The creativity of filmmakers knows no bounds when it comes to visions of the future and cities in the centuries to come. With their futuristic tales, filmmakers, novelists, and storytellers have successfully predicted major inventions like smartphones, the Internet, and even Google Glass.
When predicting the future, filmmakers often create dystopian cities or strange, utopian societies where humanity is greatly changed from the present day, and skyscrapers reach 1,000 stories into the air. Giant cities like New York and Los Angeles are often chosen to showcase humanity’s future.
1. New York
One of the most popular urban areas for filmmakers and futuristic filmmaking is New York City. Gotham has been turned into everything from a dirty, crime-ridden cesspool in 1981’s “Escape from New York” to a deserted and overgrown metropolis of flesh-eating zombies in 2007’s “I Am Legend.”
The 1997 film “The Fifth Element” offers a fascinating view of a New York City in 2263, where densely populated apartment buildings stretch to the sky amidst busy throngs of flying cars. The 1973 film “Soylent Green” postulates a ferociously overpopulated and violent New York City in 2022, where nobody has any books and food is scarce.
