Pepsi Max and the Empire Cinema Leicester Square sponsored a showing of Back to The Future, Part II. The show was scheduled to coincide with the time shown on the time-travelling DeLorean: Oct 21 2015, 04:29 PM.
The car in question was waiting out in Leicester Square, where – guess what – the rain had just stopped. I dodged the amused tourists, snapped a few pics and headed into Cafe 80’s.
A copy of the cafe seen in the film was constructed in the Empire Cinema’s concession area and a mix of contest winners and press were invited to echo Marty McFly’s plea: “All I want is a Pepsi!” The costumed waitress seemed delighted enough even though I quoted the almost identical lyric from Institutionalized instead. I got my Pepsi, though: a replica of the ‘Pepsi Perfect’ bottles seen in the film.
No sooner had I explored the place (and a hoverboard someone left lying around) than a familiar old man in mirrorshades and his young companion showed up. The geezer hopped up on a table and explained to us how our presence in the adjoining theatre was required for our trip Back to The Future.
The cinema kicked in a bag of popcorn to sweeten (and salt) the deal and there was a brief introduction by ‘Doc’ and ‘Marty’ before the lights went down. The film was preceded by adverts for hoverboards and Pepsi and Jaws 19 and a special bit that Christopher Lloyd shot for the occasion.
I remember Back to The Future quite well; I’ve seen it loads of times but here’s the kicker: today was my first viewing of Part II. My review in brief: Who’s for Part III?
