Famous movie cars spotted in Birmingham

I'm a big fan of the Back to the Future, Ghostbusters and Batman movie franchises. So when I heard that the famous movie cars were coming to Birmingham, I had to see them! The DeLorean from the Back to the Future Trilogy, Ecto 1 from Ghostbusters and Ecto 1A from Ghostbusters 2. Even the Batmobile from Batman (1989) has been to the city!

The Back to the Future DeLorean

The Acocks Green Village BID held an event in the village on the 1st August 2015 called the Alien Invasion of Acocks Green. And this is when the Back to the Future DeLorean visited. Seen near some shops on the Warwick Road. This appears like the famous movie car as it was in the hit movie Back to the Future Part II (released in 1989). You also see it hover converting at the end of the classic 1985 movie!

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 A Marty McFly impersonator was on site dressed like Marty was in the second movie. With the colourful baseball hat and the self drying jacket! The movie went to 2015 with hoverboards, flying cars etc. But none of this technology happened by the time we were in 2015!

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BTTF DeLorean at MCM Birmingham Comic Con

The second DeLorean I saw from Back to the Future was at the MCM Birmingham Comic Con, held at the Birmingham NEC. I went to the comic book convention in November 2016. Don't usually go to things like this much, and this was the only MCM Comic Con I've been to. I've not been back since. This DeLorean also resembled the version from BTTF Part II. And this time was an man dressed as Doctor Emmett Brown, aka the Doc!

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Along side the car was various skateboards and hoverboards based on those used in the movie. Including the Pit Bull used by the bad guy Griff Tatten. While Marty McFly used a Mattel Hoverboard!

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Front view of the DeLorean at the MCM Comic Con at the NEC. Gull wing door open and and some of the hats from the second movie.

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Also seen behind was an image of Twin Pines Mall from the first movie. Doc used Plutonium to power the DeLorean and when it hit 88 miles per hour it went back or forward in time! By the end of the first movie and into the second, the Doc had replaced the power source with rubbish (or garbage as Americans like to call it, or trash!). In the Mr Fusion reactor at the back! The camcorder that Marty used to record the first time travel experiment on the 26th October 1985 at 1:21am.

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Ecto 1A - Ghostbusters II - Navigation Street

This one was completely random and unexpected. Seen on Navigation Street close to The Mailbox (on the 14th March 2015) was this wedding hire car that looked like the Ecto 1A from the movie Ghostbusters II (released in 1989). It was one of the first movies I saw a as child during the Christmas season of 1989 (Vigo the Carpathian was scary for an 7 year old). The car headed under the underpass below Suffolk Street Queensway, before turning back around. It had the distincitive two fingers Ghostbuster logo on the car.

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If there's something strange, in the neighbourhood, who ya gunna call? Reports of a ghost on the loose at The Mailbox was a false alarm. They were now seen heading in the direction of Birmingham New Street Station. At the time a movie was in production for 2016, which turned out to be an all female reboot. Recently another movie in the original Ghostbusters movie timeline has been announced for summer 2020.

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The car does look pretty cool don't you think? Seen here going past Sainsbury's Local near the Orion Building, stuck in traffic. Bustin' makes me feel good! Two in the box, ready to go, we be fast and they be slow!

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Ecto 1 from Ghostbusters at Broadway Plaza

Another Ghostbusters car made an appearance at Broadway Plaza near Ladywood Middleway (outside the casino and what was the former entrance to the ex Children's Hospital) on the 23rd July 2016. I think this was while the Ghostbusters (2016) movie was in cinemas (also known as Ghosbusters: Answer the Call). The car is the Ecto 1 from the original Ghostbusters from 1984.

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This is obviously based on the car from the first Ghostbusters movie, as it has the original Ghostbusters no ghosts logo on it. Rumour of a ghost on the loose at the former Children's Hospital was a false alarm! Although maybe Broadway Plaza spotted Slimer flying around, and slimming people?

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From where the Ghostbusters car was, you can head up the path to the Odeon cinema. It used to be an AMC until 2012. Last year in 2018, Odeon turned it into an Odeon Luxe. In January 2019 it was announced that a new Ghostbusters movie will be made for a summer 2020 release set in the original Ghostbusters movie universe.

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Batmobile from Batman (1989) at Broadway Plaza

Just over a year later on the 26th August 2017, the Batmobile from the movie Batman (released in 1989) was seen in the same spot as the Ecto 1 the year before. A version of it was also used in Batman Returns from 1992. Like all the cars here, this is a replica and not a screen used car.

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It was Superhero Day at Broadway Plaza, although I didn't see Batman around, just his car!

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My first Batman movie at the cinema was Batman Forever in 1995. I was too young when the first two movies came out (later saw them on TV). I've seen all live action Batman movies (of all incarnations) at the big screen since.

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The most recent appearance for Batman was in Justice League that came out in 2017, and before that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in 2016. There was also the Lego Batman Movie which would have been more suitable for young kids. I wasn't aware of Broadway Plaza having a movie car like this there in 2018, as I didn't see anything on their social media accounts. Then again I stopped going to Odeon Broadway Plaza when they turned it into a Luxe. I prefer my cinemas to have normal seats, so I now go to either: Odeon New Street, Cineworld Broad Street or Empire Great Park Birmingham (Rubery).

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Photos taken by Elliott Brown