Skip to main content
Tech Radar TechRadar the technology experts
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
RSS
Asia
flag of Singapore
Singapore
Europe
flag of Danmark
Danmark
flag of Suomi
Suomi
flag of Norge
Norge
flag of Sverige
Sverige
flag of UK
UK
flag of Italia
Italia
flag of Nederland
Nederland
flag of België (Nederlands)
België (Nederlands)
flag of France
France
flag of Deutschland
Deutschland
flag of España
España
North America
flag of US (English)
US (English)
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of México
México
Australasia
flag of Australia
Australia
flag of New Zealand
New Zealand
  • Phones
  • Computing
  • TVs
  • AI
  • Streaming
  • Health
  • Audio
  • VPN
  • More
    • Cameras
    • Home
    • News
    • Reviews
    • Opinion
    • How to
    • Versus
    • Deals
    • Coupons
    • Best
Tech Radar Pro
Tech Radar Gaming
Trending
  • Amazon Prime Day
  • Back to school
  • Nintendo Switch 2
  • Best VPN
  • ChatGPT
  • NYT Wordle today
  • Best laptop
  • Best web hosting
Recommended reading
Ryan Gosling walking alone into a hazy orange background in Blade Runner 2049
Entertainment Blade Runner 2099: everything we know so far
A still from Robocop
HBO Max 3 unmissable movies with over 88% on Rotten Tomatoes are leaving Max soon
A Yautja screaming at something off-camera in Predator: Badlands
Entertainment First trailer for Predator: Badlands drops two huge clues that it could be a new Alien Vs Predator movie in all but name
Brad Pitt's Sonny Burch standing on a racetrack in Apple's F1 movie
Entertainment New movies: the most exciting films coming to theaters in June 2025 and beyond
Sue Storm using her force-field powers in The Fantastic Four: First Steps
Entertainment CinemaCon 2025 – every big movie announcement, including Avatar 3, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, James Bond, Mission Impossible and more
Y2K cast looking shocked
HBO Max Max's #1 most-watched movie Y2K isn't the throwback I wanted – here are 3 better films to stream instead
The Mitchells vs. the Machines key art. Mochi the pug sits on the front of a car as the Mitchell family have smiles on their faces as robots blast at them in the background.
Artificial Intelligence 5 things AI does in movies and TV I'm still waiting on
  1. Streaming
  2. Entertainment

Blade Runner, Akira, Rollerball: here's when your favourite films will disappoint you

News
By Patrick Goss published 22 October 2015

For those reeling from BTTF Day...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Introduction

Introduction

Back to the Future day is over; Marty McFly has left the future - and is safely ensconced, via 1885, in a 1980s nirvana where he remains untroubled by things like Google, iPhones and hipsters.

For the rest of us, mourning the horrible truth that we don't have hoverboards, flying cars or Holographic advertising (even though we were promised them by the movies), we're already turning to the next sci-fi franchise to tell us what we should be looking for next.

Yes, like a cult on day one after our fully expected apocalypse didn't happen (awkward), we're already seeking our next Sci-Fi day, so we've tracked down a range of iconic films to pin our next hopes on, and the dates on which we will be absolutely sure that they were wrong.

Page 1 of 8
Page 1 of 8
Rollerball (2019)

Rollerball (2019)

In a world run by global corporations, sports has all but replaced war with mega teams sponsored by the biggest companies on the planet. James Caan plays a superstar rollerball player who has become too iconic and is being pushed out of the limelight to underline that individualism is pointless.

The film's 40 years old, but pegged this corporate world to 2018 - the year in which Houston beats New York 1-0 with Caan's Jonathan E. the sole scorer.

How likely is this? Corporate megabrands, check. Massive global sports teams, check. Sports stars going against their own interests to stand up to rampant commercialism? Depends if they get the image rights.

Date of disprovement: Jan 1 2019

Page 2 of 8
Page 2 of 8
The Running Man (2018)

The Running Man (2018)

One of Arnold Schwarzenneger's 1980s action hero films - based on a book by Stephen King writing as Richard Bachmann - the Running Man is a dystopian glimpse into a future where the US is a totalitarian police state and convicted criminals are hunted down and must fight for their lives in a reality television show.

The film predicts the complete collapse of democracy by 2017 - which is definitely worth noting in your diary - with Arnie's Ben Richards fighting back for the little man in 2019.

How likely is this? The UK's Channel 4 just aired a series where people were tracked down by professional trackers and governments around the world are swapping liberty for ostensive security.

Date of disprovement: Jan 1 2018

Page 3 of 8
Page 3 of 8
Akira (2019)

Akira (2019)

Probably the greatest Manga film of all time, Akira sets its world in 2019 where Tesuo Shima is trying to free Akira. It's another dystopian society (obviously) set in a cyberpunk-alike Tokyo where biker gangs roam the landscape and psychic powers are a thing.

We know that Tokyo has been destroyed on July 16 1988, sparking a third world war and that the events take place 21 years afterwards, so technically this hasn't happened already.

How likely is this? Well Tokyo's still there, the last time we checked, psychic powers are curiously yet to manifest and cyberpunk is definitely not embracing selfie sticks and Hello Kitty.

Date of disprovement: Jan 1 2020 (or Jan 1 1989).

Page 4 of 8
Page 4 of 8
Bladerunner (2020)

Bladerunner (2020)

Ridley Scott's Los Angeles of 2019 is one of the most iconic movie landscapes - and a world in which replicants have been created to serve humanity. Harrison Ford's rumples protaganist Deckard is tasked with tracking down four rogue replicants, but there's more to the story…

How likely is this? We're definitely taking great strides into a biomedical world where replicants are not beyond the bounds of imagination, but time is limited if we're going to turn LA into a dystopian super-city.

