Original 1989 Nike MAG prop (Back to the Future Part II, screen-used)

A shoe for a future that did not exist

Back to the Future Part II sends Marty McFly and Doc Brown forward to Wednesday, October 21, 2015. One of the gadgets waiting there is a pair of Nike high-tops. Doc pulls them from a large Nike bag he carried aboard the DeLorean, Marty steps in, the laces cinch tight on their own and the strap lights up. The scene lasts only seconds, and it became one of the most remembered moments in the film.

Director Robert Zemeckis had not planned a sequel. The first film's success led to one, and he agreed only if Fox and Christopher Lloyd came back. He and co-writer Bob Gale wanted a future that was a pleasant place, where 'what's wrong is due to who lives in the future as opposed to the technology.' Principal photography began on February 20, 1989, back to back with Part III, on a $40 million budget, while Fox was still acting in the last season of Family Ties.

Nike was brought in to design the shoe for that future. A fan wiki says the shoes were first developed with Nike for a sports scene that was cut as too expensive, and ended up as part of the wardrobe instead. No other source confirms that account.

Tinker Hatfield's movie prop

Tinker Hatfield designed the shoe. He was born April 30, 1952, in Hillsboro, Oregon, and pole-vaulted at the University of Oregon under Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman. He earned an architecture degree in 1977 and worked as an architect in Eugene before joining Nike in 1981. He began designing shoes in 1985 and went on to lead the designs of the Air Jordan III through XV.

Looking back on the project, Hatfield said: 'It was a lot like the movie prop process itself. We could have done a lot less with it, but we dreamed as big as we could.' According to ABC News, he also filed for a design patent that covered the shoe's structure.

None of the technology was real. Nike's archive says someone had to crouch in the background and pull strings to make the shoe look as if it laced itself. ABC News reports that holes were made in the stage floor so crew could pull the laces on cue, and that Fox wore a large battery pack to power the lights. A fan wiki cites Gale's commentary track for the close shot: the shoes were bolted to a platform of fake asphalt with the laces running down through holes, a stagehand pulled them tight on cue, a light behind the NIKE logo switched on, and the motor sounds were added later.

November 1989

Back to the Future Part II opened in North America on Wednesday, November 22, 1989, the day before Thanksgiving. It earned $27.8 million over the weekend and $43 million across the five-day holiday, then a Thanksgiving record. It finished with $333 million worldwide, third for 1989 behind Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Batman.

The film opened 13 days after the Berlin Wall fell. Earlier that year George H. W. Bush had been sworn in as president, the Exxon Valdez had spilled oil into Prince William Sound, troops had crushed the protests in Tiananmen Square, and Tim Berners-Lee had written the proposal that became the World Wide Web. A comedy about a gadget-filled 2015 arrived in a year when the real world was changing fast.

In 1991 Fox was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. He went public in 1998 and founded the Michael J. Fox Foundation in 2000. Every Nike MAG release since has raised money for it.

From a Nike employee's shelf to auction

The screen shoes were never sold to the public. In June 2018 a left shoe that BBC News says came from a Nike employee's personal collection was offered at online auction by Jordan Geller, a collector who founded what is described as the world's first sneaker museum. It was in bad shape. The heel piece had crumbled off, the outsole was separating and the midsole was falling apart. It was judged too fragile to ship, so the winner had to pick it up in person in Portland, Oregon.

The shoe drew 220 bids and sold on Sunday, July 1, 2018, for $92,100. That was for one shoe, not a pair. BBC News reported that the money raised would go to the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

In August 2020 another left Marty McFly MAG went to auction in Los Angeles with an estimate of $15,000 to $20,000. The catalog described it as being in fair condition and heavily restored: the cracked, crumbling foam at the sole had been rebuilt, and replicas had been fitted for the missing 'Nike MAG' heel piece and the back of the ankle strap. The 2018 shoe was also missing its heel piece. No source says whether the two are the same shoe.

A film-memorabilia dealer in Los Angeles has displayed a MAG behind glass. On camera the dealer explained that a couple of different versions were made for the film and that this one was a walk-around shoe, meaning Fox likely wore it on set.

How to know one

A screen-made MAG is a gray padded high-top with thick white lining at the ankle, a blue-flecked foam unit wrapped around the sole, LED lights in the heel, a white ankle strap with a lit NIKE logo, and a 'Nike MAG' piece at the heel. The 2020 catalog measured one left shoe at 10 by 12 by 9.5 inches.

