Sci-fi movies and TV shows have long been captivated by the idea of predicting the future, but they don’t always get it right. The genre’s boundless nature allows it to explore almost any scenario that comes to one’s mind, and some titles have been remarkably successful in anticipating what lies ahead. Some sci-fi movies anticipate a bleak future, but others, technology. From Minority Report to Star Wars, a number of iconic sci-fi works have almost perfectly captured the coming times. Innovations like self-driving cars, digital billboards, artificial intelligence, and so many more have been foreseen by media released years earlier.
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However, in addition to the many sci-fi titles that are more science than fiction, there are as many that completely missed the mark in terms of predicting future events; especially older ones. Decades ago, it was quite easy to imagine that humanity would achieve global unity, robots would replace humans in mundane jobs, and flying cars would become a common sight. Alongside this relentless optimism, there were equally intense fears about the future, many of which, in hindsight, proved to be unfounded.
10 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Space Dreams Of The ’60s Still Unfulfilled
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9/10 8.9/10 2001: A Space Odyssey
2001: A Space Odyssey is one of Stanley Kubrick’s most well-known films. A science-fiction epic, the film tells the story of the journey of Discovery One, a spacecraft operated by a group of scientists, astronauts, and a sentient computer, on a mission to Jupiter to investigate a mysterious monolith. Considered one of the greatest films ever made, Kubrick combines sparse dialogue with the heavy use of scoring and ambiguous imagery to create something that eschews conventional filmmaking.
Set in the year 2001, as the title implies, 2001: A Space Odyssey imagined a future where regular commercial space travel, moon bases, and advanced artificial intelligence would be a thing. Hailed by many as Stanley Kubrick’s best film, this 1968 sci-fi masterpiece was ahead of its time in nearly every aspect, but most of its ambitious predictions never happened.
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More than two decades beyond the year shown in the movie, the human race remains far from vacationing in space, colonizing the Moon, or creating emotionally intelligent AI. While the ’60s were a time when all of this seemed plausible, the reality is that humanity has been stagnant in most areas the people of the past were most optimistic about. Other than being able to ask Siri to find a nearby restaurant, we’ve fallen short of the future 2001: A Space Odyssey once imagined.
9 Back to the Future Part II (1989)
Do You Remember… Fax Machines?
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9/10 6/10 Back to the Future Part II
Taking up where the first movie left off, Back to the Future Part II sees Marty McFly and Doc Brown travel to the year 2015, where their efforts to fix the future end up causing even bigger problems as Biff Tannen wreaks havoc across the timeline with the help of a stolen sports almanac. Martin J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd return in Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale’s second installment of their iconic trilogy.
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In Back to the Future Part II, the year 2015 was imagined as a high-tech wonderland filled with futuristic gadgets and systems that would dramatically alter daily life. Hoverboards, self-lacing shoes, and flying cars were meant to be everywhere, as well as fax machines. Interestingly enough, humanity has come closer to the first three inventions than to the widespread use of fax machines.
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While hoverboards and self-lacing shoes (like the Nike Mags) do exist in simplified forms, and self-driving cars have become a reality, the flying version remains more of a fantasy than a functional technology. In practice, humans lack a number of resources necessary for making most of the gadgets depicted in Back to the Future Part II. Fortunately, we have been able to ditch fax machines for the internet, which has made everyday tasks far simpler than this ’80s classic predicted.
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8 Escape from New York (1981)
NYC’s Predicted Prison Future
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9/10 Escape From New York
John Carpenter takes on the role of writer, composer, and director in Escape from New York, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi film where a large portion of New York City is converted into the biggest prison in the world, with all criminals in the United States sentenced there. When the President is kidnapped and taken abruptly into the heart of the prison, the government will turn to former soldier turned convict Snake Plissken to rescue him within twenty-four hours in exchange for a full pardon of his crimes.
