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40 years of Back to the Future: the event at the cinema and the gadgets to “travel through time” with Doc and Marty – The Right Choice

«Great Jupiter!» one might say, why yes: today, 21 October 2025, Back to the Future he really goes back to the cinema. October 21, 2015 is in fact the date on which the protagonist Marty McFly travels together with his scientist friend Emmett “Doc” Brown, as seen at the end of the first journey. This is why October 21st was chosen by fans of the series as “Back to the Future Day”.
Today is therefore figuratively ten years since McFly and Doc landed in the future.
Marty McFly (played by Michael J Fox) and Doc Brown they therefore put the DeLorean back in motion for a day of collective nostalgia. The rooms fill up, the orange sweatshirts emerge from the backpacks, and for a couple of hours time – ironically – really stops.
It is a celebration but also an experiment: seeing that film today means looking in the mirror. Because Back to the Future isn’t just about time travel, but about time passing over us.

The boy, the scientist and the perfect paradox

In 1985, American cinema was looking for a new hero. Spielberg e Zemeckis they brought out a teenager with a plaid shirt, a skateboard and the energy of a crazy electron. Marty McFly he wasn’t a superhero, but an ordinary guy trying to play the guitar and arrive on time.
Doc Brownwith his cloud hair and “1.21 gigawatts!”, was the perfect invention to give him a destiny. Together, they transformed science fiction into a mechanical fairy tale, where the time machine was not a spaceship but a sports car that ignited only through the right amount of energy.
That temporal paradox – the boy who returns to the past and risks erasing himself – is still one of the most elegant ideas in entertainment cinema today. It is ironic, emotional, perfectly calibrated.

Who was there, remember. The Italy of 1985 was still analogue, made up of telephone booths and posters on newsstands. The film arrived in cinemas on October 18 and immediately won over teenagers. For many, it was the first encounter with “cheerful” science fiction: no aliens, just the dream of changing one’s life with a twist of the steering wheel.
Today, as the film returns to theaters in a restored version, we see it again in a world that runs at social speed, where time travel is done by scrolling down. But Back to the Future it remains a perfect machine, because it talks about us: about the desire to make amends, about the courage to look at parents as people, about the future that we imagine and which then becomes the past before we even realize it.

A comedy that invented modern nostalgia

Zemeckis he couldn’t have known it, but with Back to the Future he invented a collective feeling: pop nostalgia. That way of looking back not with melancholy, but with a smile. Every generation has a “return” that defines it: George and Lorraine’s ’50s, Marty’s ’80s, ours today – we would like to put the DeLorean back into gear to return to a less liquid, slower time.
Seeing it again at the cinema today means rediscovering the sincere rhythm of American comedy, the perfect editing, the soundtrack by Alan Silvestri that still pushes you into your seat, the unmistakable voice of Ferruccio Ametrano in the Italian dubbing, and the line that is now proverbial: “Roads? Where we go we don’t need… roads.”

Forty years later

Today Back to the Future it doesn’t need remakes, reboots or spin-offs. It already has everything: rhythm, feeling, irony. The three original chapters are enough to tell a family epic that goes beyond science fiction.
The film is re-screened in dozens of Italian cinemas, from Rome to Milan, from Turin to Palermo, with queues outside the cinemas and applause even before the theme song starts. It is a collective celebration, a shared birthday: 40 years of laughter, dreams and “Great Jupiter!”.
In the meantime, the world of collecting explodes: restored editions, memorabilia, mugs, Lego, everything you need to bring a piece of Hill Valley back to your bedside table. Not just nostalgia: it’s the desire to hold on to something that made us dream. We have therefore selected some of these gadgets.

Back to the Future Lego car

The LEGO set that allows you to build, piece by piece, the DeLorean with its gull-wing doors. Over 1800 bricks, minifigures of Marty and Doc and three versions of the car for the three films. Editing it is like watching the saga again in slow motion: an act of love towards cinema and childhood. Once it’s finished, you look at it and it comes naturally to you to say: “Roads? Where are we going…”.

Back to the Future – 40th Anniversary Collector’s Edition

The new celebratory edition is a little gem: 4K quality, restored colors, spatial sound, extra content and packaging worthy of an important anniversary. Seeing it again in this version is like polishing the DeLorean: it shines brighter than ever. It is designed for those who want to keep the film not only in their hearts, but also in their living rooms, in its best format.

Set of 2 Metal Replicas of OUTATIME License Plates

Two metal plates that faithfully reproduce that of the DeLorean. The red letters on a white background, the yellow profile, the writing “California OUTATIME”: a cinema icon transformed into a collector’s item. Simply hang it up to make any wall look like a time launch pad. Solid, brilliant, perfect for those who love details that tell stories.

Back to the Future Mug

A ceramic mug that recalls the famous writing from the film. Black and orange colours, a design that transforms your morning coffee into an interdimensional micro-journey. She is ironic, elegant, irresistibly nerdy.

Michael J. Fox & Christopher Lloyd Display Autografato

A framed A3 panel portraying the two protagonists, Marty and Doc, together. The print includes reproductions of their autographs and a museum memorabilia layout. It is a piece to hang, to watch and re-watch, because it reminds us of what cinematic friendship means: two actors, two generations, a bond that still excites today.

Each review is independently edited by the editorial staff. If you make a purchase through our links, Corriere della Sera may receive a commission. Read more

October 21, 2025 (modified October 21, 2025 | 1:26 pm)

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