Back To The Future Returns to the Big Screen as Gala Durham Launches New Blockbuster Cinema Season

Following the sell-out success of last year's Jaws 50th Anniversary screening, Gala Durham is preparing to launch a major new cinema season, The Blockbuster Era: When Movies Became Events, opening with a special screening of Back To The Future on Saturday 5 September 2026.

The evening begins at 7pm with Return to Hill Valley: In Conversation With…, an event featuring Pascal Fintoni, founder of the Film Marketing Academy and film marketing consultant, and Paul Stainthorpe, award-winning filmmaker and founder of Hazy Pine Pictures, the same pairing who hosted last year's Jaws celebration. Following the discussion, audiences will experience Back To The Future fully remastered on the big screen from 7:30pm.

Released in 1985, Back To The Future became one of the defining films of its decade, helping to cement the summer blockbuster as a cultural phenomenon and launching a franchise that remains beloved four decades on.

The screening opens The Blockbuster Era: When Movies Became Events, a new annual season at Gala Durham celebrating some of the most influential films of the 1970s and 1980s. Back To The Future will be followed by further landmark titles, including Star Wars, Superman and Alien, with the season returning to Gala Durham every year to bring more of cinema's greatest blockbusters back to the big screen.

During the Q&A, Pascal Fintoni will look back at how Back To The Future's groundbreaking marketing campaign helped shape the blockbuster era we still live in today, while Paul Stainthorpe shares personal stories and rare insights from his own pilgrimage to the film's iconic filming locations.

"The response to Jaws at Gala Durham showed just how powerful these films still are when they're experienced together in a cinema," said Fintoni. "This new programme builds on that wonderful energy and brings it into a wider celebration of blockbuster cinema."

"These films aren't just classics, they're shared cultural moments," added Stainthorpe. "What we're doing is giving audiences the chance to experience them again in the way they were meant to be seen, on the big screen with fellow fans of all ages."

The launch builds on Gala Durham's growing reputation as one of the North East's leading destinations for shared cinema experiences. Last year's Jaws anniversary night sold out the venue's Main Auditorium, bringing together grandparents, parents and children for a night that spanned generations, and organisers hope the new season will bring that same sense of community to audiences across the region.

The screening takes place in Gala Durham's Main Auditorium, giving audiences the chance to experience Back To The Future's remastered picture and sound in full, from Alan Silvestri's sweeping orchestral score to the unmistakable tracks by Huey Lewis and the News that helped define the film.

Tickets for Back To The Future are £10 and available at https://galadurham.co.uk/galapost/back-to-the-future-special-screening/ or at the Gala Durham box office.