Back to the Future Trilogy: 40th Anniversary
December 20, 2025
4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY REVIEW:
Universal;
Sci-Fi;
$65.99 UHD BD; $239.99 UHD BD Gift Set;
Rated ‘PG.’
Stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Thomas F. Wilson, Lea Thompson, James Tolkan, Crispin Glover, Claudia Wells, Elisabeth Shue.
Great Scott! The Back to the Future Trilogy 40th anniversary 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray edition offers enough great stuff to generate 1.21 gigawatts of excitement for the franchise’s fans.
This new set is essentially a repackaging of the 2020 35th anniversary 4K trilogy collection and includes nearly all the bonus materials included with previous DVD and Blu-ray releases of the films, plus another bonus disc of new supplements.
The 1985 original film is an all-time classic time travel adventure. Michael J. Fox stars as Marty McFly, a teenager from the fictional town of Hill Valley, Calif., who is accidentally sent back in time 30 years to 1955 in a DeLorean that was converted into a time machine by his friend Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd). When Marty accidentally prevents his parents from meeting and falling in love, and thus threatens his own existence, he enlists the help of the younger version of Doc Brown to not only help bring his parents together, but to repair the time machine so that he can return home.
The sequels are fun follow-ups that adequately continue the adventure despite trying too hard re-create the magic of the original. The second film, released in 1989, includes an iconic trip director Robert Zemeckis and screenwriter Bob Gale’s satiric vision of the then-future 2015, before Marty and Doc must return to 1955 to stop the villainous Biff Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson) from taking over the world using a stolen 2015 sports almanac to amass a gambling fortune. The 1990 third film finds Marty and Doc trapped in the Old West of 1885. All three look great in 4K, even if the visual effects look a little dated.
The new bonus disc includes five featurettes with a total of 105 minutes of retrospective material.
In the 25-minute “40 Years Later: Reflecting on the Future,” Gale reflects on the popularity of the films and the legacy of the original, which he wrote as a thought experiment to see if a father and son who had little in common could get along if they were the same age.
The 17-minute “Back to Hill Valley” follows actor Donald Fullilove, who played Mayor Goldie Wilson, and Gale on a tour of some of the original film’s shooting locations.
The 37-minute “Untold Stories of Back to the Future” includes anecdotes from other members of the filmmaking team as they reflect on their experiences making the films.
A 16-minute “TCM Classic Film Festival Panel” presents a 2025 Q&A with Gale, cinematographer Dean Cundey and stunt coordinator Charlie Croughwell (who also served as a stunt double for Michael J. Fox), hosted by Alicia Malone.
Finally, the 10-minute “A Mystery in History” featurette focuses on the Gibson guitar played by Marty at the 1955 “Enchantment Under the Sea” high school dance in the original film, a prop has since gone missing. In addition to a history lesson about the guitar, the segment includes a plea from Fox and other members of the filmmaking team for any information regarding the whereabouts of the screen-used guitar.
The 40th anniversary gift set includes all eight discs (each film on a 4K disc and a regular Blu-ray disc, plus two bonus Blu-rays) housed in an exclusive Steelbook case designed to resemble the flux capacitor that powers the time machine in the films. The set is also packed with an array of collectibles, starting with a metal replica of the DeLorean’s OUTATIME license plate with a pack of sticker tags, and a miniature replica of the aforementioned Gibson guitar with a “Back to the Future”-branded guitar pick.
A packet of paper prop replicas includes a lenticular photo that shows Marty and his siblings vanishing; Doc’s initial drawing of the flux capacitor; the “Save the Clock Tower” flyer; a photo of Marty’s parents from the school dance; Marty’s tardy slip; cover art for A Match Made in Space, the sci-fi novel by George McFly, Marty’s dad; an envelope with Marty’s note to 1955 Doc to open in 1985; a double-sided USA Today front page from 2015; a movie poster for the fictitious Jaws 19; a receipt from the “Blast from the Past” store where Marty buys the sports almanac in 2015; a “Biff Buck” dollar bill from the alternate reality run by Biff; a copy of Doc’s letter to Marty after being sent to 1885; and a picture of Marty and Doc in the Old West.
Rounding out the package is a 64-page paperback abridged version of Back to the Future: A Visual History, which contains behind-the-scenes photos and information about the making of the films.
While the boxed set quickly sold out, fans interested in obtaining some of the goodies without visiting the secondary market can get most of the paper prop replicas in the larger hardcover versions of Back to the Future: A Visual History that have been released and updated every five years since 2015 — copies go for about $25-$40 online, while the 2025 edition is available for $20 at Barnes & Noble (though the 2025 edition doesn’t include the lenticular family photo or the Jaws 19 poster). Replicas of the license plate can similarly be found online for around $15. And the standard 4K set of the trilogy, which includes the new bonus disc, retails for around $40.
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