The original pink Mattel hoverboard prop from Back to the Future remains a cultural touchstone for movie fans. The trilogy follows Doc Brown (Lloyd) and Marty McFly’s (Fox) adventures in time travel in a suped-up DeLorean. The second film follows the duo as they travel to the year 2015 to save Marty’s children.
The 2015 Marty visits in Back to the Future II has a multitude of new inventions including flying cars, food rehydrators, and, of course, hoverboards. In a recurring sequence between all three films, Marty finds himself being chased around Hill Valley Square by a time-local bully, who is usually a descendant of Biff Tannen (Thomas F. Wilson). In Back to the Future II, this chase sequence involves the use of a bright pink, Mattel branded hoverboard Marty takes from a little girl.
Now, thirty-six years after the original film was released, Nerdist reports the iconic pink hoverboard has sold at auction for $501,200 to an anonymous buyer. The hefty price paid for the hoverboard included autographs from Fox and Wilson. Initially, the prop was calculated to auction for between $80,000 and $100,000, but the winning bid proves that sometimes money is no object to owning a piece of film and culture history.
The prop sold from the Prop Store’s archive of famous and beloved memorabilia from hundreds of films and TV shows. The Prop Store hosts auctions regularly with pieces from iconic films like Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings. Other items available for auction in the same event as the hoverboard included Tom Hanks’ volleyball companion Wilson from Cast Away, a miniature X-Wing fighter from Return of the Jedi, and the helmet Russel Crowe wore in Gladiator. Each of these other items sold for about $300,000, making the Back to the Future II hoverboard the star of the show.
The Back to the Future franchise remains a staple in any time travel narrative by being brought up or referenced in TV shows and movies ranging from DC shows to Supernatural. The trilogy has fans spanning from its original release to new generations finding the movies on a streaming service. While the first and last films of the franchise focus on looking back, Back to the Future II looked to a future - albeit one that has come and gone. The 2015 Marty saw offered optimism and hope about the potential for technological advancement, most of which hasn’t come to fruition just yet.
Source: Nerdist
