How Much Money Did Back To The Future Make

When people look back on movies from the '80s and early-'90s, there are a handful of movies that truly stand out. For the most part, those films are sci-fi or action movies like Return of the Jedi, Top Gun, Raiders of the Lost Ark, or Batman.

Even though Back to the Future certainly has some sci-fi elements, it has little in common with those other films. After all, Back to the Future is a much more intimate tale that focuses on the fact that people's lives can change at a moment's notice. On top of that, the main reason why so many people love that film is that they are invested in the relationships that the movie's main characters share.

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Since Back to the Future was a character piece, the movie never could have succeeded if audiences didn't love its main character, Marty McFly. Fortunately, for everyone involved, McFly was brought to life by Michael J. Fox and he is one of the most lovable actors in Hollywood history. Since Back to the Future was a massive hit at the box office and Fox played such an important role in its success, that begs an obvious question, how much was he paid to star in the film?

Original Plans

Since Back to the Future is such a great movie, it has developed an incredibly devoted fan base. While there are some details about the film that it took years for many of those fans to notice, there are certain facts about the movie that are common knowledge. For example, the vast majority of Back to the Future fans already know that Michael J. Fox wasn't the first actor hired to headline the film.

From the moment director Robert Zemeckis and producer Bob Gale conceived Back to the Future, they wanted Michael J. Fox to play Marty McFly. Unfortunately, at that time Fox was still starring in the popular sitcom Family Ties and that show's producers wouldn't free up his schedule enough so he could star in Back to the Future.

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Since Michael J. Fox wasn't allowed to star in Back to the Future at first, Erix Stoltz was hired to play Marty McFly. Unfortunately for Stoltz, after he shot a lot of footage, the movie's producer and director concluded he wasn't the right person to bring McFly to life so they fired him. According to reports, Stoltz took the role too seriously, even going so far as to stay in character at all times when he was one set. While method acting has worked for a lot of actors, Marty McFly had to be a likable character so producers wanted an actor who was going to bring a lighter tone to the role.

Going Back To Plan A

Once the powers that be behind Back to the Future fired Eric Stoltz, they had to go back to the drawing board. Instead of trying to find an all-new actor, they again approached the producers behind Family Ties, and this time around they allowed Michael J. Fox to decide if he wanted to star in the film. Once Michael J. Fox read the script for Back to the Future, he decided that he wanted to star in the film.

Even though Michael J. Fox wanted to star in Back to the Future and the people behind the film wanted him in the role, it wasn't that simple. After all, Back to the Future was scheduled to film on the same days that Family Ties was produced. Thankfully, the show and movie could be filmed at different times of the day so Fox could do both. However, Fox's schedule would be so intense that he would only get roughly five hours of sleep at night and he would spend practically every waking moment on one set or another.

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Given Michael J. Fox's intense Back to the Future schedule and how badly the people behind Back to the Future wanted him, you may have assumed he was paid a fortune to star in the film. However, according to IMDb.com, Fox only received $250,000 to star in Back to the Future which is amazing since the film brought in nearly $400 million at the box office. On top of that, the movie has made an incredible amount of money from home video sales.

A Huge Raise

Once Back to the Future became a massive hit, plans were quickly made to produce a pair of sequels. Since Back to the Future fans never would have accepted sequels without Marty McFly, Michael J. Fox was in the driver's seat when he negotiated his deal for those films. For that reason, Fox was paid $5 million each for Back to the Future II and Back to the Future III according to IMDb.

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Of course, Michael J. Fox must have been overjoyed to be paid $10 million for the two Back to the Future sequels which were produced at the same time. However, that doesn't mean that working on those films was easy for the actor. After all, while Fox was filming a stunt for Back to the Future II, things went wrong in a big way and he nearly lost his life.

Next: Will There Be A Back To The Future 4? Here's What We Know

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