Robert Zemeckis won't make Back to the Future sequel or remake, but would love to do the movie musical

Back to the Future 4? No. A Back to the Future prequel? Hardly. Back to the Future: The Remake? As if. What about a Back to the Future movie musical? For director Robert Zemeckis, that might be just right.

When Happy Sad Confused host Josh Horowitz recently asked the director if Universal begs him "every couple years" for another Back to the Future film, Zemeckis joked, "Oh, every six months."

He went on to clarify that the comment was "just an exaggeration," but did confirm that the studio that produced the original 1985 mega-hit does frequently ask for more Future. "'Isn't there anything we can figure out to do here?'" he said, imitating the studio. "'Isn't there anything we can do?'"

Zemeckis continued, "You know, we have to say, 'There are different things that might work.' Something like that, you know? But to remake the movie or to suggest that there's a Back to the Future 4, it just isn't in the cards."

Representatives for Universal did not immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly's request for comment.

Back to the Future was produced for $19 million and grossed $388 million at the box office. Universal greenlit a sequel, 1989's Back to the Future Part II, followed by 1990's Back to the Future Part III. The trilogy was directed by Zemeckis and written by Bob Gale, and both have been steadfast in their disavowal of further Back to the Future projects.

When asked in 2015 if Back to the Future 4 was on the horizon, Zemeckis responded, "That can't happen until both Bob and I are dead. And then I'm sure they'll do it, unless there's a way our estates can stop it."

Gale echoed Zemeckis in 2023, explaining, "People say, 'Why don't you guys do Back to the Future Part 4?' When they say that, they're saying, 'I want something that makes me feel as good as the original did,' which is no reason to go back to that well. You've seen too many people go back too many times. As I've said many times, the characters in Back to the Future are my family, my children. You don't sell your kids into prostitution."

But the Back to the Future franchise extends beyond the three feature films. A short-lived animated Back to the Future series ran on CBS in the early '90s. We also got the 2015 short film Doc Brown Saves the World, in which Christopher Lloyd reprised his role from the trilogy, and the recent Back to the Future: The Musical, with a book written by Gale.

The musical debuted in Manchester but eventually made it to Broadway, where it picked up two nominations at the 2024 Tony Awards. If there's any hope for more Back to the Future on the big screen, it lies there.

"I would like to do Back to the Future: The Musical," Zemeckis told Horowitz when asked if he'd ever want to explore another genre. "Just like [Mel Brooks] did with The Producers. I would love to do that. I think that would be great."

Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more.

Lloyd has gone on record saying he "would love to do a sequel." Even if franchise star Michael J. Fox is less keen on the prospect ("You're going to find a better way to tell the story? I doubt it," he said last year), maybe the promise of some songs and choreo could convince him.

All Zemeckis needs to do now is, ironically, convince the studio that has apparently been banging down his door.

"I would try," Zemeckis said of the musical. "Well, I floated that out to the folks at Universal. They don't get it. So there's nothing I can do."

Listen to the full Happy Sad Confused interview with Zemeckis above.