Luckily, today we’re served a delicious plate of great and high-budget sci-fi movies which have been sparked to life thanks to the creativity and thoughtfulness of some of the best directors of modern times. Without a doubt, all these great movie projects have built the bridge between the futuristic and realistic sides of the world. Thanks to them, we have been able to jump beyond our wildest dreams while enjoying a 90-minute long cinematic experience. Losing a perception of time whilst rejoicing in such exceptional and more than thrilling plot lines is certainly quite an adventure, isn’t it?

Much to our surprise, there’s a specific group of old-school movies, sharing the genre of the sci-fi category, which has totally caught the eye. And, no, we’re scarcely talking about visual effects, riveting plot twists or even a compelling actor’s performance. The focal point here is related to the mind-blowing fact that the following examples of classic sci-fi films have actually foreshadowed the future.

Moreover, recollecting those otherwise unrealistic and imaginary concepts in such long-forgotten movies really seems as though the director and screenwriter team pulled their ideas right from the future. With this in mind, kindly accept our invitation for a compelling sail across the sea of time to explore all these 15 old school movies which accurately predicted the future.

15. Dick Tracy basically “invented” the smart watch

Directed by Warren Beatty back in 1990, the action-comedy movie narrates the story about a detective and his humoristic nature. As smooth as his world seems to be, a mysterious man reaches out to him in the middle of his clash with the mob and specifically its leader, aka Big Boy Caprice. As a consequence, the detective’s life takes a different course; and even though the storyline may still feel a bit blurry, what you should probably lay eyes upon is its 3 Oscars and the absolutely accurate advent of the super smart watches in the upcoming high-tech age. Certainly, it was exactly the Dick Tracy movie which offered the future’s high standard of smarter watches running at least 20 years ahead of time.

14. Blade Runner: back to the roots of video calls

Well, traveling a couple of decades back in time definitely sounds like a genuinely thrilling experience. What if you had been shown something, be it a scene or a concept, which has actually turned into a reality today? Well, this could be a really heated topic for discussion, right? The neo-noir sci-fi film is our next proof of a project and an idea which not only gained immense popularity back in the day but offered exclusive images of what the future could unfold. Directed by the movie beast known as Ridley Scott, Runner Blade was first to present us the notion of video calls through a diverse variety of applications. The year was exactly 1982: isn’t that mind-blowing?

13. Total Recall: accurate prediction of driverless cars

Here we go with another phenomenal blockbuster starring Ronny Cox, shoulder to shoulder with the muscular tyrant Arnold Schwarzenegger. And if you’ve been wondering what the 90s old-school production has contributed to the present-day world, it’s certainly the driverless car. As a matter of fact, it was presented in another immensely successful and contemporary sci-fi movie aka I, Robot which appeared on the big screen back in 2004. Unlike the movie I, Robot, which is without a doubt a bit closer to the future’s concepts touching on driverless projects as well, Total Recall unmasked a wild range of possible tech inventions which have yet to be brought to life, of course. Apart from the self-driving vehicles shown in the old-school sci-fi movie, it’s really interesting what else could come alive as well.

12. The 90’s Star Trek franchise did foresee the advent of 3D printers

Star Trek is probably one of the very few examples of sci-fi movies with sequels belonging to the modern times. However, if we move past this, we’d certainly arrive at another phase of the tech revolution where luxurious accessories and gadgets such as 3D printers or replicators, or even mobile phones, were still unpolished and pretty colorful ideas. Essentially, the Star Trek franchise totally surpasses all of the other old-school sci-fi films with its unbelievably accurate predictions of oncoming technologies which we all know and use today. Isn’t it bizarre to know that this old movie had such precise ideas of what the future would bring to the table?

11. Soylent Green foresaw the risk of overpopulation

Dear muddled millennials, nobody expects you to have heard about this classic movie from the golden ages. After all, it’s been more than 40 years since its great appearance on the big screen. Actually, Soylent Green is probably the only exception on our awesome list of 15 examples of old-school sci-fi movies that hinted quite correctly about the turn of today’s tech evolution. Even though Soylent Green doesn’t deal with precise concepts about already existing technologies, it offers us some food for thought about the overpopulation issue. The sci-fi movie was filmed back in 1973 and it presented the viewers a scary image of the world, and specifically New York, set in 2022. The city’s population has grown to more than 40 million; and when thinking about it now, 2022 doesn’t seem so far away in the future, does it?

10. Short Circuit: 90’s concept of military robots

Wondering how robots made it to Hollywood? Surely, a note of sheer irony lurks behind this interesting question. Without a doubt, they haven’t been picked by great directors and screenwriters. All jokes and ironic commentaries aside, the old sci-fi comedy Short Circuit unmasks the story about a robot which, God knows why, sparks to life. The result is an artificial intelligence – this robot becomes self-conscious just out of thin air. Moreover, the chance is that Short Circuit contributed to broadening the subject and expanding the knowledge on AI. As of today, we’re on the brink of getting simply fed up with such movie plots and scenarios in which prototype robots get used for a wide variety of military applications.

