NEW ORLEANS — A line of more than 500 people waits to get autographs from the man behind the curtain at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans on Friday afternoon.
Some are holding so many items, they are in tow with suitcases and portable wagons despite the fact it's $250 to $400 per autograph.
At 4:30 p.m., the line starts moving. One thing everyone notices? It's faster than any autograph line you'll ever see. There are no phones allowed, but what you'll see behind that curtain should be documented as a model of efficiency.
At the front of the line, the curtain pulls back. There are five men at the table.
One takes the customer's items. One matches up the pens. One hands the item to the man in the middle and points to where it needs to be signed. And one man hands the items back to the customer and points them to the exit.
There's music blasting. The man in the middle is at peak performance.
The rocking back and forth is an unfortunate effect of the Parkinson's Disease that has ravaged his body. He needs help getting to and from chairs, and his speech is often slurred, but what will define the life of Michael J. Fox is that he just kept going.
And there's nothing more evident than what's happening here at the "Back to the Future" 40th anniversary event. His signature has definitely declined over the years — some autographs are better than others, some days are worse than others — but he keeps signing for his fans.
Estimates are often hard to nail down, and the executives behind this particular show, FAN EXPO, won't share numbers. However, on this weekend in New Orleans, Fox likely signed more than 3,000 autographs in 48 hours.
That's close to grossing $1 million, and that's not even counting the photo opportunities.
To stand in between Marty McFly and Doc Brown for a photo is $372.
The fans have a love for the actor Fox was in many roles, but most of them are here to get his signature on items from "Back to the Future," with the movie celebrating its four-decade anniversary.
And here in New Orleans, FAN EXPO is taking advantage of the milestone, bringing back nearly everyone from Fox to Christopher Lloyd (Brown) to Lea Thompson (Lorraine Baines) and Tom Wilson (Biff Tannen). Even more fringe characters are signing, including Donald Fullilove (Goldie Wilson) and Harry Waters Jr. (Marvin Berry).
“Back to the Future is a cash cow like none other,” said Beckett senior authenticator Steve Grad, who has compiled the most extensive autographed "Star Wars" collection in the world. “They are a constant draw wherever they go.”
Thanks to the popularity over the last 15 years of the franchise in the autograph space, Grad says "Back to the Future" has likely become the most valuable franchise in movie history on the autograph circuit, passing the combined revenue of what was earned by actors from the "Star Wars" franchise.
“Carrie (Fisher) has been gone for eight years, and Harrison (Ford) has never done a public signing,” Grad said. “Mark (Hamill) charged $20 for years and then gradually raised.”
Grad said part of the reason the "Back to the Future" cast has risen to the top is the actors have often done autograph signings together. Fox is the glue that holds everyone together.
So, why does Back to the Future vault to the top?
"It's got everything a great movie has — action, adventure, special effects, a car going through time" said Wilson, who played Biff in all three movies. "But it has something that a lot of movies don't have, which is an unbelievably great heart. It's friendship and family and love.
"What if you met your mom and dad when you were a kid and they were your age? What were they like? Would you be friends with them? I think those are all the things, the things that connect people to their own lives, that really makes 'Back to the Future' a great movie, but a loved and remembered movie."
It also has more incredible collector pieces than any other movie — from the DeLorean car itself, to the red puffy jacket, the futuristic hat and hoverboards to Gray's Sports Almanac and the iconic movie posters. That's leaving out the self-lacing Nike Air Mags, which Fox will not sign for some reason.
Fans come for the in-person meeting. As far as the value of the collectibles, there have been so many items signed, and the cast has become so available, the resale values struggle to hold up.
The lines for Fox, who filmed the role after the original actor cast, Eric Stoltz, was let go after filming most of the scenes, are not surprising. Neither are those for Lloyd, Thompson and Wilson. But there are others whose demand makes one realize how big of a franchise this is, including Claudia Wells, who played Marty's girlfriend, Jennifer Parker, in the first film.
Wells' draw? She signs a clock tower poster, just like she did in the movie. But instead of leaving her number for Marty, she leaves her number for the person she is signing the autograph to.
Noticeably missing is George McFly, memorably played by Crispin Glover in the first film. Glover reportedly had issues with the message being sent by the ending of the first film, and when he was approached to do the sequel, he told pop culture website AV Club in 2012, he was given a low-ball salary because of that.
When producers mimicked his look and voice in the sequel without his permission, Glover sued and won, leading to a new precedent from the Screen Actors Guild — no one can make one actor look or sound like another actor.
If one thinks Fox is here just for the money, think again. While his conversation with fans is very limited, he does seem to enjoy what he was doing. When this reporter gave him a record for Johnny B. Goode, the song Fox sings at the Enchantment Under The Sea dance, Fox looked up.
"Who's is this?" he asks.
I say it's mine.
"Can I do something special?" he says.
"Sure," I reply. How can I deny this opportunity?
Fox starts writing around the record in a way that it's impossible to know what he's doing.
When it's done, I look at it.
It reads: "Your kids are going to LOVE IT!" That iconic line when the senior class of Hill Valley High is petrified by Fox playing Johnny B. Goode, which was written three years later.
I look back at Fox and smile.
Forty years after his character rocked the stage, he is limited by what he can do. But he's still Marty McFly, and that's why so many people are here.
Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectibles market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.