Many science fiction films often present an exaggerated future depiction of a world. Of course, there are films that show years that have already happened or are currently happening. There are also a few films that show what the year 2025 should look like.
What do the films have in common? The 3 films on this list take place in their respective universes in 2025. Each film presents a different vision of what the year 2025 will look like. One film on this list is quite realistic and depicts a future that we are not too far from.
If you can think of any films set in 2025, please feel free to write it in the comments.
1. Pacific Rim
Release: 2013 | Currently streaming: Currently not available on any subscription, but available for purchase and rental from various providers
What is Pacific Rim about? The first film by Guillermo Del Toro takes place in 2025. A portal underground causes giant monsters, called Kaijus, to appear and destroy cities. To protect people, giant robots, Jaeger, are used, operated from inside by humans.
What is the vision of the future? The Earth is constantly threatened by giant Kaijus in Pacific Rim. Conventional weapons and defense mechanisms do not work, which is why anime-inspired giant robots are used.
Such advanced robots do not exist yet. Robotics is indeed a constant topic, but mostly associated with AI technology. Unlike in Pacific Rim, however, we don’t have to defend ourselves against giant monsters. Nowadays, small robots can at least take some small tasks off people’s hands.
The sequel to the film takes place in 2035, a whole 10 years later. The series Pacific Rim: The Black takes place even later, in 2038.
2. Repo Men
Release: 2010 | Currently streaming: Currently not available on any subscription, but available for purchase and rental from various providers
What is Repo Men about? Repo Men is a rather unknown science fiction film featuring Jude Law and Forest Whitaker. In 2025, there is a company The Union
that manufactures artificial organs. You can rent them at high rates. However, if you stop paying, the Repo Men come to collect the organs.
What is the vision of the future? The film’s main focus is on the artificial organs with which even hearts can be replicated. Research on artificial organs has been ongoing for some time. You can check examples on TheScientist. Primarily, 3D printers are emphasized. However, this is not widely available to us. A heart cannot simply be printed again.
This technology is not as commercially and freely
available as depicted in Repo Men. Instead, it is used less for healing and more for profit. This is also the satire in the film. A company rents artificial organs and kills people who can no longer pay.
3. Her
Release: 2013 | Currently streaming: Currently not available on any subscription, but available for purchase and rental from various providers
What is Her about? Joaquin Phoenix plays the writer Theodore, who is in the midst of a divorce. He buys a new AI operating system. He spends hours and days just talking with the AI Samantha. It goes so far that he falls in love with the operating system.
What is the vision of the future? Her feels like a film that could take place today. There are no giant robots or flying cars, but advancements in AI technology. In real life, you can also converse with AIs like ChatGTP .
Unlike Samantha, they do not yet have sensitive consciousness.
Her depicts a world where loneliness is increasing. Various studies support this about our world. A study by the Bertelsmann Foundation from 2024 shows that every second young person feels lonely (via ZDF). Virtual worlds seem like a refuge that can indeed reach proportions like Theodore in Her.
As sophisticated as in Her, today’s AI technology is not. Nonetheless, Her is a fantastic film to understand why the topic is becoming more prevalent. MeinMMO’s editor-in-chief Leya Jankowski addressed this in her own article: If you want to understand the hype around AIs like ChatGTP, watch this film now
