Hollywood and the Omicron Variant: 5 Movies That Have Predicted the Future

The world is suffering from a new strain of COVID-19. It is the Omicron variant, which started in Africa, but has now reached different countries, such as Brazil, Spain or the United States. Although it includes mild symptoms, the variant has a "high risk of contagion", so many countries are waiting to see how it evolves.

Now, what would you say if we told you that all this was already anticipated in the past? More specifically in 1963, the year in which an Italian film directed by Ugo Gregoretti was released. There we were shown a parody of capitalist society from a comedy and science fiction point of view.

The film is about an alien that gets into the body of a human being, with the aim of starting to conquer Earth. Therefore, this film, which has the name of the current variant, fueled the speculation of many people who believe that this virus "came to change humanity."

Although the film has a narrative about "extraterrestrial contagions", it is surprising that they have chosen the name of this variant at a time when many countries are suffering from it. Against this background, we decided to find out about other productions that, in one way or another, anticipated what would happen in the future.

Star Wars (1977)

We started with a film of the genre "space opera", directed by George Lucas. Although it has 8 more installments, the original film is one of the most important in the history of cinema since it introduced technologies that would change the way of producing films, as well as a plot that would catch many children, young people and adults.

However, it also highlights how he was able to predict the future. In this episode, we see that Princess Leia uses the mythical hologram to make a request for Ben Kenobi for help. This hologram has become a flagship of the saga, as it has been repeated in subsequent films, but the funny thing is that it exists in reality.

Currently there are many recitals that are done with hologram technology, where the singers, who cannot attend the stadium, are recorded and appear on screen. For example, the legendary ABBA band will use them the following year in a series of concerts scheduled in London.

Total Recall (1990)

Directed by Paul Verhoeven and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, this is a "classic" science fiction film. Based on a story by Philip K. Dick, we are presented with what the year 2084 will be like, in which there are some innovations that ended up materializing long before.

A clear example occurs with the autonomous taxi. The protagonist gets into a taxi driven by a PC. At present, this class of vehicles are a reality, since in China it is common to see them on the streets. In the next few years, we will surely see them in other countries.

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You've Got Mail (1998)

A drama romance film is directed by Nora Ephron and starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. The film presents us the lives of two people who meet in real life while maintaining a “virtual” relationship through email, being one of the first films to introduce this mechanism.

Although e-mail already existed at that time (despite not being popular), the analogy refers to the possibility of dating and even having virtual relationships. Currently, some platforms, such as Tinder, allow people to get to know each other and even have 100% long-distance relationships.

Minority Report (2003)

Directed by Steven Spielberg, it is an action film that showed a futuristic world that contained different personalized ads according to the public (what we know today as segmentation). This can be seen in social networks, where advertising appears according to our interests.

However, that was not the only prediction. Also, the protagonist, Tom Cruise, could use a system to interact with technology. Currently, this is a reality in mobile devices, which incorporate different systems to help us in all day-to-day functions.

Her (2013)

Finally, we have a utopian drama, directed by Spike Jonze and starring Joaquin Phoenix. It presents us the story of Theodore, a person who works writing emotional letters for other people. He has not being in love, until he begins to establish a relationship with a virtual assistant present on his devices.

This intelligence is known as "Samantha", whose voice is the popular Scarlett Johansson. Well, currently many smartphones have a virtual assistant that allows you to help you on a day-to-day basis. For example, iPhone has Siri, which can open different applications for you just by hearing your voice.