Rejected more than 40 times

Although it is one of the most beloved franchises in cinematic history, studio executives at the time were not keen on it.

In fact, ‘Back to the Future’ was rejected an astonishing 40 times before Universal Pictures agreed to produce it.

Reflecting on the difficult ordeal in making the film, writer Bob Gale - who created the script with director Robert Zemeckis - said: “The script was rejected over 40 times by every major studio and by some more than once. We'd go back when they changed management. It was always one of two things. It was ‘Well, this is time travel, and those movies don't make any money.’ We got that a lot. We also got, ‘There's a lot of sweetness to this. It's too nice, we want something raunchier like 'Porky's'. Why don't you take it to Disney?'"

Taking it to Disney did not go well either...