Last year Reebok embraced the dark side of the foot, releasing a sleek line of shoes inspired by Star Wars. This year, hot on their heels, Nike are jumping on board the movie fandom footwear bandwagon with a run of self-lacing shoes inspired by Back to the Future 2.

Marty McFly’s spiffy space-age boots were not, it should be noted, the film’s coolest invention (hoverboard, anyone?) but maybe — just maybe —  the rest aren’t too far behind (including his self-drying jacket and…flux capacitor).

According to a patent filed by Nike last year:

The automatic lacing system provides a set of straps that can be automatically opened and closed to switch between a loosened and tightened position of the upper. The article further includes an automatic ankle cinching system that is configured to automatically adjust an ankle portion of the upper.

In other words, the wearer flicks a switch that activates a battery-powered motor and hey presto — there’s your shoelaces all tight and ready.

So where can you buy a pair? There isn’t any official provider or website yet but a promotional video has surfaced on Youtube (you can watch it below) and the rumour mills are suggesting Nike will make an official announcement in coming days. Sadly, there is no word yet — not even speculation — about those hoverboards…

Update: the Back to the Future shoes — aka the 2011 Nike Mags — are now available to purchase online here.

And now the originals…