Date of disprovement: Jan 1 2020.

Page 5 of 8
Page 5 of 8
Children of Men (2028)

Children of Men (2028)

Based loosely on a book by PD James, Children of Men deals with a world in which mankind has become largely infertile. The tech shown is not that far removed from what we have right now - which is a nod to the stagnation of mankind.

How likely is this to happen? Well fertility is in decline in industrialized nations already, although we've not seen the impact that underpins the story - which started a couple of decades before the 2027 date the film is set.

Date of disprovement: Jan 1 2028

Page 6 of 8
Page 6 of 8
12 Monkeys (2028)

12 Monkeys (2028)

A labyrinthine story of time travel and a deadly virus - the cynical might suggest that the failure to see mankind all but wiped out by a virus in 1996 already renders this film moot.

Starring Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt - who had just hit the A-List by the time of the film's premiere, Terry Gilliam's direction of a story based on French 60s short La Jetee remains a much-loved sci-fi movie.

How likely is this to happen? So Willis is from 2027 and travels back to the 90s but this is a time travel movie and therefore all of this could actually have happened and we simply don't know about it. So there.

Date of disprovement: None

Page 7 of 8
Page 7 of 8
Planet of the Apes (2030)

Planet of the Apes (2030)

Tim Burton's reimagined Apes universe called out 2029 as the year when Leo Davidson follows his favourite space-trained Ape into an electromagnetic storm into the future and finds a planet where simians are in charge.

How likely is it? Well using animals in space is obviously something we've done, and if you find just the right electromagnetic st….okay, we're parking this in the 'unlikely' category.

Date of disprovement: Jan 1 2030

Page 8 of 8
Page 8 of 8
Patrick Goss
Patrick Goss
Social Links Navigation

Patrick Goss is the ex-Editor in Chief of TechRadar. Patrick was a passionate and experienced journalist, and he has been lucky enough to work on some of the finest online properties on the planet, building audiences everywhere and establishing himself at the forefront of digital content.  After a long stint as the boss at TechRadar, Patrick has now moved on to a role with Apple, where he is the Managing Editor for the App Store in the UK.

Read more
Ryan Gosling walking alone into a hazy orange background in Blade Runner 2049
Blade Runner 2099: everything we know so far
A still from Robocop
3 unmissable movies with over 88% on Rotten Tomatoes are leaving Max soon
A Yautja screaming at something off-camera in Predator: Badlands
First trailer for Predator: Badlands drops two huge clues that it could be a new Alien Vs Predator movie in all but name
Brad Pitt's Sonny Burch standing on a racetrack in Apple's F1 movie
New movies: the most exciting films coming to theaters in June 2025 and beyond
Sue Storm using her force-field powers in The Fantastic Four: First Steps
CinemaCon 2025 – every big movie announcement, including Avatar 3, Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, James Bond, Mission Impossible and more
Y2K cast looking shocked
Max's #1 most-watched movie Y2K isn't the throwback I wanted – here are 3 better films to stream instead
Latest in Entertainment
A couple looking down at one of their hands in Neon body horror movie Together
Together is finally coming to theaters - here are 3 reasons you shouldn't miss the body horror movie
The ball for Women's Euro 2025
How to watch Women's Euro 2025: live stream soccer options, TV channels, watch for FREE
Scarlett Johansson's Zora holding a tranquilizer rifle in Jurassic World Rebirth
Jurassic World Rebirth review: I’m concerned this franchise is rapidly going extinct
Coco Gauff practicing for Wimbledon 2025
How to watch Yastremska vs Gauff at Wimbledon 2025 on BBC iPlayer (it's free)
Ryan Gosling in Project Hail Mary
Project Hail Mary trailer teases Ryan Gosling’s desperate mission to save the sun in Amazon’s sci-fi spectacle movie
Jamie Smith and Joe Root celebrate after walking off unbeaten in their test victory against India at Headingley, Leeds.
How to watch England vs India 2nd Test: Live stream cricket online
Latest in News
Google Gemini AI
Google Gemini is set to become a significantly better phone assistant thanks to these two small upgrades
A still from the trailer for The Running Man showing Glen Powell grabbing a taser stick
The Running Man trailer puts Glen Powell in Arnie's shoes as Stephen King's dystopian thriller gets high-octane remake from Edgar Wright
The Nothing Phone 3 being held in the hand
I went hands-on with the Nothing Phone 3, and it might just be the most interesting phone of the year – here's why
watchOS 26 running on an Apple Watch Series 10
Constantly dismissing notifications on your Apple Watch? You’re going to love Apple’s watchOS 26 latest gesture
Steam
Steam's new performance overlay feature will help you monitor how your games are running
Frustrated unhappy laptop user girl touching head at work table with computer
'It's obvious that users are frustrated': consumer rights group accuses Microsoft of not providing a 'viable solution' for Windows 10 users who can't upgrade to Windows 11
LATEST ARTICLES
  1. 1
    Ironheart ending explained: who is [spoiler], will there be a season 2, and more big Marvel questions answered
  2. 2
    3 reasons why I appreciate AI and maybe you should too
  3. 3
    Is AI the new cloud? Survey reveals companies scrambling to adopt AI - but few really know what impact it will have
  4. 4
    This tiny NAS can store up to 32TB of super-fast SSD data and even comes with a VPN server and a 4K HDMI port
  5. 5
    Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace could put sensitive data at risk because of a blind spot in default email behavior

TechRadar is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Contact Us
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Web notifications
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...