32 Futuristic Inventions From Sci-Fi Movies And TV Shows That Now Exist

There are a lot of fictional inventions in movies and TV shows, mostly in the sci-fi genre, that have since become real things. Often, it's not exactly what we saw in the movie or television show, but it's very close. Others might not be 100% possible today, but we are very close to seeing those things become a part of everyday life in the 21st Century. This is a list dedicated to all of those inventions that seemed unrealistic or fanciful to many, except the geniuses who dreamed them up in Hollywood.

Artificial Intelligence (2001: A Space Odyssey)

The HAL-9000 was a warning to all of us. A warning that we still might not heed. The computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey turns against its human creators and users to take control of the space station at the heart of the first half of the movie. It spins things into a trippy adventure for the viewer, but now, more than 50 years later, we might need to start paying attention to what director Stanley Kubrick was trying to tell us.

Lasers (The War Of The Worlds)

In the original 1953 adaptation of H.G. Wells' seminal sci-fi novel, War of the Worlds, Martians attack humanity with a type of technology that had been theorized both in sci-fi and in real life, lasers. Of course, the lasers we have aren't quite on the level of the iconic alien ships in the movie, but they've been around for decades now.

Holograms (Forbidden Planet)

1956's Forbidden Planet makes use of holograms, which at the time were completely unheard of, except in science fiction. While we don't have true holograms like this movie and many since have used, we have seen a version of holograms at concerts like Coachella and elsewhere in live entertainment. We still can't send a message like Princess Leia yet, but that can't be too far off, right?

Autonomous Vehicles (Total Recall)

Self-driving cars have been talked about for years, and in Total Recall and other science fiction, they've kind of been a staple for decades. As everyone knows now, they do actually exist, and even more are on the way in the coming years. It's not crazy to think that every car will at least have the option to be self-driving in the not-too-distant future.

Smartwatch (Dick Tracy)

Wearable tech is all the rage these days, and while Google Glass was a unmitigated commercial failure, smartwatches, like Apple Watches, are a huge hit. In fact, mine is telling me to stand up for a couple of minutes as I've been sitting here working on this list for most of the last hour. Dick Tracy used his watch as a two-way radio decades ago.

Video Communication (Metropolis)

Video phones and other software like Zoom and Google Meet have been around for a long time now. The use of it really exploded during the pandemic, and now they are a part of almost everyone's everyday life. Of course, for decades, science fiction movies and TV shows have been predicting that this would eventually be the case. One of the earliest examples came about 100 years ago in the silent film classic Metropolis.

Space Travel (A Trip To The Moon)

Hailed as one of the earliest examples of science fiction on screen, A Trip To The Moon predicted space travel and man landing on the Moon way back in 1902. The French silent film classic envisions a very lively, even dangerous Moon, which is, of course, nothing like what it is actually like, nor did the Apollo 11 Mission actually land a rocket in the eye of the man in the moon, but hey, A Trip To The Moon did foresee at least something about the future.

Lightsaber (Star Wars)

Ok, this one is a little bit of a stretch, because it's not like everyone is chopping their onions with laser knives and we aren't fighting intergalactic battles with futuristic laser swords, but lightsabers do exist on one level. According to Guinness World Records, a builder named Alex Burkan has invented something at least somewhat similar to the legendary, elegant weapon of the Jedi in the Star Wars franchise.

Cloning (The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler)

As far as we can tell, The Resurrection of Zachary Wheeler (1971) was perhaps the first movie to feature the concept of cloning. It was certainly a very early example of the idea, though the terminology used in the low-budget movie was different. We're not cloning humans (yet), and maybe we shouldn't ever be going that far, but humans are definitely cloning other species.

Androids (Alien)

Androids have been part of science fiction forever. Robots, in general, have always been dreamed up in different ways by writers and directors. One of the most iconic examples comes from the Alien franchise, starting with the original Ridley Scott movie from 1979. We don't have androids yet, to be sure, but with the combination of advancements in AI and robotics, it sure seems close.

Neuralink Brain Implants (Black Mirror)

Several episodes of Black Mirror involve a device connected directly to the brain that allows us to record everything we see or connect our consciousness to a computer program. We might be that far yet, but there does exist such a device that is implanted in a person's brain, allowing them to control a computer just by thinking up a task. Many are working on the ability to transplant our consciousness onto a hard drive, which was also the plot of a Black Mirror episode, which is a little further off, and frankly, much scarier.

Virtual Reality (Tron)

While not quite as advanced as what is depicted in the groundbreaking 1982 film Tron, immersive video games are more popular today than ever. The concept of "virtual reality" has changed quite a bit over the last few decades, with "augmented reality" taking a more prominent role. Still, at least in the gaming world, virtual reality on the level of Tron doesn't seem far off.

Personalized Marketing (Minority Report)

Personalized marketing is a reality, though it's not exactly how it is in Minority Report. This is something that has been discussed in the advertising world for decades now. My first job out of college was for a company that was trying to create personalized ads delivered to phones, and this was a decade before the smartphone was really even a thing. Still, trying to buy a pair of shoes on the web and not get bombarded with ads for more shoes.

Flying Cars (Back To The Future Part II)

Jetpacks and flying cars have been part of dozens of sci-fi stories over the years, going back many, many years. Generations of people have predicted that flying cars would be a thing by the time they become adults. We still don't have one in every driveway, but they are closer than ever, and there are definitely working prototypes.

