Top 10 Back to the Future Predictions That Came TRUE

MsMojo

Great Scott! Some of the wildest "Back to the Future" ideas actually became reality. We'll explore the film's most spot-on predictions about technology and daily life, from smart homes to wearable gadgets and more! Which "future" innovation did you find the coolest or the most surprising? Let us know in the comments below!

Transcript

00:00What did you just say? I said I wish I could go back to the beginning of the season,

00:04put some money on the cubby. Welcome to Ms. Mojo,

00:06and today we're looking at things that Back to the Future got right about the future.

00:12The future.

00:15Voice activated lights. You know those smart home devices that allow you to turn off the

00:19lights by simply using your voice? Well, Back to the Future saw this coming. In a scene during

00:23the second film, when the police bring Jennifer to her future 2015 home, the lights turn on at

00:28the sound of her voice. You got a little tranked, but I think you can walk. Ma'am, you should

00:33reprogram. It's dangerous to enter without lights on. Lights on? Yes. For a film that came out in

00:38the late 1980s, talk about a bright vision of technological advancement. Amazon Alexa,

00:43the now-famous voice-controlled smart assistant, debuted in 2014 and transformed the way many

00:49people interact with their homes. Alexa, lock the front door.

00:52Front door locked. Looking back, the timing is uncanny. It makes perfect sense that Marty and

01:00Jennifer's 2015 house would have voice-activated lights.

01:03Purple!

01:04Hands-free gaming. Playing a video game without touching a controller of some sort may have

01:09seemed far-fetched in 1989, but in 2015, not so much. When Marty walks into the cafe 80s in Back to

01:16the Future Part 2, two kids express their disapproval of using hands for gaming. This is a video game!

01:24I got it working! Do they not realize they're in a place called Cafe 80s? It should be nostalgic.

01:30Times were different then, kids. How do you play this thing? I'll show you, kid.

01:36I'm a crack shot at this. But lo and behold, by 2015, hands-free gaming actually became a real

01:42thing with devices like the Kinect. So, while traditional gaming with a handheld controller

01:47doesn't carry the baby toy label expressed in the movie, those kids still gave a sneak preview

01:51of a revolutionary gaming experience.

01:54You mean you have to use your hands? That's like a baby's toy.

01:58Multi-screen experience. Watching Marty Jr. watch six channels at once might have seemed silly or

02:04totally implausible at the time.

02:05And even now, if you watch Back to the Future Part 2, you can still get that futuristic feel,

02:15especially when you remember it came out in 1989.

02:21Back then, wall-mounted flat-screen TVs hadn't yet become the norm in homes either. By the 2010s,

02:27though, that multi-screen viewing experience actually became pretty normal. It just makes

02:31a bit more sense when you're trying to keep up with a bunch of sports games, compared to the

02:34random mix of channels Marty Jr. had on.

02:37Watching on TV for a change?

02:39Smartwatches. If you're a Back to the Future fan, you know that Doc Brown is ahead of his time.

02:44Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads.

02:48But if you watched Part 2 around the time it came out, the way he uses a device on his wrist would

02:53have seemed outlandish. Cool, sure, but still outlandish. During this scene, the scientist and

02:58inventor looks at his wrist to check the weather forecast. Sure enough, the rain stops in five

03:03seconds. Yeah, right.

03:05Right on the tick.

03:06Well, looking back, we can identify what Doc was wearing as a smartwatch, because, well,

03:11they exist now, as does the ability to check the weather on them. The franchise also predicted

03:16the development of electronic tablets, but the smartwatch prediction is a little more apparent

03:21and was more far-fetched at the time.

03:23Damn, I'm late!

03:24Augmented reality.

03:25Hey, fruit.

03:27Fruit, please.

03:28Fruit, please.

03:30Marty Jr.'s living in his own world at times. Just check out the wearable tech he's rocking

03:34in this scene. His sister's got a pair, too.

03:36Dad, it's for you.

03:37Those look like smartglasses, something that wasn't real at the time. But, keyword, yet.

03:43These devices offer immersive tech-driven experiences, a la augmented reality. We also see a similar

03:49concept with the shark hologram that startles Marty. While the augmented reality in Back to the Future

03:54Part 2 isn't exactly the same as how we use it today, it definitely gave us a sneak peek of what

03:59was to come.

