Best Movies like Back to the Future Part II (1989)

Back to the Future also features Marty and Doc embarking on time-travel adventures, involving visits to the past and encounters with Marty's younger parents, offering foundational elements—including character dynamics, temporal paradoxes, and a mixture of humor and sci-fi adventure—that are continued and expanded upon in Back to the Future Part II.

Eighties teenager Marty McFly is accidentally sent back in time to 1955, inadvertently disrupting his parents' first meeting and attracting his mother's romantic interest. Marty must repair the damage to history by rekindling his parents' romance and - with the help of his eccentric inventor friend Doc Brown - return to 1985. Back to the Future is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 56m runtime, released in 1985 with an average rating of 8.3 by 22,074 people. The movie made an estimated total of $381,109,762 in the box office.

Timecrimes and Back to the Future Part II both depict protagonists caught in tangled time loops, using the concept of traveling into the past to confront unintended consequences and further complicate their original problems, leading to complex, layered narratives hinging on cause and effect.

A man accidentally gets into a time machine and travels back in time nearly an hour. Finding himself will be the first of a series of disasters of unforeseeable consequences. Timecrimes is a movie from Spain in Spanish, with a total 1h 32m runtime, released in 2007 with an average rating of 7.0 by 1,497 people. The movie made an estimated total of $553,198 in the box office.

Predestination, like Back to the Future Part II, focuses on characters traveling to various points in time to fix or prevent disruptive events, utilizing the science fiction framework of time manipulation to explore questions of identity and destiny.

Predestination chronicles the life of a Temporal Agent sent on an intricate series of time-travel journeys designed to prevent future killers from committing their crimes. Now, on his final assignment, the Agent must stop the one criminal that has eluded him throughout time and prevent a devastating attack in which thousands of lives will be lost. Predestination is a movie from Australia in English, with a total 1h 38m runtime, released in 2014 with an average rating of 7.4 by 7,205 people. The movie made an estimated total of $4,942,449 in the box office.

Looper revolves around time travel as a means to intervene in personal futures, resembling Back to the Future Part II’s core theme of using advanced technology to alter present outcomes, and both involve characters confronting grave consequences of their own temporal actions.

In the year 2044, time travel has not yet been invented but in 30 years it will have been. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target into the past where a looper, a hired gun, like Joe is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich and life is good until the day the mob decides to close the loop, sending back Joe's future self for assassination. Looper is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 58m runtime, released in 2012 with an average rating of 6.9 by 11,054 people. The movie made an estimated total of $47,042,000 in the box office.

Time After Time is connected by its premise of traveling to different historical eras and interacting with people in the past, paralleling Marty’s repeated trips to 1955 and highlighting the unforeseen changes such visits can create in the timeline.

Writer H. G. Wells pursues Jack the Ripper to modern day San Francisco after the infamous serial killer steals his time machine to escape the 19th century. Time After Time is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 52m runtime, released in 1979 with an average rating of 6.8 by 392 people. The movie made an estimated total of $13,000,000 in the box office.

Primer’s narrative is anchored by time travel experiments gone awry and the resulting unintended complications—a shared structure with Back to the Future Part II, where meddling with timelines and attempts to repair mistakes propel the plot.

A group of fledgling inventors discover a complex method to manipulate reality. At first, they successfully game the stock market with it, but the consequences of the invention start to catch up with them. Primer is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 17m runtime, released in 2004 with an average rating of 6.7 by 2,481 people. The movie made an estimated total of $545,436 in the box office.

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, released the same year as Back to the Future Part II, also follows two friends on comedic, unpredictable time-travel missions that see them visiting various historical periods and attempting to fix pressing personal problems.

Two rock-'n-rolling teens, on the verge of failing their class, set out on a quest to make the ultimate school history report after being presented with a time machine. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 30m runtime, released in 1989 with an average rating of 6.8 by 2,144 people. The movie made an estimated total of $40,510,984 in the box office.

The Butterfly Effect and Back to the Future Part II both center on using time travel to prevent or fix negative outcomes in their protagonists’ lives, emphasizing how changing the past can create unforeseen complications that spiral into even greater dilemmas.

A young man struggles to access sublimated childhood memories. He finds a technique that allows him to travel back into the past, to occupy his childhood body and change history. However, he soon finds that every change he makes has unexpected consequences. The Butterfly Effect is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 53m runtime, released in 2004 with an average rating of 7.6 by 8,375 people. The movie made an estimated total of $96,800,000 in the box office.

Safety Not Guaranteed shares with Back to the Future Part II a premise built around the search for personal meaning through time travel, featuring characters who set out on quests to change their destinies with the hope of correcting past mistakes.

