The “Back to the Future” movie franchise, which produced three movies from 1985 to 1990, generated an impressive $935 million in gross box office receipts.
For someone who grew up in the mid-80’s quoting my best impression of George McFly (“No Biff, get your dirty hands off her!” and “Lorraine, you are my density. I mean, destiny.”), it was all about the flux capacitor and dreaming to one day jam like Michael J. Fox did in the “Enchantment Under The Sea” dance.
It made the DeLorean, an utter business failure, the coolest car in the world. Trust me, there wouldn’t have been a DeLorean car show in Gettysburg, Pa., last month had it not been for this movie. Just ask Lauren O’Reilly, an ad executive who has one of the cars and every time she drives it she hears someone screaming, “Jigawatts!”
The obsession for the movie has created a clamoring for the props. EBay sellers have sold replicas of the movie’s greatest creations for years. Check out this auction which includes everything from a “Save the Clock Tower” flyer to McFly family photo.
The only thing that went untouched were the “Air McFlys,” the Nikeshoes that Michael J. Fox wore in “Back to the Future II.” Fans of the movie have demanded to have Nike make that shoe over the years and I’ve had to shoot down rumor after rumor that Nike was actually going to make this thing.
Well, almost 20 years after the movie hit the screen, Nike will be releasing their new Hyperdunk in a teal version to make it look like the “Air McFlys.” Shoe collector shop Undefeated in Santa Monica will get first dibs as they’ll sell less than 100 pairs today. Over the next couple weeks, stores will get these in extremely limited supply. We’re told less than 1,000 pairs will be made and about half those will be released in the U.S.
It’s a great step for Nike to actually make this something that looks like this shoe since it’s probably the most famous fake Nike shoe, not unless you believe that it’s recently been topped by the Air Force 1’s worn by Turtle in “Entourage.”
But the guys that run the McFly 2015 Project, a grassroots movement that has been trying to drum up support for Nike to make this shoe aren’t satisfied.
“The Nike Hyperdunks might be inspired by the McFly 2015’s, but the Nike Hyperdunks are not the McFly 2015’s” said Michael Maloof, who with his brother Charles launched a Web site last year in order to push for the futuristic sneakers. “We strongly encourage each and everyone who wants the ‘real’ McFly 2015’s to sign up on the official McFly 2015 project Web site.”
We might have to wait for the authentic ones that might tie themselves like the ones in the film, but it’s interesting that Nike actually would have the capacity to make the real thing, considering they did take the steps to patent the shoe they made for the movie.
By looking at records from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, it looks like Nike could have been considering making a version of the Air McFlys as far back as 18 years ago. According to records from the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, the patent for the shoe was filed in April 1990--roughly five months after the movie debuted--by Nike’s head shoe guru Tinker Hatfield.
Nike is not using “Back to the Future” or the word “McFly” in its release of the current shoe. Sources tell me that the shoe and apparel company is trying to figure out how just how much NBC Universal, which owns the rights to the film and is the parent of CNBC, wants to associate with this product.
Questions? Comments? SportsBiz@cnbc.com