This is a list of films with settings beyond the date they were released or made, even if that setting is now in the past, and films with a futuristic setting despite having an unspecified (unspec.) date. It also includes films that are only partially set in the future.
The Producers is a 1967 American satirical black comedy film written and directed by Mel Brooks and starring Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Dick Shawn, and Kenneth Mars. The film is about a con artist theater producer and his accountant who scheme to get rich by fraudulently overselling interests in a stage musical purposely designed to fail. They find a script celebrating Adolf Hitler and the Nazis and bring it to the stage. Because of this theme, The Producers was controversial from the start and received mixed reviews. It became a cult film and found a more positive critical reception later.
Back to the Future Part II is a 1989 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis from a screenplay by Bob Gale; both wrote the story. It is the sequel to the 1985 film Back to the Future and the second installment in the Back to the Future franchise. The film stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, and Thomas F. Wilson with Elisabeth Shue, and Jeffrey Weissman in supporting roles. It follows Marty McFly (Fox) and his friend Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown (Lloyd) as they travel from 1985 to 2015 to prevent Marty's son from sabotaging the McFly family's future. When their arch-nemesis Biff Tannen (Wilson) steals Doc's DeLorean time machine and uses it to alter history for his benefit, the duo must return to 1955 to restore the timeline.
Mad Max 2 is a 1981 Australian post-apocalyptic dystopian action film directed by George Miller, who co-wrote it with Terry Hayes and Brian Hannant. It is the second installment in the Mad Max franchise. The film stars Mel Gibson reprising his role as "Mad Max" Rockatansky and follows a hardened man who helps a community of settlers to defend themselves against a roving band of marauders. Filming took place in locations around Broken Hill, in the Outback of New South Wales.
The Time Tunnel is an American color science fiction television series written around a theme of time travel adventure starring James Darren and Robert Colbert. The show was creator-producer Irwin Allen's third science-fiction television series and was released by 20th Century Fox Television and broadcast on ABC. The show ran for one season of 30 episodes from 1966 to 1967.
Family Matters is an American television sitcom that originally aired on ABC for eight seasons from September 22, 1989, to May 9, 1997, then moved to CBS for its ninth and final season from September 19, 1997, to July 17, 1998. A spin-off of Perfect Strangers, the series was created by William Bickley and Michael Warren, and revolves around the Winslow family, an African-American middle class family living in Chicago, Illinois. Midway through the first season, the show introduced the Winslows' nerdy neighbor Steve Urkel, who was originally scripted to appear as a one-time character. However, he quickly became the show's breakout character, joining the main cast.
Batman Beyond is an American superhero animated television series based on the DC Comics superhero Batman. Created and developed by Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, and Alan Burnett and produced by Warner Bros. Animation, the series began airing on January 10, 1999 on Kids' WB, and ended on December 18, 2001. In the United Kingdom, it began airing on September 4, 2000. After 52 episodes spanning three seasons and one direct-to-video feature film, the series was brought to an end in favor of the Justice League animated series. Depicting a teenaged Batman in a futuristic Gotham City under the tutelage of an elderly Bruce Wayne, Batman Beyond is the third series of the DC Animated Universe, and serves as the sequel to both Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures.
Videodrome is a 1983 Canadian science fiction body horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg and starring James Woods, Sonja Smits, and Debbie Harry. Set in Toronto during the early 1980s, it follows the CEO of a small UHF television station who stumbles upon a broadcast signal of snuff films. Layers of deception and mind-control conspiracy unfold as he attempts to uncover the signal's source, complicated by increasingly intense hallucinations that cause him to lose his grasp on reality.
Waterworld is a 1995 American post-apocalyptic action film directed by Kevin Reynolds and co-written by Peter Rader and David Twohy. It was based on Rader's original 1986 screenplay and stars Kevin Costner, who also produced it with Charles Gordon and John Davis. It was distributed by Universal Pictures.
A tetralogy is a compound work that is made up of four distinct works. The name comes from the Attic theater, in which a tetralogy was a group of three tragedies followed by a satyr play, all by one author, to be played in one sitting at the Dionysia as part of a competition.
Galactica 1980 is an American science fiction television series and a spin-off from the original Battlestar Galactica television series. It was first broadcast on ABC in the United States from January 27 to May 4, 1980, lasting for 10 episodes.