Decay is part of the story. The foam on surviving shoes cracks and crumbles. That is why the 2018 shoe could not be shipped and why the 2020 shoe needed a rebuilt sole. Any restoration and replacement parts should be disclosed, and they matter.

Authenticity comes down to provenance: who on the production or at Nike kept the shoe, and where it went after that. The 2011 and 2016 Nike MAGs copy the look closely, but they are separate products made decades later and sold for charity, with their own boxes and paperwork.

The prop that became a product

Nike's archive says the shoe got only a few seconds on screen with Fox. Fans kept asking for it anyway. By 2004 about 30,000 people had signed online petitions. 'When I saw 30,000 names on those petitions, I just knew we had to figure some way to actually make this shoe one day,' Hatfield said.

In July 2008 Nike released a Hyperdunk that fans nicknamed the Air McFly. It filed a patent for self-lacing shoes in April 2009 and sold 1,500 lighted MAG replicas for charity in 2011. On October 21, 2015, the day Marty arrives in the future, it gave Fox a working self-lacing pair. Nike's Mark Parker put it this way: 'We started creating something for fiction, and we turned it into fact.'

The numbers

Film

Back to the Future Part II (1989), directed by Robert Zemeckis

US release

November 22, 1989

Worldwide gross

$333 million, third-highest of 1989

Date Marty wears them

October 21, 2015, in the film

Timeline

1. 1981

   Tinker Hatfield joins Nike after practicing architecture in Eugene, Oregon.

2. Feb 20, 1989

   Principal photography begins on Back to the Future Part II, shot back to back with Part III.

3. Nov 22, 1989

   Back to the Future Part II opens in North America with Marty's self-lacing Nikes on screen.

4. 2004

   About 30,000 fans have signed online petitions asking Nike to make the shoe.

5. Jul 2008

   Nike releases a Hyperdunk Supreme that fans nickname the Air McFly.

6. Apr 2009

   Nike files a patent for self-lacing shoes.

7. Sep 8, 2011

   Fox unveils the 2011 Nike MAG, and 1,500 pairs go to charity auction.

8. Oct 21, 2015

   On the film's future date, Nike delivers the first working self-lacing MAG to Fox.

9. Oct 4, 2016

   Nike opens a $10-per-entry charity draw for 89 self-lacing 2016 MAGs.

10. Jun 2018

    A single original left screen shoe from a Nike employee's collection is offered at online auction, pickup only in Portland.

11. Jul 1, 2018

    The shoe sells for $92,100 after 220 bids.

12. Aug 26, 2020

    A restored left MAG prop is offered at auction in Los Angeles with a $15,000 to $20,000 estimate.

The world in 1989

• Jan 20, 1989

  George H. W. Bush is inaugurated as president of the United States.

• Mar 12, 1989

  Tim Berners-Lee writes the proposal that becomes the blueprint for the World Wide Web.

• Mar 24, 1989

  The Exxon Valdez runs aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, and spills oil.

• Jun 4, 1989

  The Chinese military cracks down on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square.

• Oct 17, 1989

  The Loma Prieta earthquake shakes the San Francisco Bay Area during the World Series.

• Nov 9, 1989

  The Berlin Wall opens.

• Dec 20, 1989

  The United States invades Panama.

Price record

A realized auction price is what a buyer actually paid on the date shown, including the buyer's premium where the sale reported it. It is the strongest kind of reference price, and it is a record of one sale of one object on one day, not a promise of what the next example will bring.

By reference price, Original 1989 Nike MAG prop (Back to the Future Part II, screen-used) is number 14 of 100 in the sneakers entries of the FLOAT 100. 22 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (14 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Crew members pulled the 'power laces' through holes in the stage floor.
• Fox wore a large battery pack on set to power the shoes' lights.
• The 2018 sale was for a single left shoe, and the buyer had to collect it in Portland because it was too fragile to ship.
• Tinker Hatfield trained as an architect and pole-vaulted for Nike co-founder Bill Bowerman before he designed shoes.
• About 30,000 fans signed petitions asking Nike to make the shoe for real.
• Nike gave Fox a working self-lacing pair on October 21, 2015, the exact day Marty visits in the film.