Fiction Becomes Fact
Sci-fi movies love to toss wild ideas at the wall—hoverboards, robot butlers, flying cars (seriously, Blade Runner, where are they?). Usually, those futuristic fantasies age about as well as milk left in the sun. But every so often, Hollywood nails it and accidentally predicts the real world with spooky accuracy. Here are 15 movies where make-believe turned into reality.
Woman In The Moon: Shoot For The Moon
Before President Kennedy voiced his longing to send Americans into space, Woman in the Moon, a 1929 German silent film, was already there. Several gadgets used for space travel, as shown in the movie, have become a reality.
Fritz Lang, Woman in the Moon (1929)
Woman In The Moon: NASA Likes It
The most significant prediction in Woman in the Moon was the launch countdown. The film gives the moviegoer a feeling of suspense by counting down to zero, a staple of every NASA launch.
Fritz Lang, Woman in the Moon (1929)
Troy: Zero To Hero
No, not Hercules. Another famous Greek character in this action-packed adventure predicts a cast member's future with ironic accuracy—Achilles. Troy tells the story of Helen, who, despite marrying the Spartan King, runs away to Troy with her love, Paris. But that's just the beginning.
Troy: Achilles The Warrior
The Spartans, along with their Greek allies, fight Troy for Helen's return. Achilles, portrayed by Brad Pitt, spends most of the film showing his fighting prowess on the beaches of Troy. But on set, Pitt got a big dose of irony.
Troy: A Line In The Sand
After nearly wrapping filming—and months of literally running on sand—Pitt tore his Achilles tendon. Talk about life imitating myth. Maybe there really was a line in the sand he shouldn’t have crossed. Ouch!
The Net: A Catch-All
The Net is a psychological thriller starring Sandra Bullock. Her character, Angela Bennett, a computer programmer, is trying to protect her identity while running from an unknown enemy. The Net's villain can break into your home and steal from you without ever being there, courtesy of the Internet. Sounds familiar.
Invisible thieves may leave a bad taste, but The Net also has an appealing prediction.
The Net: Pizza Anyone?
The Net predicted today's online ordering trend with gusto. From dinner to clothing, The Net suggests a world where online ordering is standard, not simply a sci-fi speculation, as it was in 1995 when the movie was released.
The Running Man: Reality TV
With Arnold Schwarzenegger's help, the 1987 film The Running Man offers moviegoers a glimpse of entertaining reality TV. Today's reality TV requires a tough-as-nails mindset to win. Thank goodness our current programs don't have the same life-or-death scenario as The Running Man.
TriStar, The Running Man (1987)
The Running Man: Not Just Reality TV
Not only does Schwarzenegger use his acting prowess to help the film predict today's entertaining real-life competitions, but The Running Man also gives glimpses of flat-screen TVs and voice-activated electronics. What's more, 2019 is the year in the film.
TriStar, The Running Man (1987)
The Purge: Election Year: Fear And Trembling
If reality TV doesn’t spook you, horror’s knack for predicting the future just might. The Purge: Election Year eerily mirrors the chaos of a bitterly divided American presidential race—and one unsettling detail lands a little too close to home.
Universal, The Purge: Election Year (2016)
The Purge: Election Year: America, The Great
The Purge: Election Year is the story of Charlie Roan, a woman who, as a child, was her family's only survivor of the yearly purge. Now a 2040 presidential candidate, Roan campaigns to end the purge. Her opponents use lethal means in their attempt to end her.
Does it sound vaguely familiar? Maybe? Still, The Purge Election Year is a close version of America's current political tensions than seemed possible.
Universal, The Purge: Election Year (2016)
The Birds: Be Kind To The Birds
What's just as scary as politicians? Murderous birds. Sounds comical? Not to Tippi Hedren's character, Melanie Daniels, in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds. You may not believe birds are bad for your health now, but after watching The Birds, you might think again about how you treat your feathered friends.
The Birds: Of One Mind
Daphne du Maurier's novel of the same name is the basis for the film adaptation, and in it, birds attack people unexpectedly and without reason. This ended up being an eerie prediction: 50 years later, du Maurier’s son and his family were similarly scared when they became the target of disgruntled seagulls camping outside their English cottage.
Rosemary's Baby: Don't Wake The Baby
In Rosemary’s Baby, Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) believes in her unborn child's inherent evil. That may sound funny, but for the film’s director, Roman Polanski, evil became a part of his own unborn child's story.
Rosemary's Baby: Don't Speak Of The Devil
After filming wrapped, an unspeakable real-life horror struck director Roman Polanski and his wife, actress Sharon Tate. Tragically, Tate—pregnant at the time—became the most infamous victim of the Manson Family’s brutal crimes.
Poltergeist: Not In Good Spirits
Like most paranormal horror movies, 1982's Poltergeist is one scary movie. In it, the Freeling family unintentionally disturb Native burial grounds and find themselves cursed. What makes Poltergeist more terrifying is not the plot but the "Poltergeist curse".
Poltergeist: A Cursed Film
Two young actors cast in Poltergeist lost their lives in the six years between the first and third releases. Dominique Dunn, cast as the oldest Freeling child, Dana, was murdered in 1982 by an ex-boyfriend. She was only 22. Heather O'Rouke passed on in 1988, at age 12, from a congenital condition. She played Carol Anne.
