Rare Back to the Future videotape, still in box, fetches £8,000 at auction

A rare VHS tape of the classic 1980s film ‘Back to the Future’, still in its original packaging, has fetched a staggering £8,000 at auction.

The ‘as new’ copy was part of the first edition, released in 1986, and fetched a double estimate of £4,000 at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, Texas, due to the film’s continued popularity.

In recent years, pristine VHS tapes for classic movies have become very popular with nostalgic fans who grew up watching them in the 80’s and now have the income to buy them.

VHS and Betamax cassettes became popular in the late 1970s after the invention of VCRs. They dominated the market until the advent of DVD in 1995.

By the late 2000s, the VHS format had become almost entirely obsolete.

Pictured: The rare Back to the Future VHS cassette which sold for a whopping £8,000

Back to the Future, starring Michael J Fox (pictured) as Marty McFly, was the highest-grossing film of 1985, grossing $210 million

Jay Carlson, Commission Manager for VHS at Heritage, said: “Back to the Future is one of those cassettes that creates a deep connection with VHS collectors and movie fans alike, and we’ve seen steady demand for the copy at several auctions since last year. owned by Tom Wilson, who played “Biff” (beater Biff Tannen).

“This copy is a similar early example.” It features MCA Home Video’s desirable wraparound block-style watermarks, putting it in a very early stage of production when it was first released on home video.

“Back to the Future is one of those titles that touches people, especially those who grew up during that time, and is a title that every collector would want in their collection.”

Back to the Future, starring Michael J Fox as Marty McFly, was the highest-grossing film of 1985, grossing $210 million.

It tells the story of a teenager who accidentally travels back to 1955 in a time-travelling DeLorean built by scientist Emmett “Doc” Brown.

In June 2022, actor Tom Wilson, who played Biff Tannen in the film, sold his copy of Back to the Future for £60,000 at Heritage Auctions in Dallas.

Wilson originally listed the tape with others on eBay, but took it back after receiving an overwhelming response.

He said he saved a copy because he believed the VHS platform would last forever.

Wilson’s collection included sealed and graded VHS tapes of Back to the Future II, Back to the Future III and the Back to the Future trilogy from the 1990s.

What made this collection special was Wilson’s offer to write a note for each volume and to sign each shipment.

In recent years, flawless VHS cassettes for classic films have enjoyed great popularity

The “as new” copy of the 1980s film classic was part of the first edition, released in 1986, and sparked a fierce bidding war at auction