Will the Back to the Future Date Hoax Finally Go Away?

Graphics have circulated for years which suggested various dates in which Marty McFly visited the future in the movie Back to the Future II. Now that the date has arrived, with the hoax finally die?

Origins

In 2015 it was revealed that the original source of the hoax in 2010 was that of Daniel Dalton who was working for Total Film at the time. The date was mistakenly tweeted out, and then the author attempted to cover his tracks by Photoshopping the current year into a screenshot taken from the movie. Thus, an image of the control panel from the car in the Back to the Future movie circulated, showing a 2010 date. Over the past five years, the same image has circulated with various dates. It became so common that online generators would allow users to quickly create a fake graphic.

Those not intimately aware of the details of the movie often believed the fake photos and re-shared them. Those fans who knew the movie well, however, recognized the images as a fake and pointed out that the date depicted in the movie was in fact October 21, 2015.

It should be noted that the first two movies time-traveled in 30-year increments: 1955, 1985, and 2015. And of course it went back 100 years in the third installment to the year 1885.

Below is a short clip from the movie in which you can clearly see that the date on the control panel is October 21, 2015.

For an exhaustive timeline of Back to the Future, visit this site.

Updates

From 2013 through 2015 we spotted more versions of this fake graphic floating around which showed various incorrect the Back to the Future dates. We’ve included samples of these fake graphics below. As indicated above, the correct date is still October 21, 2015.

Versions from 2013 to early 2015 have included the dates shown below:

Here is a video clip from the movie where the date of October 21, 2015 is clearly shown.

Back to the Future Day 2015

Back to the Future Day finally arrived in 2015, to significant fanfare, even getting love from the White House itself. Pepsi released a limited edition of “Pepsi Perfect” and Nike even announced the Power Lace shoes shown in the film.

Happy #BackToTheFuture Day! Join a Google+ Hangout on time travel right now ? https://t.co/9ge7LdvA3R pic.twitter.com/LrRN7uMUq0

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) October 21, 2015

End of the Hoax?

Although many writers have suggested that the arrival of the true Back to the Future date marked the end of the long-running hoax, we aren’t too sure. After all, there have been viral death announcements of celebrities who actually died years earlier. Thus, it doesn’t seem so far fetched that someone may attempt to extend the hoax by announcing Back to the Future Day after the date has arrived. Only time will tell.

Bottom Line

The Back to the Future date depicted in the movie is October 21, 2015. Fake graphics began circulated in 2010 showing erroneous dates not actually used in the movie.

Updated October 21, 2015
Originally published July 2012