9. 2001: A Space Odyssey with its first odd tablet computers

Back to the classics: of all present-day smart gadgets, the prototypes of which have already been shown in old sci-fi movies, there’s one certain “smart device” that used to arouse attention back in the day. Well, today it may not be as revolutionary as it was about 40+ years ago, but after all, we’re talking about periods which bit the dust a long time ago. That phenomenal and groundbreaking device was today’s tablet computer we all know pretty well. All in all, Kubrick’s movie displayed an odd gadget that bears a striking resemblance to the modern and pretty common tablet-computer we use without a pause. It may not seem interesting now, but it was presented in the movie which was filmed in 1968. Hmm, how interesting, really!

8. Back to the Future Part II: technology’s getting smarter

Well, with such a title, there’s scarcely a movie-lover who would expect plot lines lacking interesting and revolutionary technologies and odd gadgets. If you reflect deeply on this, you’d probably arrive at the conclusion that each decade brings brand-new and phenomenal tools. Today’s modern sci-fi movie productions offer viewers the realistic image of living in a high-tech world enriched with flying cars and self-aware robots being personal assistants, etc. It was about the same with the old-school sci-fi movies, such as Back to the Future which hinted about the invention of smart gadgets, phones, 3D printers, watches, and so on and so forth. With this exact movie, die-hard movie fans were offered a peek into the smart eyewear technology which no longer seems so crazy or ahead of its time.

7. Videodrome hints about the beginning of…

In the classic film entitled Videodrome, we’re invited into the life of an ordinary cable-TV programmer. With such a standard introduction, Videodrone doesn’t really seem so gripping. However, one day something unique happens. Just out of nowhere, this simple man runs into a quite new and revolutionary way of programming his own station as this is exactly when the key scene rolls along. This cable TV programmer is stunned when he runs into an unconventional way to set the station. The media is simply out of control as the futuristic movie comes up with a “Videodrome” technology which probably builds the foundation of the today’s worldwide video-sharing website called YouTube.

6. Network: embrace the Tabloid TV

And since we’re talking about old-school sci-fi productions which practically revealed what lied ahead of us, there’s no way to miss out on the ’70s Network movie as well. Even though it’s about 4 decades old, the epic Network project, which actually holds an Oscar, still seems as fresh as a daisy. Perhaps, it’s precisely this entry on our short list that falls among the top movies of all times. And if you by any chance are still wondering whether to give it a try, we do advise you to watch it and find out where the idea of the tabloid TV indeed came from. It can’t be a coincidence, can it?

5. Weird Science predicted your 3D printing technology

Actually, we’re living in such a peculiar time that when entering the gates of the grand past we’d surely be deeply impressed at the simplicity of their thoughts and beliefs. We’ve already mentioned about “impossible” technologies back in the ’80s. Indeed, Weird Science, which was filmed back in 1985, tells us the story about the wild dreams of developing the phenomenon called 3D printing, which, ironically, has become very commonplace in 2017. Certainly, the technology back in the ’80s wasn’t that advanced and developed as it is nowadays, so such concepts of creating 3D objects were merely considered an unachievable dream. Perhaps, it was even believed that such a creation was hardly likely to bear any fruit, but, oh well, if only they had known the truth.

4. Metropolis: meet the pretty “ancient” movie from 1927

Perhaps the number of people who have actually seen this dusty sci-fi movie won’t be very impressive. However, those who have watched it will probably agree how curious it was to witness Maria’s transformation. Indeed, the story line follows the transformation of a robot into Maria’s twin being another peculiar character in the old sci-fi movie. In the process, the mad scientist, shown in the Metropolis movie, operates with an odd and complex system that’s actually the prototype of today’s Android. Who would know that Metropolis could totally trace back the origins of Androids?

3. A.D.A.M (1973)

Have you seen the sci-fi story about ADAM? And can you actually take a random guess about what it actually predicted? As bizarre as all of it surely seems, some of these pretty old sci-fi movies have actually been successful with their concepts about what the future may hold for us. Of course, there are just as many sci-fi productions which could only be depicted as total and authentic failures in terms of their hypotheses displayed in their 90+minute stories. On the flip side, there are others who simply nailed it. A.D.A.M. is just an example of their group. This veteran seems like it has foreseen the invention of smart homes being a hot topic today. Indeed, the automated domestic appliance monitor aka A.D.A.M, developed by an ordinary man to help his poor wife, looks like as if it’s the prototype of various smart home solutions these days.

2. The Terminator, 1984

Well, well, well – our list of 15 classy sci-fi movies has just become extremely hot and heavy. After all, there’s barely a genuine die-hard movie fan who hasn’t seen the legendary Terminator, right? And just before we get totally distracted by the whole grandness of the movie, let’s break the unbearable puzzlement into hundreds of pieces. The old time’s favorite Terminator has indeed predicted the arrival of military drones. Naturally, the movie filmed back in 1984 presents us only a teeny-tiny fraction of an odd aircraft. Besides, the film shows us the possibility of creating unmanned airplanes, which honestly must have felt like perfect nonsense back then.

1. Minority Report

Our last hero is none other than the Minority Report (2002) being a project created so masterfully by Steven Spielberg. Ultimately, has there ever been a poor movie directed by the skillful hands of Mr. Spielberg? That’s the point. The epic Minority Report has actually brought something spectacular to the table. Where do you think personalized advertising stems from? As a matter of fact, the director has hired a couple of futurologists during the process of his modern adaptation of the classy story penned by Phillip Dick. Much to our surprise, the gesture-grounded interfaces alongside the personalized advertising set quite ahead of time (2054) are certainly on the right track towards becoming a pretty and modern reality.