Let’s face it: The 2020s are not off to the best start. Wars, pandemics, hurricanes. It’s just a lot. 

But it could always be worse — much, much worse. For the proof of that, you need only watch one of the many films that Hollywood produced over the past century imagining what life would be like in the far-flung future of the 2020s. From the early days of cinema — before there was even sound in motion pictures — there hasn’t been a lot of optimism about what society would look like right now, or even if society would survive into the 2020s at all. So from a point of view filtered through these movies, we’re actually doing ... sort of okay?

See for yourself. Below, we’ve listed 15 movies — some made in the 2000s, a few nearly 100 years old — that are all set specifically in the 2020s. We arranged them in chronological order, so you can see how depictions of 2020 (when Christian Bale fought a race of killer dragons, remember that?) compare with those of 2029 (when Skynet was living its best Judgment Day life). They may not restore your faith in humanity. But they might just put things in perspective.

How Old Movies Predicted Life In 2020 Would Be

Want to see what people in the past thought life would be like today? Watch these films.
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