"Back to the Future" director on remake: "Over my dead body"

In an age where remakes and reboots are taking the Hollywood box office by storm (looking at you, "Jurassic Park" and "Star Wars") fear not - there are still some untouchable classics.

Robert Zemeckis, filmmaker and the director of the "Back to the Future" series, wont't let his classic be tampered with. When asked if he'd allow a remake to happen, his response was pretty unyielding.

"Oh, God no," he told The Telegraph, when asked if he and co-writer Bob Gale would ever sign off on a reboot.

"That can't happen until both Bob [Gale] and I are dead," he said. "And then I'm sure they'll do it, unless there's a way our estates can stop it."

Zemeckis admits a remake would probably be a financial success because of the established fan base. This is known as a "pre-sold title," similar to how "Jurassic World" -- one of the highest grossing films of all time -- achieved such commercial success even years after the original "Jurassic Park" came out in 1993.

Still, his argument against a remake would inspire any movie buff.

"I mean, to me, that's outrageous. Especially since it's a good movie," he said. "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?"

Gale and Zemeckis signed contracts with Universal and Amblin Entertainment in 1984 that give the two men final say on any "Back to the Future" films as long as they live. And Gale has previously shut down ideas of a prequel or sequel to the original trilogy. Significantly, a remake wouldn't have Michael J. Fox, who has cut back his acting to fight his Parkinson's disease.

"The idea of making another Back to the Future movie without Michael J. Fox - you know, that's like saying, 'I'm going to cook you a steak dinner and I'm going to hold the beef,'" he told a fan convention in 2008.

Instead, Gale and Zemeckis are working on a "Back to the Future" musical. The two planned to release the play in London later this year but the release date has been pushed back.

"We're not going to put it out there until we absolutely love it ourselves," Gale told Yahoo.

Zemeckis is returning to the big screen later this year with his most recent project, "The Walk," a story about Philippe Petit, the French tightrope artist who became controversial after walking a tightrope between the two World Trade Center towers in 1974.