Three magazine employees head out on an assignment to interview a guy who placed a classified ad seeking a companion for time travel. Safety Not Guaranteed is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 26m runtime, released in 2012 with an average rating of 6.8 by 1,647 people. The movie made an estimated total of $4,424,699 in the box office.

Twelve Monkeys weaves time travel into a plot about altering pivotal moments in history to change present outcomes, paralleling the structure in Back to the Future Part II where repeated trips across eras aim to set the timeline right.

In the year 2035, convict James Cole reluctantly volunteers to be sent back in time to discover the origin of a deadly virus that wiped out nearly all of the earth's population and forced the survivors into underground communities. But when Cole is mistakenly sent to 1990 instead of 1996, he's arrested and locked up in a mental hospital. There he meets psychiatrist Dr. Kathryn Railly and the son of a famous virus expert who may hold the key to the Army of the 12 Monkeys; thought to be responsible for unleashing the killer disease. Twelve Monkeys is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 2h 9m runtime, released in 1995 with an average rating of 7.6 by 9,260 people. The movie made an estimated total of $168,841,459 in the box office.

Donnie Darko, like Back to the Future Part II, employs time travel and paradoxes as fundamental narrative devices, with central characters grappling with the profound consequences of their journeys through alternate realities and altered timelines.

After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes. Donnie Darko is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 54m runtime, released in 2001 with an average rating of 7.8 by 13,576 people. The movie made an estimated total of $7,500,000 in the box office.

Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel features ordinary individuals who stumble into extraordinary temporal adventures, inadvertently causing timeline chaos and struggling to fix their mistakes, echoing the tone and conflict structure seen in Back to the Future Part II.

Follows three social outcasts -- two geeks and a cynic -- as they attempt to navigate a time-travel conundrum in the middle of a British pub. Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel is a movie from United Kingdom in English, with a total 1h 23m runtime, released in 2009 with an average rating of 6.9 by 689 people. The movie made an estimated total of $23,820 in the box office.

About Time, while more grounded, builds its story around using time travel to change moments in life and shape personal relationships, echoing the emotional motivations that underpin Marty’s repeated trips to the past in Back to the Future Part II.

The night after another unsatisfactory New Year's party, Tim's father reveals to him that the men in their family have the ability to travel through time. They can't change history, but they can change what happens and has happened in their own lives. Thus begins the start of a lesson in learning to appreciate life itself as it is, as it comes, and most importantly, the people living alongside us. About Time is a movie from United Kingdom in English, with a total 2h 3m runtime, released in 2013 with an average rating of 7.9 by 9,396 people. The movie made an estimated total of $87,100,449 in the box office.

The Time Machine and Back to the Future Part II both utilize time travel devices as a central science fiction concept, focusing on journeys to multiple time periods and the ripple effects of altering the past or future.

A Victorian Englishman travels to the far future and finds that humanity has divided into two hostile species. The Time Machine is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 43m runtime, released in 1960 with an average rating of 7.4 by 932 people. The movie made an estimated total of $5,902 in the box office.

Project Almanac revolves around young characters building a time machine and facing escalating consequences as they attempt to fix personal mishaps, closely paralleling the causal complexity and group-dynamic-driven narrative of Back to the Future Part II.

A group of teens discover secret plans of a time machine, and construct one. However, things start to get out of control. Project Almanac is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 46m runtime, released in 2015 with an average rating of 6.8 by 2,903 people. The movie made an estimated total of $33,200,000 in the box office.

Source Code employs a looping structure in which the protagonist relives events to prevent disaster, reminiscent of Back to the Future Part II’s narrative pattern where Marty repeatedly visits moments from the past in order to undo and correct timeline anomalies.

When decorated soldier Captain Colter Stevens wakes up in the body of an unknown man, he discovers he's part of a mission to find the bomber of a Chicago commuter train. Source Code is a movie from Canada in English, with a total 1h 33m runtime, released in 2011 with an average rating of 7.3 by 9,266 people. The movie made an estimated total of $147,332,697 in the box office.

Edge of Tomorrow incorporates a cycle of rewinding and redoing events to avert catastrophic outcomes, a temporal dynamic that mirrors how Back to the Future Part II’s characters navigate and manipulate time to influence their fates.

Major Bill Cage is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously demoted and dropped into combat. Cage is killed within minutes, managing to take an alpha alien down with him. He awakens back at the beginning of the same day and is forced to fight and die again... and again - as physical contact with the alien has thrown him into a time loop. Edge of Tomorrow is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 54m runtime, released in 2014 with an average rating of 7.6 by 15,309 people. The movie made an estimated total of $370,541,256 in the box office.

