It’s the biggest internal dilemma for any modern movie fan – everything you love is slowly, but surely getting remade. And while the new versions don’t wipe the old ones out of existence, it’s the principle of the matter. But we have some good news to fall back on for the time being. Director Robert Zemeckis has assured the public that at least one bonafide classic is safe for the time being: as long as he’s alive, Back to the Future will never get remade.

As part of their original deal with Universal, Zemeckis and screenwriter Bob Gale own the Back to the Future series and while they’ll put their stamp of approval on all kinds of merchandise, theme park attractions, and video game spin-offs, a remake will have to wait until they are dead and gone. Okay, Zemeckis wasn’t that harsh in his statement to the Telegraph:

Oh, God no. That can’t happen until both Bob and I are dead. And then I’m sure they’ll do it, unless there’s a way our estates can stop it.

I mean, to me, that’s outrageous. Especially since it’s a good movie. It’s like saying ‘Let’s remake Citizen Kane. Who are we going to get to play Kane?’ What folly, what insanity is that? Why would anyone do that?

It takes a slight amount of ego to bring up Citizen Kane as a reference point for your movie, but c’mon, let’s just be honest with ourselves here. Back to the Future is a classic and easily one of the best movies of the ’80s. Zemeckis would have to be dumb (and he’s certainly not dumb) to not realize that he made one of the best and most popular movies of all time and that it has endured for a reason. Plus, he’s right! Why remake a good movie? Movie studios should get to work remaking all of the bad movies instead and the world would probably be a better, or at least more interesting, place.

We know that’s naive. If a Back to the Future remake ever happens, it will be the product of brand recognition. That title alone guarantees a massive opening weekend. But Robert Zemeckis is only 64 years old. If he lives in a bubble and eats right, he still has a few decades left. Quick! Someone cryogenically freeze him so he’ll technically never die and Back to the Future will never get remade! It’s the only way.

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