MOVIES THAT FORECASTED THE FUTURE WITH CREEPY ACCURACY

BLADE RUNNER (1982)

Digital billboards were nothing more than part of science fiction

when Ridley Scott made Blade Runner but nowadays, especially

if you live in a city like Tokyo or New York, you are so used to

them that you can’t imagine your city without them.

THE TRUMAN SHOW (1998)

This might sound strange to some, but in 1998 reality TV

was a mere fantasy scenario in films, or, to be more specific,

in one film titled The Truman Show with Jim Carrey.

AMERICATHON (1979)

Ámericathon is one of those cult movies that hasn’t

been properly rereleased since the days of VHS. In spite

of not being the most popular film out there, it managed

to predict many political and socioeconomic things such

as the declining state of U.S. oil production and the rise

of China as a global economic force by moving

toward capitalism following the fall of the USSR.

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)

Many consider it the greatest space movie ever made.

The Oscar-winning masterpiece by Stanley Kubrick has

turned out to be the cinematic equivalent of Nostradamus

since it predicted not one or two things about the future

but several, including tablet computing, the International

Space Station, space tourism, and Siri, yes HAL, we’re

talking about you. (One of the most fascinating movie

villains of modern cinema is this evil voice-controlled

computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey.)

STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE (1979)

We could honestly write a list of all the things Star Trek

(both the series and the films) predicted but the one that

stands out the most is the Bluetooth headsets. Does the

name Uhura ring any bells? You know, the pretty black

lady who was the Enterprise’s communications

officer at some point? Do you remember her wearing a

giant silver earpiece while sitting at the communications

station? Didn’t this piece look exactly like Bluetooth

headpieces from today?

SUPER MARIO BROS. (1993)

Even though one can claim that a few films predicted 9/11 one

way or another, this completely absurd movie predicted the

collapse of the World Trade Centre more accurately than

any other. From minute 2:08 of the film you can clearly see

the World Trade Centre being destroyed in an eerily similar way.

THE MATRIX (1999)

Well, Super Mario Bros. might have predicted the tragic 9/11

event, but The Matrix might have predicted something even

more impressive: its exact date. Keep in mind that the Matrix

takes place in the future and the present at the same time.

Inside the Matrix, the year is 1999 but outside the Matrix

its about 2199. This means that the robots know and

have already programmed in major historical events in

human history such as natural disasters, mass murders and

other atrocities. Also keep in mind that Neo worked in one

of the World Trade Centre buildings. Taking all of this

into consideration, do you recall a specific scene where

agent Smith is interrogating Neo and proceeds to flip

through his file? It only appears for a quick second but

thanks to freeze frame, we are able to see a copy of

Neo’s passport with a familiar expiration date.

Coincidence? You be the judge.

FACE/OFF (1997)

The ridiculous but highly entertaining premise of this movie,

starring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage under the

direction of the legendary John Woo, is that a cop and

a bad guy swapping identities and fooling everyone around

them via a surgical procedure that switches their faces.

In March 2010, a team of thirty Spanish doctors performed

the first successful full face transplant on a patient

injured during a shooting mishap, while a group of

French surgeons followed up that accomplishment later in

the year with a full transplant that included functioning

eyelids and tear ducts, thereby making the film prophetic.