What did Sci Fi films predict for 2020? Monsters and robots

Welcome to 2020! A year ago I wrote about how films like Blade Runner, Running Man and Akira were all set in 2019 and that things have turned out better than those films expected. Which is obviously a relief. But how about films set in 2020? Given how recently some of these films came out, it is surprising how much more wrong they are. Well, to be fair, we are only two days in, but I suspect there will be far fewer monsters or robots. Let’s have a look…

Pacific Rim

I might as well start with the most monster and robot film of recent times. Pacific Rim wasn’t really trying to predict the future but rather just went for balls out fun. It was released in 2013 and predicted that in 2013 a portal would open and loads of giant monsters would come and trash loads of stuff. What the film would have us believe is that by 2020, the year the film is set, humans have developed the technology that allows us to build huge robots piloted by mentally linked pilots because that would logically be the best way to- Actually, best not to think about it. It set out to be fun and it was.

Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet

This came out in 1965 and as is so often the case back then, it was assumed we would be way more advanced than we are. The astronauts were assisted by robots (which is a bit accurate) but we have yet to find a planet that is populated by monsters and dinosaurs. Which should surely be a priority for future space exploration.

Edge of Tomorrow

This is my favourite movie on this list. While I don’t remember too many robots, there are a lot of exoskeletons and an arse-load of monsters. Like Pacific Rim, it wasn’t trying all that hard to predict much – it came out in 2014, established that aliens invade in 2015, and the film is set in 2020. At the time, I was surprised it wasn’t a lot more famous because it is so damn good and a great idea. There is a sequel being made and there was a recent Rick and Morty episode that pays homage to it. A great film!

A Quiet Place

This came out in 2018 and yet again aliens invade in 2020. This time, they are blind because, well why not. There seems to be a pattern emerging here and frankly, these are not really films predicting much in the future but more of a ‘hypothetical threat’ that will happen soon.

Reign of Fire

Continuing the just mentioned theme, we should look at Reign of Fire. It starts at an unspecified date that looks a lot like when the film was made. It then cuts to 2020 when everything has gone all post-apocalyptic and people are shitting themselves about dragons. It is fun but there is one thing that bugged me a lot – SPOILER ALERT – there is only one male dragon and so once he dies the dragons can no longer reproduce and they eventually die off. Fair enough. EXCEPT that it was established that the dragons had hibernated since the time of the dinosaurs. So if they can live 65 million+ years why do they suddenly die off now? Still, a fun film but sadly no robots.

Real Steel

This was released in 2011 and predicted that robots would fight instead of people in 2020. In reality we now have both human boxers, MMA and things like Robot Wars. None of which are things I enjoy.

Mission to Mars

With a great director and a good cast, Mission to Mars was surprisingly a bit shit. I vaguely remember it being ok when I saw it in the cinema but to put that in context – I saw it after Battlefield Earth and Red Mars, so it was all relative. No monsters in it sadly, although there is a rover.

Droid

I might as well end this list with robots and one of the more accurate predictions. Sex robots! Droid came out in 1988 and was originally a porn film called Cabaret Sin. In order to make more cash, the makers removed all the porn bits and tried to sell it as a normal scifi movie. It predicted that in 2020, sad bastards would be having sex with robots. Which, even more sadly, is true. Sex robot doll brothels are popping up all over the world. There is a vague attempt at some plot about crime being bad and some guy trying to do something or other in an 80s version of the future where people still loved pastel colours, but it is not recommended viewing.

So there you have it. 2020 was predicted to be slightly less dystopian than 2019. Which is odd. If one theme seemed clear – scifi set in 2020 was more a way of saying ‘in the near future this bat-shit monster/robot thing will happen’. The only one that was even vaguely accurate was Droid – so maybe things are pretty dystopian after all.

Oh well. Happy New Year!