As we all now know, The Simpsons predicted Donald Trump's presidency back in 2000. Considering the show has been on the air since essentially the dawn of man, such things are pretty much bound to happen occasionally. But what about Hollywood's prophets? What did the movies get right?
Here are eight occasions when the silver screen's futurologists managed to deliver eerie chills and even spark threads of conspiracy.
1 | Blade Runner (1982)
We may not have the rolling darkness or hovercars of the dystopian Blade Runner universe quite yet, but that doesn't mean this Ridley Scott banger completely struck out on forecasting the future.
As the clip shows above, a woman is projected onto a gigantic advertising billboard eating some kind of foodstuff or potentially downing some medicinals. Of course, way back when the movie dropped, the jumbotron billboard was not yet ruining Times Square, Piccadilly Circus and all the other global shopping districts.
2 | The Cable Guy (1996)
Sure, the film was a middling comedy thriller that looked like a left-field choice for Jim Carrey, but that's not what's important here. Towards the end of the flick, Carrey, playing Chip the terrorising cable man, launches into a prophetic rant about shopping and gaming only a couple of years into the web's existence.
"Soon every American home will integrate their television, phone and computer! Visit the Louvre on one channel, and watch female mud wrestling on another! You can do your shopping at home or play Mortal Kombat!"
So, yes, it would indeed appear as if "The future is naaoooww."
3 | Super Mario Bros. (1993)
Not only does this serve as exhibit no.759 for why video games should never be adapted into films, but everyone's favourite plumbing duo couldn't even provide an enjoyable escape from reality for a couple of hours.
Bizarrely set in the real-world environment of New York City, one of the final scenes provides a haunting piece of foreshadowing to the tragedy of 9/11.
The Twin Towers, which were Koopa's Tower for the purposes of this tale, can be seen disintegrating while a plane seemingly creates a hole and flies through the right tower.
Illuminati confirmed?
4 | You've Got Mail (1998)
Not only did this rom-com completely encapsulate Starbucks culture, it also managed to nail down a couple of key aspects of online dating before it was even a thing.
These days, the dating world is a mere app download and right-swipe away. But back in 1998, love was still sparking the old fashioned way — catching someone's eye 100 yards down the street and re-enacting the whole Dirty Dancing run-and-jump routine.
Well, that was the case for everyone not named Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, who were among the first to engage with the awkwardness of online interaction and the terrifying reality of meeting up with a relative stranger when you've only communicated digitally.
5 | Minority Report (2002)
Steven Spielberg consulted a team of futurologists for the purposes of Minority Report, which is set in 2054, so it's not exactly a surprise to see it hit on a few modern-day applications.
In the tale, Tom Cruise manages to negotiate the hell of personalised advertising as he walks through Gap and has his iris repeatedly scanned. Of course, this semi-intrusion is fast approaching the scale seen in the movie, while iris-scanning would be similarly widespread if it wasn't for the Galaxy Note 7's propensity to, well, explode.
Gesture controls were also highlighted in Minority Report, but the best modern-day example we have of that is Microsoft's Xbox Kinect. And the less said about that device, the better.
6 | Back To The Future II (1989)
It just wouldn't be a list without this classic, would it?
The only problem is trying to keep track of everything that the film managed to accurately predict. It obviously was the driving inspiration behind the recent Nike Mag announcement about self-lacing trainers, but that doesn't really count.
Still, forecasting the widespread use of video calling, flat-screen TVs, wearable tech and fingerprint scanning isn't a bad track record. We'll let the double-necktie fashion and cold-fusion-powered flying cars slide.
Side-note: the film also predicted the Chicago Cubs would win the World Series in 2015, and only missed out by a year when the team ended a 108-year drought earlier this month.
7 | The Truman Show (1998)
Jim Carrey was back at it again with The Truman Show, which focused on the unwitting star of a reality TV show watched by a morally bankrupt world.
Of course, a time without this kind of TV is hard to imagine nowadays, but this 1998 satirical comedy is essentially the forefather of Big Brother and Keeping Up With The Kardashians — *shudder*.
8 | Total Recall (1990)
Before the film was remade in 2012, construction worker/sleeper agent Douglas Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) was gallivanting around 2084 Mars, trying to figure out why his memory had been erased.
Obviously, most of us aren't quite at this stage yet, but Recall did manage to predict the future of taxis and AI's uncanny ability to misinterpret everything you say. Ride-hailing giant Uber is currently leading driverless cab technology, though whether they'll include a bloke called Johnny to man the automatic vehicle remains to be seen.