04:08Shark still looks fake.

04:09Digital currency and mobile payment. Contactless payment and transferring money wirelessly have

04:14become everyday parts of modern life. Back to the Future Part 2 told us this was coming.

04:19Or, well, they showed us.

04:20Scan it. I'm in.

04:22We see this technologically advanced payment method when Marty's asked to make a donation for the

04:26clock tower, as well as when Biff pays for his taxi ride with a thumbprint.

04:30That'll be $174.50.

04:32Here.

04:32I'd be careful all the time, it is a rough neighborhood.

04:34Okay, so it may not be exactly how we do it now, but the classic film franchise was definitely

04:39onto something. Fast forward to the 21st century, and the number of ways to pay has expanded and

04:44become more digitized.

04:46I'll count you down. Three, two, one.

04:50Take it out.

04:51Drones. Whether it's news drones or a dog-walking drone, Back to the Future Part 2 portrays a

04:56future of what was once considered unusual aerial activity. While the USA Today news drone in the

05:01film doesn't look like the actual non-military drones that eventually flew into our society,

05:06the concept is the same. Journalistic drones, many of which have cameras. And of course, drones for

05:12business, research, and personal use have come into play as well.

05:15Get off the gun!

05:17Get off the gun!

05:21I was afraid!

05:23Director Robert Zemeckis came up with the drone idea for the movie during a spitballing session.

05:27Who knew his spitball idea for a movie would actually become a part of reality?

05:31The shot is incredibly steady. How difficult is it to achieve that?

05:35Well, it's, um, the technology's really leapt on recently, so it means that there's a platform that

05:41the camera is mounted on which essentially is stabilized in real time.

05:45Fingerprint ID scanners. While fingerprint recognition and biometric devices had existed in

05:50some form before Back to the Future, the film franchise imagined them becoming even more

05:54technologically advanced by 2015. And they were right.

05:58It's called Touch ID.

05:59Whether you've used your Touch ID to unlock your phone or your laptop, or to fill in your

06:04password, you've likely used this technology in some form. In Back to the Future Part 2,

06:09Jennifer uses thumbprint recognition to open her front door.

06:12Welcome home, Jennifer.

06:14At the time the movie came out, this seemed super futuristic. Like seriously, no more keys?

06:19Fast forward to the 21st century, and while house keys still exist, some people really do

06:24only need their finger. The Cubs ending their World Series drought. By the time Back to the

06:31Future Part 2 was released, over 80 years had passed since the Chicago Cubs last won the World

06:36Series. But screenwriter Bob Gale, a St. Louis Cardinals fan, envisioned a 2015 where the Cubs

06:42finally would end the historic drought. And wow, was he close.

06:45Wait a minute. Cubs win World Series.

06:48What many called a curse was finally broken when the Cubs won the World Series in 2016.

06:54I have to ask you, you predicted that the Cubs were going to win the World Series in 2015?

06:58We did.

06:58That is right now.

07:00Even though the movie's prediction was one year off, we're considering it an amazing prediction

07:04because of just how long the drought was, and how unfamiliar it became for the Cubs to be on top

07:09of the baseball world. Marty's reaction says it all. Oh yeah, and they also predicted there would

07:14be an MLB franchise in Miami. Impressive indeed.

07:18Against Miami?

07:19Yeah, it's something, huh? Who would have thought? 100 to one shot!

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07:38Video calls.

07:42Talking to someone in another place while seeing their face live on a screen once seemed

07:47totally futuristic. Technically, video telephones had been invented before Back to the Future,

07:53but they weren't widely used at all. The film franchise took the technology a step further

07:58in its envisioned 2015 society. During a scene in Back to the Future Part 2,

08:02Marty answers a video call from his co-worker, who pops up on a big screen.

08:06If this thing works, it'll solve all your financial problems.

08:10And if it doesn't work, needles, I could get fired.

08:13This surely left many viewers thinking, how cool would that be? Well, fast forward to the 21st century,

08:19and video calling has become second nature with platforms like Skype, FaceTime, Zoom, and more.

08:24Mobile devices have back-and-front cameras and can be used while on the go.

08:29We know people will rotate these devices from portrait to landscape, so we adjust accordingly.

08:35On the go...

08:35What Back to the Future predictions stood out to you most? Let us know in the comments.

09:01Let us know in the comments.

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