The Omen: Interesting Idea
Released in 1976, The Omen is the story of Damien Thorn, a child prophesied to be the antichrist. American diplomat Robert Thorn, played by Gregory Peck, and his wife Katherine, portrayed by Lee Remick, adopt Damien after their infant's death. Producer Harvey Bernhard was given the film's idea but cautioned not to make it. Why? Let's see.
Twentieth Century, The Omen (1976)
The Omen: Untimely Deaths
Some felt the film would upset the Devil, inviting evil into their lives. As it happened, Peck's son took his own life just as filming began, making both Peck and Robert bereaved parents. But there’s more.
Twentieth Century, The Omen (1976)
The Omen: Special Effect
John Richardson’s masterful special effects made The Omen’s infamous decapitation scene unforgettable. But life took a horrifying turn when, during his next project, Richardson was in a car crash—his assistant was tragically decapitated. And chillingly, that wasn’t even the most unsettling detail.
Twentieth Century, The Omen (1976)
The Omen: Diabolical Mayhem
Peck and executive producer Mace Neufeld flew to the set on separate planes, each struck by lightning. And adding to all that calamity, the Irish Republican Army bombed Neufeld's hotel during filming.
Twentieth Century, The Omen (1976)
The Truman Show: Make Them Laugh
A hearty laugh is always good for the soul. The Truman Show boasts another of Jim Carrey's brilliant performances. It also envisioned a society obsessed with watching others. Sound familiar?
Paramount, The Truman Show (1998)
The Truman Show: Did You Know?
In The Truman Show, Truman Burbank lives unaware that an entire world shares his ups and downs and witnesses his most intimate moments. Fast-forward to today, where some believe they unknowingly live within a TV show, and where some TV shows do follow people’s day-to-day.
Paramount, The Truman Show (1998)
Airplane 2: Let's See
Some comedies have given audiences a glimpse of a specific kind of future technology—tech that can see through us all. Loved for its wacky one-liners and sight jokes, Airplane 2 also shows the potential of this futuristic surveillance.
Airplane 2: Happy Birthday
Airplane II poked fun at futuristic full-body scanners that exposed passengers in all their birthday-suit glory. Back in 1982, it was just a cheeky gag—by 2024, the joke feels a little too close to airport reality.
Network: Whatever It Takes
Network tells the story of veteran newsman Howard Beale, who is willing to end his life on-air. His station, the UBS Evening News, endorses his idea, knowing Beale's on-air death will increase ratings.
Network: Only Time Will Tell
In his 2000 Chicago Sun-Times column, critic Roger Ebert wrote that Network is a masterfully prophetic film. After all, Howard Beale's same manic, ranting, and unscripted energy is precisely what fuels reality TV today.
Wag The Dog: Political Distractions
Wag The Dog is a darker comedic foray into political predictions. Presidential adviser Winifred Ames (Anne Heche) gets help from political spin doctor Conrad Brean (Robert De Niro). They distract the public from the sitting president's scandal—two weeks before election night. Sound familiar? Keep reading.
Wag The Dog: Hollywood Distractions
A political strategy film is hardly prophetic. However, this is where Wag The Dog takes the ball and runs. Dustin Hoffman's character, Hollywood producer Stanley Motss, works with Brean to fabricate a war in Albania that will ultimately distract the media.
Wag The Dog: 24-Hour News.
When Wag the Dog hit theaters in 1997, CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC were just cutting their teeth. Fast-forward to today, and the idea of government and media working hand-in-hand doesn’t seem outlandish at all. Patriotism boosts ratings, makes the government look good, and feeds the endless hunger of 24-hour news cycles—something the film’s writers probably never dreamed would become business as usual.
The Muppets: Let's All Get Along
The Muppets not only help children develop language and literacy skills but also learn life lessons about decency and morals. Thanks to The Muppets, children also learned about the law…and witnessed one weird prediction.
Walt Disney, The Muppets (2011)
The Muppets Movie: That's Not Nice
Jason Segel, who acted in and wrote for The Muppets Movie, learned that all Muppets couldn't be friends all of the time—well, not without a price, that is. Segel wrote a scene where the Muppets try to recruit Elmo but are unable to because of Elmo's lawyer. Funny, right? It depends on who you ask.
Walt Disney, The Muppets (2011)
The Muppets Movie: Pay The Real Price
Elmo's real-life lawyers weren't laughing, cutting the scene entirely from the film. So, despite all the Muppets being, well, Muppets, the privilege of working with them all is going to cost you. Lesson learned.
Walt Disney, The Muppets (2011)
Mr. & Mrs. Smith: Just A Movie
Mr. & Mrs. Smith is the story of a couple working as spies. One day, their respective employers instruct them to "end" the other. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were strangers when filming began back in 2004. Once on the set, however, fiction became fact.
Summit, Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
Mr. & Mrs. Smith: Method Actors
Pitt and Jolie didn’t exactly stay strangers. Their chemistry went from method acting to real life, sparking an on-set romance—even though Pitt was still married to Jennifer Aniston. And, of course, that was just the beginning of the drama.
Summit, Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
Mr. & Mrs. Smith: Not Secret Secrets
After becoming "Brangelina" and a paparazzi goldmine for years, the power couple infamously separated in 2019. Like their characters in the film, Brad and Angelina have been trying to "end" each other in court proceedings ever since. Seems like Mr. & Mrs. Smith was a road map for their relationship.
Summit, Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