Audio Translation (The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy)

Apple AirPods now have the ability to translate foreign languages in real time. There are plenty of examples in sci-fi of this tech, but my favorite is the Babel Fish from The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. Sure, it's not technically new "tech" in the classic books or the adaptations, but hey, they do the translating!

Hoverboard (Back To The Future Part II)

Back to the Future II was set in what is now the past, and some of the inventions are closer to reality than others. The most coveted invention in the movie is the hoverboard. There have been a few products over the years that have called themselves hoverboards, but the closest one to the film is one Tony Hawk rode back in 2015, which was, coincidentally, the year that Marty travels to in the future.

Voice User Interface (2001: A Space Odyssey)

Amazon's Alexa and Apple's Siri are just two examples of voice interfaces that have been predicted by everything from Star Trek to 2001.

Smarthomes (The Illustrated Man)

In a segment from this anthology of Ray Bradbury-inspired segments called "The Veldt," a couple finds that their parental authority is being undermined by their technologically advanced home. More recently (if the 1980s are "recent"), it was also seen in The Running Man.

Smartglasses (Back To The Future Part II)

Back to the Future II actually predicted quite a bit of tech that has become a reality. For example, Marty McFly Jr. owns a pair of glasses that allow him to watch TV anywhere. Sure, Google Glass bombed, but that won't be the tech industry's last attempt to make smartglasses work.

Synthetic Meat (Eraserhead)

Lab-grown meat, like Impossible Meat, has a long history in science fiction and other works of fiction. It made a memorable (and very bizarre) appearance in director David Lynch's debut feature, Eraserhead, in 1977.

AI-Generated Art (Her)

Spike Jonze predicted a world in which books, music, and movies would be "created" instantaneously with a computer program in Her. Even though this is one of the more recent additions to this list, the world is chock full of AI art today, for better or (mostly) worse.

Biometric Payment (Back To The Future Part II)

In Back To The Future Part II, Biff uses a thumbprint to pay his cab fare. We don't use this exact type of technology today, but we all use biometric technology to open our phones, like thumbprints and face recognition, and we use those phones to "tap" to pay for stuff on our credit cards. Combining the two is certainly possible, even if we're probably not ready to trust it.

Artificial Heart (Threshold)

The first successful artificial heart implant happened in 1982, though attempts had been made in medicine for decades. 1981's Threshold, starring Donald Sutherland and Jeff Goldblum, was still breaking ground when it predicted, albeit by just a few months, that it was now possible.

Space Stations (2001: A Space Odyssey)

Space stations, like the one seen in 1969's 2001: A Space Odyssey, were first inhabited just a couple of years later, first with the Soviet station Salyut 1 in 1971, followed shortly by the United States' Skylab in '73. There have been various versions ever since.

The Metaverse (Ready Player One)

When Mark Zuckerberg first announced the Metaverse, I couldn't help but immediately think of Ready Player One. So far, we haven't been escaping to a virtual reality, but it honestly doesn't seem that outlandish that the dystopian future the movie predicts could easily come true. Let's hope that the real version has as many Easter Eggs as Ready Player One has, at least.

Milk Engine (Phil Of The Future)

In one episode of the sci-fi Disney Channel series Phil Of The Future, Phil and Keely build a pudding-serving machine powered by an engine that runs on milk, which causes his father to fear their 22nd-century origins will be revealed since that invention will not exist for decades. However, efforts to convert lactose into ethanol fuel actually started in 2023. It's not here yet, but it's not far off, it seems.

Tablets (2001: A Space Odyssey)

Though they are called "newspads" in 2001: A Space Odyssey, the devices that the astronauts use to watch the news are basically iPads or tablets.

Robot Vacuums (The Glass Bottom Boat)

In the 1966 rom-com The Glass Bottom Boat, Bruce (Rod Taylor) owns a "gizmo" company, and one of his (many) inventions looks basically like what you expect the prototype of a Romba to look like. It's a little robot vacuum that seems too silly to be true, but we know there is nothing silly about them these days! Well, they are a little silly, but they sure are convenient!

Bionic Limbs (The Empire Strikes Back)

Here's one that everyone remembers, Luke Skywalker's bionic arm in The Empire Strikes Back. Of course, similar arms (and other limbs) exist today, though they don't look as real as Luke's does.

Digital Billboards (Blade Runner)

In Blade Runner, the future looks very much like the present in at least one way: billboards. Giant digital billboards were still not the norm back when the movie was released in 1982. Today, they are everywhere from Times Square to highways in Iowa. They are everywhere. And they are annoying as they are in Blade Runner.

Commercial Space Travel (2001: A Space Odyssey)

2001: A Space Odyssey sure got a lot of stuff right when Kubrick made it in the late '60s. Commercial space travel, for example, was the norm in the movie. While we are not quite at the same level today as they were in the movie (and Pan Am is long gone), we do have space tourism these days, so long as you're a tech billionaire or Katy Perry. One day, the rest of us might be lucky enough to do it too!

Self-Tying Shoes (Back To The Future Part II)

Once again, Back To The Future Part II comes through with an invention that we have today; this time, it's self-tying shoes, or as Marty calls them in the movie, "power laces." They actually come from Nike, too! All in all, it's impressive how many times old sci-fi movies managed to predict the future. Mostly in good ways, too.