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For many, New York City symbolizes a place where dreams come true, but the 1981 sci-fi classic Escape from New York envisioned it in a far darker light. According to the film’s predictions for the decades following the 1980s, New York was meant to become a maximum-security prison, driven by the rise of violent crime and urban decay. Societal divisions and inequality grew, with both the government and criminals relying on advanced surveillance systems to maintain control over unruly citizens.
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Although elements like rising disparity, surveillance, and political instability have become relevant in modern times, the dystopian collapse portrayed in Escape from New York remains purely fictional. We are yet to fragment into the apocalyptic isolation seen in the movie, and while there are areas you should avoid when in NYC, there still aren’t fully walled-off zones holding people captive.
7 Space: 1999 (1975–1977)
The Moon Stayed Put
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Space: 1999
Space: 1999 is a British science fiction series set in the year 1999, following the inhabitants of Moonbase Alpha as the moon is blown out of Earth’s orbit by a massive explosion. Led by Commander John Koenig (Martin Landau), the crew faces survival challenges while encountering various alien civilizations. Created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, the show combines futuristic technology with dramatic storytelling.
Another sci-fi pièce de résistance from the ’70s, Space: 1999, made bold predictions about the future that ultimately never came to life. Set in the year 1999, the British TV series followed the inhabitants of a lunar colony as they dealt with various space crises after the Moon was unexpectedly ejected from Earth’s orbit.
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Given the cultural influence of the 1969 Moon landing, it’s no surprise that the media of the time reflected the sentiment. However, the last time humans stepped on the surface of the Moon was in 1972. Moreover, the scenario of the Moon being hurled out of Earth’s orbit is highly unlikely, which is probably why it never happened in real life. The series also imagined the Earth would be united under a single world government by 1999, which is a far cry from reality, even decades later.
6 Soylent Green (1973)
Overpopulation, Food Shortages, And Corporate Deception
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Soylent Green
Soylent Green is a dystopian science fiction film set in an overpopulated 2022, where the world faces extreme resource scarcity and environmental decay. Charlton Heston stars as Detective Thorn, who investigates the murder of a wealthy businessman. As he delves deeper, Thorn uncovers a disturbing secret about the synthetic food supply produced by the Soylent Corporation. Directed by Richard Fleischer, the film explores the consequences of overpopulation and corporate greed.
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The year is 2022, and New York City is, once again, the setting of a societal dystopia. In Soylent Green, overpopulation, climate disaster, food shortages, and extreme socioeconomic inequality have finally taken hold, painting a very bleak picture of what lies ahead. However, the most shocking twist in this sci-fi gem is the truth about “Soylent Green,” a processed wafer secretly made from human remains.
Even though some of the issues depicted, like overpopulation and environmental challenges, have been on the rise, they are nowhere near the catastrophic levels portrayed in this 1973 picture. The most far-fetched prediction — resorting to human remains as a food source — clearly and thankfully remains purely in the realm of fiction. Still, despite its exaggerated vision of societal collapse, Soylent Green’s narrative could be interpreted as a cautionary tale of corporate overreach and environmental neglect.
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5 SeaQuest DSV (1993–1996)
Underwater Colonies Remain A Fantasy
In the ’90s, SeaQuest DSV predicted a future where humans would live underwater, making Earth’s oceans the hub of all political and military activity. While there was no underwater breathing or people growing fins, the show depicted people living in high-tech submarines by 2018, driven by a lack of resources on land.
The advanced marine technology seen in
SeaQuest DSV
— capable of supporting long-term underwater living — remains far beyond our current capabilities.
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However, not only are humans living exclusively on land, but we have actually explored space almost more extensively than we have the oceans. About 95% of Earth’s oceans remain unknown to the human race, making us very far from any type of colonization of the depths. Furthermore, the advanced marine technology seen in the series — capable of supporting long-term underwater living — remains far beyond our current capabilities. While underwater tech has advanced since SeaQuest DSV first aired in 1993, humans are still far behind marine domination.
4 Logan’s Run (1976)
30, Flirty, And Dead
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Logan’s Run
Set in the 23rd century, Logan’s Run follows inhabitants of a domed city where citizens live luxuriously but are not allowed to live past 30. Renewal is promised through a ceremony, but escape becomes the sole alternative, challenging the societal constraints.
