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The mall that served as the exterior location in Back to the Future could soon become a data center — and one of the film’s creators isn’t thrilled.
Puente Hills Mall in southern California served as the fictional Twin Pines Mall in the hit 1985 film that starred Michael J. Fox as teenager Marty McFly and Christopher Lloyd as Dr. Emmett “Doc” Brown. But under a new proposal, the now largely vacant mall would become multiple warehouses, a bus transit station and a data center.
Responding to Newsweek’s report about the future of the shopping center, Bob Gale, the film’s co-creator, co-writer and co-producer, told The Independent: “As to Puente Hills becoming a data center, that’s a question best left to the people who live in the area. I’m ignorant as to what kind of data is involved, but I certainly am not in favor of anything that helps the government or private companies surveil Americans or keep files on us.
“If it’s secretive, my default reaction is opposition,” Gale continued. “And if it involves AI, my position is, if AI was really so smart, it would figure out how to make data centers that can function with far less power within much smaller footprints!
Gale concluded: “Whatever it is, I think I’d prefer that it not be called ‘Twin Pines Data Center.’ Although if Doc and Marty were to travel to 2035, that’s probably what they’d find!”
Bob Gale has shared his thoughts on the Puente Hills Mall becoming an AI data center (Getty)
Puente Hills Mall opened in the 1970s. The mall’s exterior famously appears in the scene where Doc shows Marty McFly the time machine he built from a DeLorean.
Newsweek reported that the shopping center is mostly vacant now, with just an AMC movie theater and an entertainment space with an arcade and bowling alley remaining.
News of the proposed data center comes as “Back to the Future Day” was celebrated October 21, the day that Marty McFly, Doc and Jennifer Parker time-travel in Back to the Future Part II.
The initial film, Back to the Future, became a massive success as the hit film of 1985, spending close to three months at the top of the box office rankings, and spawning two more films in its franchise, which has since earned over $1 billion. The film also skyrocketed Fox’s career.
Fox has spoken about the integral role Gale played while they filmed, especially as the young actor was juggling filming Back to the Future with the NBC sitcom Family Ties.
Lea Thompson and Michael J Fox in ‘Back to the Future’ (Universal Pictures)
In his 2025 memoir Future Boy, he wrote about not remembering much about his final day on set due to fatigue.
“Let me tell you what I remember about that last day: I don’t remember anything. Nada. Nothing. Zero. Bupkis,” Fox wrote in the memoir.
“By the time we wrapped, I was too exhausted to search for indicators of greatness,” he writes of the film. “I had other things on my mind. I planned to take a quick vacation, and following that, I was due in England to begin production on a Family Ties TV movie.”
Fox relied on Gale, along with director Robert Zemeckis, to jog his memory of that final day.