Run Lola Run centers on a protagonist reliving short periods of time to change outcomes, thematically resembling Back to the Future Part II’s explorations of how seemingly small alterations in the timeline can lead to drastically different results.

Lola receives a phone call from her boyfriend Manni. He lost 100,000 DM in a subway train that belongs to a very bad guy. She has 20 minutes to raise this amount and meet Manni. Otherwise, he will rob a store to get the money. Three different alternatives may happen depending on some minor event along Lola's run. Run Lola Run is a movie from Germany in German, with a total 1h 20m runtime, released in 1998 with an average rating of 7.3 by 2,615 people. The movie made an estimated total of $7,660,911 in the box office.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home aligns with Back to the Future Part II in employing time travel to the late twentieth century, blending science fiction with humor as its characters attempt to fix the present by altering the past.

When a huge alien probe enters the galaxy and begins to vaporize Earth's oceans, Kirk and his crew must travel back in time in order to bring back whales and save the planet. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 58m runtime, released in 1986 with an average rating of 7.2 by 1,677 people. The movie made an estimated total of $133,000,000 in the box office.

Peggy Sue Got Married and Back to the Future Part II both send their protagonists into earlier decades, providing opportunities to revisit and re-examine their relationships with family and catalyze changes that might influence their current lives.

At her 25th high school reunion, Peggy Sue faints and awakens in 1960—back in her senior year, before her marriage and all her regrets. Given a second chance to relive her youth, she must decide whether to change the choices that shaped her life or embrace the past that made her who she is. Peggy Sue Got Married is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 43m runtime, released in 1986 with an average rating of 6.1 by 665 people. The movie made an estimated total of $41,382,841 in the box office.

Hot Tub Time Machine places a group of friends into their pasts, mirroring Back to the Future Part II’s multiple-era structure and focus on using time travel to resolve personal or familial issues, with comedic misadventures arising from their interference.

Four pals are stuck in a rut in adulthood: Adam has just been dumped, Lou is a hopeless party animal, Nick is a henpecked husband, and Jacob does nothing but play video games in his basement. But they get a chance to brighten their future by changing their past after a night of heavy drinking in a ski-resort hot tub results in their waking up in 1986. Hot Tub Time Machine is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 41m runtime, released in 2010 with an average rating of 6.0 by 2,789 people. The movie made an estimated total of $64,780,213 in the box office.

Idiocracy, though tonally distinct, involves unintentional time travel into a drastically changed future, much like how Back to the Future Part II sends its hero to 2015, using future world-building to satirically comment on societal trends.

To test its top-secret Human Hibernation Project, the Pentagon picks the most average European-Americans it can find - an Army private and a prostitute - and sends them to the year 2505 after a series of freak events. But when they arrive, they find a civilization so dumbed-down that they're the smartest people around. Idiocracy is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 25m runtime, released in 2006 with an average rating of 6.4 by 3,697 people. The movie made an estimated total of $495,303 in the box office.

Déjà Vu involves utilizing advanced technology to revisit and alter key moments in the past, paralleling Back to the Future Part II’s exploration of using futuristic devices to try to undo unfortunate events in an effort to reshape destiny.

Called in to recover evidence in the aftermath of a horrific explosion on a New Orleans ferry, Federal agent Doug Carlin gets pulled away from the scene and taken to a top-secret government lab that uses a time-shifting surveillance device to help prevent crime. Déjà Vu is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 2h 6m runtime, released in 2006 with an average rating of 6.9 by 5,378 people. The movie made an estimated total of $180,557,550 in the box office.

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things plays with time loops and their impact on character relationships, echoing Back to the Future Part II’s narrative of replaying events to achieve the best possible outcome and emphasizing the personal challenges of time-related dilemmas.

Two teenagers trapped in an endless time loop set out to find all the tiny things that make that one day perfect. The Map of Tiny Perfect Things is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 39m runtime, released in 2021 with an average rating of 7.1 by 899 people.

Happy Death Day follows a protagonist reliving the same day repeatedly, focusing on changing small details to break out of a temporal cycle—a structural and thematic approach similar to Back to the Future Part II’s scenarios of alteration and iterative correction.

Caught in a bizarre and terrifying time warp, college student Tree finds herself repeatedly reliving the day of her murder, ultimately realizing that she must identify the killer and the reason for her death before her chances of survival run out. Happy Death Day is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 37m runtime, released in 2017 with an average rating of 6.7 by 6,630 people. The movie made an estimated total of $125,479,266 in the box office.

Interstellar, like Back to the Future Part II, relies on science fiction concepts to explore nonlinear time and the influence of characters’ actions across different eras, framing emotional stakes through futuristic technology and the manipulation of temporal reality.

