The sequels’ 2015 brings us lots of odd predictions, many of which don’t exactly come true. However, there are plenty of noteworthy guesses: it is currently possible to surf Vietnam, voice-activated electronics are becoming more and more commonplace, 3D movies made a big comeback, and video calls have become much more common, especially starting in 2020.
From widescreen TVs to the number of shows Marty Jr. is watching (how many tabs do you have open right now?), a lot of these seeming jokes by the production team have turned out to fit into our current lives.
Stopped Off in 1989 on His Way to Mount Doom
Remember the befuddled video game player that Marty schools in the ways of video-game zapping in 2015? None other than Elijah Wood in his very first role!
You can just barely see the young man who will grow up to become the famous hobbit of the "Lord of the Rings" series. He was already on his way to acting with the best of them back in 1989. Wood's credentials were set from the start – hard to do better than having your first appearance in the "Back to the Future" films.
Legal Problems
Due to contractual problems, Crispin Glover decided that he wouldn't appear in either of the "Back to the Future" sequels. It forced the filmmakers to figure out how to do things when they couldn't use one of their principal actors, especially since Marty once again travels to 1955.
It all culminated in a lawsuit against the producers because they reused shots for the first film in the second and third without Glover's expressed or written consent. Glover won his lawsuit, and because of the landmark case, it became illegal for studios to use someone's likeness without their consent.
Or Maybe it Doesn't
Of course, there are plenty of missed predictions. While the film did predict the internet – sort of – it predicted it based on the fax machine. That was true for a short time, but we've leaped past it now. It thought that Japan would have overtaken America in the Economy, and while Japan is a huge producer, it simply didn't happen.
While we have devices that will talk back to us, they have eschewed the robotic Stephen-Hawking-style voice. While Laserdisc is on the way out in the movie's 2015, most people under thirty have never even heard of it today.
The McFly Boys Have a Type
One of the odd problems people have with "Back to the Future III" is that Lea Thompson, who plays Lorraine Baines in 1955, also plays Maggie McFly, the woman married to Marty's ancestor Seamus McFly.
While it makes sense for Michael J. Fox to play both Marty and Seamus, it's a little strange for the same actress to play people not related to the McFlys. The reasoning the filmmakers went with was that it wasn't too much of a stretch for the McFly men to all be attracted to women with similar features – something that is somewhat true to life.