13 films that predicted the coronavirus pandemic and more

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Sometimes directors turn out to be true clairvoyants. This is delightful, and sometimes even frightening.

1. Forbidden planet

• USA, 1956.
• Science fiction.
• Duration: 98 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 6.

What is the movie about

A rescue expedition flies to rescue a distant earth colony, which was attacked by an unknown creature. By their arrival, only Dr. Morbius, his daughter Altair and robotic servant Robbie survived.

What came true

This superb 1950s sci-fi film not only inspired the writer Stanislaw Lem to create Solaris, but also miraculously predicted a world in which people communicate using mobile phones. And as much as 40 years before the actual appearance of these gadgets.

2001: A Space Odyssey

• USA, UK, 1968.
• Sci-fi thriller.
• Duration: 149 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 3.

What is the movie about

In prehistoric times, the black monolith turned Australopithecus into humans. Millions of years later, mankind finds a similar stone on the Moon, sending a powerful signal somewhere in the region of Jupiter. The research ship Discovery is sent there. But on the way, the HAL 9000 on-board computer begins to behave very strangely.

What came true

Humanity does not fly to distant planets yet, but Kubrick guessed a lot. For example, tablets and video calls did appear in the future. Well, HAL 9000 can be generally considered the progenitor of modern voice assistants like Siri or Alice.

3. TV network

• USA, 1976.
• Psychological drama
• Duration: 121 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 1.

What is the movie about

TV presenter Howard Beale is fired due to low ratings. Then he decides on extravagant acts on the air: he threatens to commit suicide, swears, makes revelatory speeches. All this unexpectedly brings him breathtaking popularity.

What came true

Talk about the decline of media ethics and morality has been going on for a long time, but Sidney Lumet's brilliant film was one of the first to start it. The heroes do their best to attract more viewers, for example, give the best airtime to the delusional messianic chatter. Despite the fact that the picture is already many years old, the idea and plot itself turned out to be so accurate that they are suitable for describing today's Internet news media.

4. Videodrome

• USA, 1982.
• Science fiction, horror film.
• Duration: 84 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 2.

What is the movie about

Max, the director of a small adult channel, stumbles upon a video feed on a pirate satellite in search of a new porn sensation. The broadcast show, Videodrome, contains horrific scenes of violence with bloody torture and murder. Max tries to find out more, but soon the line between the real world and hallucination begins to blur.

What came true

With his Videodrome, Cronenberg somewhat anticipated YouTube, where a myriad of videos are uploaded every minute. Among them there are far from the most harmless ones.

5. Back to the Future - 2

• USA, 1989.
• Adventure, fantasy, comedy.
• Duration: 108 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 8.

What is the movie about

In the second part of the franchise, young Marty McFly is sent from 1985 to 2015 to help his own children out of a very unpleasant situation. However, in the future, she and Professor Emmett Brown make a mistake, as a result of which the aged Biff Tennen takes possession of the time machine and changes a lot in the fates of the heroes. McFly and Brown understand that everything needs to be urgently corrected, and are postponed to 1955.

What came true

Despite the fact that many of the invented technologies of the future have remained fiction (especially offensive for flying boards), the number of guesses is still impressive. Consider paying for purchases using fingerprint identification, flexible displays, or video calling software. You won't surprise anyone with a tablet.

6. Remember everything

• USA, 1990.
• Science fiction, action, thriller.
• Duration: 113 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 5.

What is the movie about

Builder Douglas Quaid has haunting dreams about Mars. In search of answers, he turns to a company that implants fake memories into the brain. But everything does not go as planned, after which the hero suddenly discovers in himself the abilities of a super agent. Douglas realizes that his whole life up to this point has been an illusion.

What came true

In the course of the plot, the hero of Arnold Schwarzenegger uses the services of a friendly robot taxi driver. At the time of the release of the film, it really seemed fantastic, but these days, the largest corporations have been working on the development of self-driving cars for a long time.

True, not everyone can ride these drones so far. And the concept itself is significantly different from what is shown in the movies (but this is rather a plus, if we recall the frightening image of the "driver").

7. Network

• USA, 1995.
• Action, thriller.
• Duration: 114 minutes.
• IMDb: 5, 9.

What is the movie about

Programmer Angela Bennett accidentally crosses the path of the Praetorians hacker group. Then the attackers replace information about her identity in the databases. And now the heroine is considered a dangerous criminal on the federal wanted list.

