Earlier this year it was reported that Michael Bay would be producing a Chronicle found footage type film called Almanac. There was no information on what the film would be about when it was first announced, but we now have some story details. As you'll see it was definitely inspired by Back to the Future II. Thanks to Bleeding Cool here's a rundown of the story...
The lead character, David, is a smart kid in high school but he’s finding dating hard. He’s drawn to Jessie, the typical popular girl, and decides that he’ll try to attract her by winning the science fair, and the college scholarship that will net him. Bless.
David’s late father was a scientist and so he looks through his Dad’s stuff for ideas – and he finds two things of note. One gives him the ability to time travel… and the other is a sports almanac. Anybody who has seen Back to the Future 2 can guess where this is headed.
Two more of David’s friends travel back through time with him to abuse the almanac. Timelines get messed with, we learn more about David’s Dad’s research and there’s apparently a couple of pretty big twists… one of which I was able to guess, in fact.
Apparently Back to the Future doesn't exist in this universe, because maybe if they would have heard Doc Browns warning to Marty they wouldn't have gone crazy with the abuse of time travel. The script was written by first-time writers Andrew Starkand Jason Pagan, and Dean Israelite is attached to direct. They go on to say,
Much of the success of Almanac will be down to casting, I’m told. The lead roles spend a lot of time together, and its their relationships and interactions that will elevate the film.
I wouldn't say this is a complete rip-off, but they definitely took the concept from Back to the Future, and ran with it. Hopefully it turns out to be good movie.