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THE FUTURE — At one time, the year 2020 seemed so far in the future that it was the stuff of science fiction: flying cars, teleportation, celebrity presidents and smart homes.
While not all of those things have come true, some have. Sometimes, it’s hard to imagine that it’s actually 2020, but it’s here and we’re living in it.
With the new year and the new decade just begun, I thought to myself: What movies took place in 2020? I knew there had to be some sci-fi flicks that took place this “ever-distant” year, and while I wasn’t disappointed in what I found, I was surprised.
All of the movies on this list were made post-2000 and had some lofty expectations for the year 2020. Here are five futuristic films that take place in 2020:
"Mission to Mars" (2000)
It seems the year 2000 was a big one for mediocre movies about trips to Mars, because it saw the release of both "Red Planet" and "Mission to Mars." The latter is actually set in the year 2020.
In the film, the first manned mission to Mars has some issues as a team is sent to rescue the survivors. The film stars Tim Robbins, Gary Sinise and Don Cheadle and is directed by Brian De Palma, but it’s a bit of a bore and let down.
When it comes to predicting the future, well, we still haven’t sent any astronauts to Mars.
"Reign of Fire" (2002)
While the filmmakers may have overshot our progress to Mars by the year 2020 in "Mission to Mars," the creative minds behind "Reign of Fire" figured 2020 would be ruled by dragons. They were wrong on a few fronts, considering dragons still aren’t real.
"Reign of Fire" stars Academy Award-winner Christian Bale and Matthew McConaughey as two humans trying to fight the dragon hordes from taking over the planet in the year 2020.
The movie is fine and has some fun action here and there, but mostly I'm just glad this 2020 didn’t come to pass.
"Real Steel" (2011)
If the movie "Real Steel" had anything to say about it, we’d be living in a world where we watched two giant robots duke it out in the ring instead of paying a fortune to watch a hyped-up match where one guy knocks out another guy in 40 seconds. I think I’d prefer the robots.
"Real Steel" stars Hugh Jackman as a struggling ex-boxer who finds an old fighting robot and turns it into a contender. The premise sounds absurd, but it’s a pretty entertaining flick. It’s too bad we don’t have real-life Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots in 2020.
"Pacific Rim" (2013)
The movie "Pacific Rim" had some real high hopes for technological advancements that were going to happen in the next seven years.
The film is about giant monsters who come to terrorize the planet and the giant robot suits humans created to battle them. The movie is pretty fun and did earn a sequel, but the vision of the future was a bit ambitious.
"Edge of Tomorrow" (2014)
The Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt sci-fi action film "Edge of Tomorrow" is a fantastic movie, and you likely didn’t realize it’s supposed to take place in 2020.
According to this movie, the planet has been at war with horrifying aliens and we are battling them with some awesome exo-skeleton robot suits.
Maybe the "Edge of Tomorrow" vision of 2020 was way off, but it doesn’t matter when you get such an awesome movie.
Are there any other movies you know of that take place in 2020? Let us know in the comments.