"Days of Future Past" is a storyline in the Marvel Comics comic book The Uncanny X-Men issues #141–142, published in 1981. It deals with a dystopian future in which mutants are incarcerated in internment camps. An adult Kate Pryde transfers her mind into her younger self, the present-day Kitty Pryde, who brings the X-Men to prevent a fatal moment in history that triggers anti-mutant hysteria.
Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip is a 1999 animated television film produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons and originally aired on December 10, 1999, on Cartoon Network. It is based on the Cartoon Network's animated television series Dexter's Laboratory. The special follows Dexter, the series' protagonist, as he travels forward through time and meets futuristic versions of himself and his rival Mandark.
Nemesis is a 1992 American cyberpunk action film directed by Albert Pyun and starring Olivier Gruner, Tim Thomerson, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Yuji Okumoto, Marjorie Monaghan, Brion James and Deborah Shelton. Set in a near future world populated by androids, the film centers on Alex Rain (Gruner), a cybernetically-enhanced, ex-counterterrorism operative charged by his former employers with assassinating his former lover, the leader of an underground militant group. This is the first installment in the Nemesis film series, and was followed by four direct sequels and a spinoff film. After premiering in Japan, it was released in the United States by Imperial Entertainment in January 1993.
Miss Marple, titled Agatha Christie's Miss Marple in the series, is a British television series based on the Miss Marple murder mystery novels by Agatha Christie, starring Joan Hickson in the title role. It aired from 26 December 1984 to 27 December 1992 on BBC1. All twelve original Miss Marple novels by Christie were dramatised.
Mad Max is a media franchise created by George Miller and Byron Kennedy. It centers on a series of post-apocalyptic and dystopian action films. The franchise began in 1979 with Mad Max, and was followed by three sequels: Mad Max 2, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985) and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015); Miller directed or co-directed all four films. Mel Gibson portrayed the title character Max Rockatansky in the first three films, while Tom Hardy portrayed the character in Mad Max: Fury Road.
Hussy is a 1980 British film starring Helen Mirren, John Shea, and Paul Angelis, and directed by Matthew Chapman.
Elysium is a 2013 American dystopian sci-fi action film written, produced, and directed by Neill Blomkamp. It was Blomkamp's second directorial effort. The film stars Matt Damon and Jodie Foster alongside Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, Diego Luna, Wagner Moura, and William Fichtner. The film takes place on both a ravaged Earth and a luxurious artificial world called Elysium. The film itself offers deliberate social commentary that explores political and sociological themes such as immigration, overpopulation, transhumanism, health care, worker exploitation, the justice system, technology, and social class issues.
Beast Wars II: Lio Convoy in Imminent Danger! is a 1998 anime film based on the Beast Wars II: Super Life-Form Transformers anime series, a Japan-only spin-off of the Beast Wars television show. The film was never released outside Japan because Beast Wars II aired only in Japan, as a filler series that aired between dubbing the first and second seasons of Beast Wars in Japan. It was released as part of Beast Wars Special Super Lifeform Transformers, as one of three features within it. The others are Clash! Beast Warriors, which is a clip show that recaps the first season of Beast Wars, and Beast Wars Metals, which was the Japanese dubbed version of the Beast Wars season 2 episode "Bad Spark". The entire special was distributed to Japanese theatres by Toei Company, though Ashi Productions provided the animation for the Beast Wars II portion of the movie.
X-Men: Days of Future Past is a 2014 superhero film directed and co-produced by Bryan Singer and written by Simon Kinberg from a story he created with Jane Goldman and Matthew Vaughn. The film is based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the X-Men, the fifth mainline installment of the X-Men film series, a sequel to X-Men: The Last Stand (2006) and X-Men: First Class (2011), a follow-up to The Wolverine (2013), and the seventh installment overall. It stars an ensemble cast, including Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Anna Paquin, Elliot Page, Peter Dinklage, Ian McKellen, and Patrick Stewart. The story, inspired by the 1981 Uncanny X-Men storyline "Days of Future Past" by Chris Claremont and John Byrne, focuses on two time periods, with Logan traveling back in time to 1973 to change history and prevent an event that results in unspeakable destruction for both humans and mutants.