The adventures of a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage. Interstellar is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 2h 49m runtime, released in 2014 with an average rating of 8.5 by 40,623 people. The movie made an estimated total of $746,606,706 in the box office.

Galaxy Quest and Back to the Future Part II both meld science fiction adventure with comedic sensibilities, following ordinary people thrust into extraordinary, technology-driven predicaments across unusual timelines, though focusing on space rather than purely temporal shifts.

For four years, the courageous crew of the NSEA Protector — Commander Peter Quincy Taggart, Lieutenant Tawny Madison, and Doctor Lazarus — set off on a thrilling and often dangerous mission in space... until their series was cancelled! Now, twenty years later, aliens under attack have mistaken the Galaxy Quest television transmissions for "historical documents" and beam up the crew of has-been actors to save the universe. With no script, no director, and no clue, the actors must turn in the performances of their lives. Galaxy Quest is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 42m runtime, released in 1999 with an average rating of 7.1 by 2,585 people. The movie made an estimated total of $90,683,916 in the box office.

Mr. Nobody shares with Back to the Future Part II a narrative structure influenced by alternate timelines and the powerful consequences of choices, following its protagonist through multiple possible lives shaped by crucial moments and interventions.

Nemo Nobody leads an ordinary existence with his wife and 3 children; one day, he wakes up as a mortal centenarian in the year 2092. Mr. Nobody is a movie from Belgium in English, with a total 2h 21m runtime, released in 2009 with an average rating of 7.8 by 6,291 people. The movie made an estimated total of $2,331,721 in the box office.

The Time Traveler’s Wife delves into time travel’s impact on relationships, similar to themes in Back to the Future Part II, where shifting through different periods directly affects connections with family and attempts to shape a better present.

Due to a genetic disorder, handsome librarian Henry DeTamble involuntarily zips through time, appearing at various moments in the life of his true love, the beautiful artist Clare Abshire. The Time Traveler's Wife is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 47m runtime, released in 2009 with an average rating of 7.0 by 2,744 people. The movie made an estimated total of $101,344,412 in the box office.

Coherence and Back to the Future Part II both present characters struggling to make sense of and control chaotic timelines, weaving together causality loops and the complications that arise from disrupting the established order of events.

Four couples gather for dinner the night a mysterious and powerful comet passes overhead. Coherence is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 29m runtime, released in 2014 with an average rating of 7.2 by 3,515 people. The movie made an estimated total of $139,745 in the box office.

The Adam Project revolves around characters using futuristic technology to travel through time and interact with their younger selves, echoing Back to the Future Part II’s setup of family-centric temporal adventures and the efforts to undo potential catastrophes.

After accidentally crash-landing in 2022, time-traveling fighter pilot Adam Reed teams up with his 12-year-old self on a mission to save the future. The Adam Project is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 46m runtime, released in 2022 with an average rating of 7.0 by 5,046 people.

Flight of the Navigator is united by its focus on a young protagonist using an advanced vehicle to travel through time, interacting with family members across eras and confronting the unexpected effects of journeying into the future and past.

12-year-old David is accidentally knocked out in the forest near his home, but when he awakens eight years have passed. His family is overjoyed to have him back, but is just as perplexed as he is that he hasn't aged. When a NASA scientist discovers a UFO nearby, David gets the chance to unravel the mystery and recover the life he lost. Flight of the Navigator is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 30m runtime, released in 1986 with an average rating of 7.0 by 966 people. The movie made an estimated total of $18,564,613 in the box office.

Next, like Back to the Future Part II, features a character with the ability to foresee and manipulate outcomes to avert disasters, revolving around the repeated alteration of events in an ongoing attempt to gain control over an uncertain future.

Las Vegas showroom magician Cris Johnson has a secret which torments him: he can see a few minutes into the future. Sick of the examinations he underwent as a child and the interest of the government and medical establishment in his power, he lies low under an assumed name in Vegas, performing cheap tricks and living off small-time gambling "winnings." But when a terrorist group threatens to detonate a nuclear device in Los Angeles, government agent Callie Ferris must use all her wiles to capture Cris and convince him to help her stop the cataclysm. Next is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 36m runtime, released in 2007 with an average rating of 6.1 by 3,337 people. The movie made an estimated total of $76,066,841 in the box office.

ARQ centers on time loops and the challenge of escaping repeating cycles of events, matching Back to the Future Part II in its depiction of characters trapped by the unintended side effects of temporal manipulation and constant attempts to fix the timeline.

Two old friends living in a dystopic future become trapped in a mysterious time loop — one that may have something to do with an ongoing battle between an omnipotent corporation and a ragtag band of rebels. ARQ is a movie from United States of America in English, with a total 1h 28m runtime, released in 2016 with an average rating of 6.1 by 1,318 people.