ST. LOUIS — Hi-Pointe Theater was the place to be Sunday night for "Back to the Future" fans.
The award-winning 1980s franchise was imagined St. Louis native Bob Gale, who was home this weekend for a reunion and to present his decades of Hollywood know-how.
Many love the movie's main characters Marty McFly and Doc Brown, but most might not realize the 1985 hit was largely inspired by screenwriter and producer Gale's life growing up in University City in the 1950s.
It was a concept sparked by Gale looking at one of his dad's old yearbooks.
"Would I have been friends with my dad if I went to high school with him?" Gale said. "Boom. That's when the proverbial bolt of lightning struck me, and I said. 'That is a movie.' A kid goes back in time and ends up in high school with his dad."
Of course, "Hey, McFly" was one of the film's quotes said by high school bully Biff Tannen, played by Thomas Wilson. It's a line has stood the test of time for almost 40 years.
When co-writer and co-creator Gale heard it on set the first time, he knew it would be something special.
"Some of this stuff happens on the set, and it's not just the line," Gale said about Wilson. "It's the way the actor delivers the line."
It's just one of many iconic moments across three movies that brought out about 200 fans to the Hi-Pointe Theater on Sunday night. It was a chance to welcome the filmmaker back home for a dialogue conversation followed by a "Back to the Future" screening.
"The script for 'Back to the Future' was rejected 42 times before we got the movie made," Gale said during the Q&A moderated by The Fabulous Fox's Megan Ketcherside.
It was a chance to unpack the franchise's St. Louis Easter eggs.
"Marty lives in a subdivision called Lyon Estates. That's because of the UCity Lions that are on Delmar Boulevard," Gale said. "The Hill Valley sports team is called the Bulldogs. When I went to junior high school, at Brittany Junior High School, it was the Brittany Bulldogs."
After a 1986 Golden Globes nomination for best screenplay, Gale is making his theatrical writing debut thanks to "Back to the Future: The Musical." The North American tour is coming to the Fabulous Fox Theater next week and then premieres in Tokyo in April 2025.
"Back to the Future" performances at the Fox start next Tuesday and run until Oct. 6. Gale told 5 On Your Side he'll be back in St. Louis for opening night.
Ticket prices for "Back to the Future" range from $32 to $115. A digital lottery that will run every week to purchase $25 tickets. It opens every Monday at 10 a.m. and will close at midnight the Sunday heading into each week's shows.