What came true

When this thriller was released, no one was afraid of identity theft. But these days (especially after the frequent cases of fraud with bank cards), Internet security issues have become very relevant. Another, more pleasant moment, predicted by the founders of the "Network", is the opportunity to order food remotely, which we are now using with pleasure.

8. The Cable Guy

• USA, 1996.
• Black comedy, drama.
• Duration: 96 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 1.

What is the movie about

Stephen Kovacs moves into a new apartment and calls the cable guy to tune the TV. The charming Chip Douglas comes to him, and they quickly become friends. But Chip is behaving more and more strangely, and Steven decides to stop communicating. This is where the real nightmare begins.

What came true

According to the plot, the hero of Jim Carrey utters words that turn out to be prophetic.

Soon, in every American home, TV, telephone and computer will be closely connected! You will be able to watch the Louvre expositions on one channel, and enjoy women's wrestling on the other. You can shop right from home or play Mortal Kombat with your Vietnamese buddy! It will be a world of endless possibilities!

Film "The Cable Guy"

In 1996, this seemed outrageous, but now many find it difficult to even imagine life without smart TV, game consoles and Internet shopping.

9. The Truman Show

• USA, 1998.
• Dystopia, tragicomedy.
• Duration: 103 minutes.
• IMDb: 8, 1.

What is the movie about

Truman Burbank considers himself the most ordinary person, but in fact he is a reluctant reality show participant. He is watched by video cameras around the clock, and his whole world is the scenery and actors. And one day the hero begins to notice this.

What came true

This very deep and philosophical work, among other things, ridiculed the general obsession with television. Already at the time of the film's release, people were ready to spend their lives watching someone else's. Today, the situation has not improved at all: TV is no longer so popular, but it is being successfully replaced by the Internet.

10. Enemy of the state

• USA, 1998.
• Action, thriller.
• Duration: 132 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 3.

What is the movie about

In the hands of a successful lawyer Robert Dean is incriminating evidence that exposes a dishonest official. Very quickly, the life of the protagonist turns into a nightmare: American intelligence is chasing him everywhere, he becomes a universal enemy and an outcast.

What came true

Enemy of the State used to be considered an ordinary conspiracy thriller, but suddenly turned out to be a very accurate prediction of the story of Edward Snowden. An employee of the US National Security Agency (NSA) found out that the US government is spying on its citizens. After that, he had to hide from his all-powerful employer, changing countries and planes.

11. A letter for you

• USA, 1998.
• Romantic melodrama.
• Duration: 114 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 6.

What is the movie about

Dreamer Kathleen Kelly and practical Joe Fox go online every day to write each other a letter. They do not even suspect that they already know each other in real life. Moreover, Joe can inadvertently destroy the girl's family business.

What came true

When the film first came out, dating on the Internet did not happen very often. Dating services are now commonplace and have given us more freedom to choose than ever before.

12. Dissenting opinion

• USA, 2002.
• Fantastic thriller.
• Duration: 145 minutes.
• IMDb: 7, 6.

What is the movie about

Events unfold in the near future, where three clairvoyants can show the exact time and place of the crime. Therefore, the police detain a person before he activates his evil plan. All goes well as long as the head of the prediction department, John Anderton, is not himself accused of a murder not yet committed.

What came true

A team of futurists worked with Spielberg on Minority Report. Perhaps that is why many of the fantastic technologies used by the heroes are already being embodied in reality. Contextual advertising, for example, has become a part of our life. Other features, such as controlling a computer using gestures or unmanned taxis, have not yet spread everywhere, but their development is in full swing.

13. Infection

• USA, 2011.
• Sci-fi thriller, disaster film.
• Duration: 106 minutes.
• IMDb: 6, 7.

What is the movie about

A deadly virus of unknown origin is rapidly spreading across the planet. The development of a vaccine is still far away, and the general panic is fueled by rumors spread on the Internet by an unscrupulous journalist.

What came true

The coronavirus pandemic has fueled viewers' interest in films about various fictional diseases. Most fortunate is Stephen Soderbergh's film Contagion. What is happening on the screen really looks like a scenario for the spread of a new epidemic.

Both diseases originated in China, were transmitted to humans from animals and rapidly spread throughout the world. The film also faithfully reflected the most effective methods of fighting infection: social distancing, self-isolation and quarantine. Even the symptoms that appear in those infected with COVID-19 are somewhat similar to those shown by Soderbergh.