Back to the Future director "would love" to adapt the musical version but the studio "doesn't get it"

Christoper Lloyd and Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future — (Image credit: Universal Pictures)

Robert Zemeckis has no interest in making Back to the Future 4, but would like to adapt the musical version of the film.

"I would like to do the Back to the Future: The Musical [movie]. I would love to do that,” Zemeckis told the Happy Sad Confused podcast (via Variety). “I think that would be great. I floated that out to the folks at Universal. They don’t get it. So, [there’s] nothing I can do."

The musical, which has music and lyrics by Alan Silvestri and Glen Ballard and a book by Bob Gale, first hit the stage in 2020. After a successful West End run, the show won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical in 2022. The show features original songs but also sees Marty McFly perform Johnny B. Goode (in a recreation of that incredible scene from the first film), as well as The Power of Love and Back in Time with Doc and company. The musical hit Broadway in 2023, with Roger Bart earning a Tony nomination for Best Featured Actor, and is set to close in January after 500 shows.

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Musical movies have become a bit more popular in the last few years, with Steven Spielberg's West Side Story remake winning the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture. Other musical movies, however, haven't fared as well: Mean Girls received largely mixed reviews (though individual performances were praised), and Joker: Folie a Deux was more or less dead on arrival. Coincidentally, both films were purposefully not advertised as musicals.