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Looking back at older sci-fi films can reveal a lot about the societal fears of their time. Judging by the plot of Logan’s Run, which was released in 1976, people were seriously afraid of overpopulation. Set in the year 2274, the movie predicts society’s breakdown by the 1990s, leading to a system where people are required to die at age 30 as a means to control the population. Those who remain live in high-tech, enclosed spaces that appear to be self-contained.
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Luckily, this sci-fi jewel completely missed the mark in terms of the future. The ’90s have gone by without a cultural collapse, and instead of focusing on eliminating people at a set age, society has made efforts to improve the aging process and promote health at every stage of life. Nowadays, being 30 years old is far from being old, let alone the point at which we’d be expected to kick the bucket.
3 Max Headroom (1987-1988)
Technology Evolved, But Not As Dystopian
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Max Headroom
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One of the boldest predictions in the sci-fi realm came from Max Headroom, a TV show that aired from 1987 to 1988. Set in “20 minutes into the future,” which is proposed to be the early 2000s, the series depicts a dystopian world dominated by corporate-run media, relentless advertising, and the merging of humans and technology. Also, not being allowed to turn off your TV was evidently a major concern of the time.
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The predicted evolution of technology did happen, but reality isn’t nearly as totalitarian or invasive as Max Headroom imagined. Granted, ads have become suspiciously personal and AI has infiltrated nearly every aspect of the content we consume, but our media is vastly decentralized and there are increasing laws protecting users’ online privacy. Plus, we’re still out there touching grass, so it looks like virtual reality will have to hold off on taking over just yet.
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2 Blade Runner (1982)
Stylish And Iconic, Not Accurate
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9/10 7.5/10 Blade Runner
The original Blade Runner is a sci-fi neo-noir film set in 2019 in a dystopian cyber-punk society. Harrison Ford stars as Rick Deckard as a Blade Runner for the LAPD, tasked with hunting rogue replicants, genetically engineered humans designed to tackle tasks that human beings cannot. When four replicants go rogue and begin killing humans, Deckard is forced out of retirement to hunt them down and stop them – but the truth isn’t as simple as it seems. Deckard will have to reckon with the philosophical dilemma of what makes someone human.
Despite undeniably being one of the best neo-noir movies from the ‘80s, Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner did not accurately predict the future. Featuring replicants — humanoid robots — as a central element, its imagined future differs greatly from reality; it’s still just humans (as far as we know, at least). Flying cars, holographic ads, and severe urban decay also remain fictional, while Los Angeles today looks far different from the dark, dystopian streets Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) patrols.
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Human-like machines aren’t used for labor or entertainment (though robots are becoming more common in daily life), and the film’s idea of widespread space colonization is not an experience humans have had the opportunity to enjoy. Therefore, while Blade Runner remains iconic for its style and story, it reflects the anxieties of its era rather than an accurate prediction of the future.
1 Things To Come (1936)
Utopia That Never Came
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Things to Come
Things to Come depicts a futuristic vision where a prolonged World War leads to social collapse and ruin. This narrative unfolds over a century, as society transitions from chaos to renewal, under a rational state that seeks to reconstruct civilization and embark on space exploration.
Promoted as H.G.Wells’ amazing prediction of the future, Things to Come has not proven to be particularly accurate. Set in a timeline from 1940 to 2036, this sci-fi classic imagined a time when humanity would live together under a worldwide utopian order. Unfortunately, that clearly hasn’t happened. Moreover, even though we haven’t reached 2036 yet, given the current state of global affairs, it seems highly unlikely that we’ll see such ideals dominate the world in the coming decade.
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Aside from its wildly optimistic view of a global order, Things to Come predicted that humanity would reach a technological peak, featuring advanced machines, automated buildings, and futuristic cities. While the film showcased an impressive vision of technology and human progress, it was, sadly, too confident about the speed and scale at which such innovations would come to life.
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