From my own experience, building a futuristic world is not about wild imagination. Rather, it’s about predicting the psychological change in mankind and their needs, or else you might turn it into a fantasy. Because there’s no real point of reference, world-building for a story set far ahead in the future can be more challenging than recreating a historical event.
However, making a film that is set in the future is like playing god, and let me tell you, it’s oddly exciting. That drive to try to predict the future while you’re designing a future of your own (even if it is just for the reel) is unreal. It’s not only about fancy gadgets or modern architecture—it’s about capturing the shifting mindset of the people over time.
While we’re on the topic, Hollywood has produced some of the best sci-fi films that were not only milestones in the genre but also accurately predicted the future. In this article, we’re enlisting films that foretold the future.
Movies that Predicted the Future
1.2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey2001: A Space Odyssey is a visual meditation on human evolution and existentialism. The narrative follows a space crew of three (one of them a supercomputer), as they set out to investigate a mysterious artifact uncovered on the moon. Released in 1968, the film uncannily presents a future that is very much similar to our reality today. The narrative features technologies that are deeply embedded into our present-day lifestyle, including tablets, video calling, interactive artificial intelligence such as Siri or Alexa, and an android robot such as Hal. The character arc of the supercomputer HAL (whom Kubrick treats as one of the human leads in the movie) also hints at a possible future where machines might go rogue against humans.
2. The Terminator (1984)
James Cameron’s The Terminator features a world where machines cohabitate with humans. The narrative revolves around an oncoming war between humans and machines. As the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a cyborg assassin, sets out to hunt down a young woman destined to birth a child who will lead mankind in the war against machines, the story introduces us to a wide array of futuristic gadgets and technologies such as automated military drones, AI, and cybernetics. Considering that Cameron designed such a world back in the 1980s truly proves his genius. Not to forget, the concept of an android robot like the Terminator foreshadows the risks of unchecked technological advancement, which is one of the biggest concerns of today’s society.
3. WarGames (1983)
John Badham’s WarGames follows a young man (Matthew Broderick) who inadvertently triggers digital warfare between the U.S.A. and Russia, misunderstanding it to be a harmless video game, after he is accidentally connected to a top-secret supercomputer that controls the entire U.S. nuclear arsenal. Released in 1983, when the internet was barely a concept, Badham’s WarGames not only features a side of the internet much ahead of its time, but also warns mankind about the hazards of advanced cyber connectivity.
4. Blade Runner (1982)
Ridley Scott’s neo-noir saga of a futuristic world, Blade Runner, is marked by urban decay, advanced biotech robots, and environmental degradation. Released in 1982, the narrative meticulously paints a picture of what the future looks like 30 years later in 2019. Thankfully, not everything Scott presented in the movie came true, but many things did, including human-like robots, AI, and even smart homes (also, we’re nearing an environmental catastrophe). Even the flying cars depicted in the movie are not too far from becoming a reality, with several companies actively dedicated to their research and development (the prototypes are already in place). In addition to technological predictions, the movie also predicted a world dominated by corporations and capitalism, which, unfortunately, is the truth of today’s economy.
5. Minority Report (2002)
Today, we live in a world where, even if we talk about something, somehow relevant advertisements about the product or service magically pop up on screen. Considering the alarming rise in targeted advertisement (that’s almost shoved down a consumer’s throat today), I don’t see how we won’t be living in Steven Spielberg’s world of Minority Report, in the next 25 years. Since its release in 2002, we’ve already come halfway through. The film follows John Anderton (Tom Cruise), who works with the elite Pre-Crime department of Washington. DC, to stop crimes before they are committed, with the help of three clairvoyants who can foresee crimes. Things take a tricky turn when one day the Pre-Cogs predict that Anderton will murder someone in the next 36 hours. A crime thriller set in 2054, Spielberg’s reimagination of our future is overall promising.
6. Total Recall (1990)
For those who watched the movie back when it was released in 1990, I’m sure it felt like a total sci-fi fantasy, especially when it came to world-building. The narrative centers on Douglas Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a bored construction worker in 2084, who goes on a virtual vacation to Mars by getting a neural implant, but a series of unexpected events unfold after the procedure goes wrong. While we’re still decades away from the future the movie is set in, its prediction of GPS, flat-screen TVs, and self-driving taxis has come true within 30 years of its release. In fact, I think having a dummy driver in a driverless car, just like in the movie, is indeed a good idea. It would make the experience a little less creepy and add a sense of safety for everyone who’s betting their life on a machine.
7. Contagion (2011)
I have a mindless conspiracy theory: Steven Soderbergh manifested COVID-19 while making Contagion. Sounds like an insult, but trust me, it’s actually a compliment—the entire film feels like a quick peek into a future that, now that you think of it, was less than a decade away from us. The narrative encapsulates the chaos that ensues after a viral pandemic takes over the world, and it is surreal how accurate Soderbergh is in his exploration of a global pandemic. Having watched the film during the COVID-19 pandemic (sweet irony), it was like watching a live reality show; only in the movie, the virus wasn’t called Corona.
8. Her (2013)
Not there yet, but the time is just around the corner when AI virtual assistants will be cohabiting with us, replacing human companionship in our lives, just as Spike Jonze imagines in Her. Jonze takes the concept a step ahead in Her, with a recently divorced man, Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), who gets emotionally attached to Samantha, his AI virtual assistant. Things were going well until Samantha decided that she would no longer take orders. Samantha and Theodore’s relationship mirrors the increasing loneliness of our times, making the narrative strikingly accurate in its visualization of what social nuclearity looks like.
Did we miss any? Let us know which is your favorite movie in the list.
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