northern Ireland since production in Dunmurry ceased in 1983 (there’ll be more info at the Ulster Museum’s free public lecture at 6pm). There will be plenty of opportunities to catch up with the movies; cinemas are showing individual films, double-billing the first two, and going all-out for a 340-minute run-through of the entire trilogy. ITV2 will be showing all three films from 4.30pm, but if you fancy going big-screen here’s a quick roundup of what’s happening across Ireland on the day itself.
Belfast
Grand Opera House: BTTF 1, 9.30, intro by Brian Henry Martin (tickets)
Odeon Cinemas: Double Bill, 7.00 (tickets)
Moviehouse City Side: Triple Bill, 6.30 (tickets)
Moviehouse Dublin Road: Triple Bill, 7.00 (tickets)
Odyssey Cinemas: Triple Bill, 5.00 (tickets)
Derry
Brunswick Moviebowl: Triple Bill, 6.00 (tickets)
Lisburn
Omniplex: BTTF Part II, 4.30, 7.oo (tickets)
Antrim
Omniplex: BTTF Part II, 4.30, 7.00 (tickets)
Dundonald
Omniplex: BTTF Part II, 4.30, 7.00 (tickets)
Dublin
Cineworld Cinemas: Triple Bill, 6.00 (tickets)
Light House Cinema: BTTF Part II, 6.30 (tickets)
Rathmine Omniplex: BTTF Part II, 4.30, 7.00 (tickets)
Blanchardstown Odeon: Double Bill, 7.00 (tickets)
Stillorgan Odeon: Double Bill, 7.00 (tickets)
Point Village Odeon: Double Bill, 7.00 (tickets)
Cork
Omniplex: BTTF Part II, 4.30, 7.00 (tickets)
Limerick
Omniplex: BTTF Part II, 4.30, 7.00 (tickets)
Odeon Cinemas: Double Bill, 7.00 (tickets)
Kildare
Newbridge Odeon: Double Bill, 7.00 (tickets)
Waterford
Odeon Cinemas: Double Bill, 7.00 (tickets)
