History AlternateHistory / Film

** ''Film/OnceUponATimeInHollywood'' continues on with this trend with ForWantOfANail. Basically, [[spoiler:Creator/SharonTate lives. [[UsefulNotes/CharlesManson Her would-be killers]] don't, but Charles Manson is never caught. ]].

* A minor example in ''Film/{{Ted}}''. In 1985, a child's wish to bring his teddy bear to life came true. News spread rapidly, making Ted into a celebrity. 27 years later, no one really notices the animate teddy bear anymore.

* ''Film/Overlord2018'' The film is apparently set in an Alternate 1940s where the US Armed Forces are desegregated in 1944 (In real life the US military was desegregated on July 26, 1948) or could be set in the {{Creator/MachineGames}} Wolfenstein series (Possibly as a prequel to ''[[VideoGame/WolfensteinTheOldBlood Wolfenstein: The Old Blood]]'') in an Alternate universe where the Axis Powers are winning World War II, and vice president Harry S. Truman managed to successfully convince President Franklin D. Roosevelt to desegregated the US Military in a will of manpower.

* ''Film/Overlord2018'' The film is apparently set in an Alternate 1940s where the US Armed Forces are desegregated in 1944 (In real life the US military was desegregated on July 26, 1948) or could be set in the MachineGames Wolfenstein series (Possibly as a prequel to ''[[VideoGame/WolfensteinTheOldBlood Wolfenstein: The Old Blood]]'') in an Alternate universe where the Axis Powers are winning World War II, and vice president Harry S. Truman managed to successfully convince President Franklin D. Roosevelt to desegregated the US Military in a will of manpower.

* ''The Desert Of The Tartars (1976)'': While the army the protagonist Drogo serves in is unnamed, it is very obviously meant to be the one of the [[UsefulNotes/TheSOundOfMartialMusic three Austro-Hungarian armies]] before UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne, as they're dressed in Austro-Hungarian uniforms (complete with the royal cypher of Empreror Franz Joseph I), have Austro-Hungarian ranks and wield Austro-Hungarian weaponry. Nevertheless, the army clearly deviates from its real-life counterpart in several instances: The Double-Eagle banner is notably fictionalised, a painting portrays Emperor Franz Joseph I with a very ahistorical full beard, and most obviously: The Austro-Hungarian Empire never had a Persian-esque desert border, much less one that was infested with Tartar raiders (which is more reminiscent of several near-eastern regions of UsefulNotes/CzaristRussia rather than anything else).

* ''The Desert Of The Tartars (1976)'': While the army the protagonist Drogo serves in is unnamed, it is very obviously meant to be the one of the [[UsefulNotes/TheSOundOfMartialMusic three Austro-Hungarian armies]] before WW1, as they're dressed in Austro-Hungarian uniforms (complete with the royal cypher of Empreror Franz Joseph I), have Austro-Hungarian ranks and wield Austro-Hungarian weaponry. Nevertheless, the army clearly deviates from its real-life counterpart in several instances: The Double-Eagle banner is notably fictionalised, a painting portrays Emperor Franz Joseph I with a very ahistorical full beard, and most obviously: The Austro-Hungarian Empire never had a Persian-esque desert border, much less one that was infested with Tartar raiders (which is more reminiscent of several near-eastern regions of the Russian Empire rather than anything else).

* ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'': According to commentary of director Creator/BradBird, the movie takes place in an alternate [[RetroUniverse 50s-60s version]] of present day Earth.

* While the exact setting is ambiguous, ''WesternAnimation/{{Nine}}'' takes place in an alternate version of the early 20th Century (according to brief shots of newspapers that apparently show a date in the 1930s) in which the Industrial Revolution never ended, resulting in advanced robotics and artificial intelligence occurring nearly a century ahead of schedule (unfortunately, it [[AIIsACrapshoot doesn't end well]]).

* Though it's never addressed onscreen, ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' has this trope in its backstory. The film's setting [[{{Americasia}} San Fransokyo]] is an AlternateUniverse San Francisco, which was rebuilt by Japanese immigrants using architectural concepts from their home country after the city was damaged during the 1906 Earthquake. [[spoiler:This is furthered in ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6TheSeries'', which revealed that the "earthquake" happened two weeks earlier than it did in real life and was actually the result of a failed experiment involving an artificial star instead of a natural event.]]
* The Creator/{{Pixar}} film ''WesternAnimation/TheGoodDinosaur'' takes in a world where the K-T extinction event never happened and Jurassic dinosaurs like ''Apatosaurus'' and ''Stegosaurus'' [[OneMillionBC coexist with Cretaceous dinosaurs and animals that evolved after the K-T extinction like long-horned bison and human beings]].
* According to commentary of director Creator/BradBird ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibles'' takes place in an alternate [[RetroUniverse 50s-60s version]] of present day Earth.

* ''Film/SuddenDeath'' has the Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks competing in Game 7 of the 1995 Stanley Cup Finals while the plot is occurring. In real life, the New Jersey Devils and Detroit Red Wings were competing in that year's Stanley Cup Finals. The real life series only lasted 4 games as the Devils swept the Wings to win their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.

* The Creator/{{Pixar}} film ''WesternAnimation/TheGoodDinosaur'' takes in a world where the K-T extinction event never happened and Jurassic dinosaurs like ''Apatosaurus'' and ''Stegosaurus'' coexist with Cretaceous dinosaurs and animals that evolved after the K-T extinction like long-horned bison and human beings.

* Though it's never addressed onscreen, ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' has this trope in its backstory. The film's setting [[{{Americasia}} San Fransokyo]] is an AlternateUniverse San Francisco, which was rebuilt by Japanese immigrants using architectural concepts from their home country after the city was damaged during the 1906 Earthquake. [[spoiler:This is furthered in ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6TheSeries'', which revealed that the "earthquake" happened two weeks earlier than it did in real life and was actually the result of a failed experiment involving an artificial star instead of a natural event.]]

* Most films in the ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' franchise, including the AlternateContinuity happy Millennium series, kept Tokyo as Japan's captial after the events of ''Film/Godzilla1954''. The second film in the afromentioned Millennium series, ''Film/GodzillaVsMegaguirus'', not only changed the events things so Godzilla wasn't destroyed by the Oxygen Destroyer--but that Japan's capital was moved to Osaka as a result of the rampage.

** On the commentary for ''Film/DarkPhoenix'' confirm the prior use of this trope as the reason the 1992-set film doesn't reflect reality and features a President with NoNameGiven, instead of UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush.[[note]]Kinberg erroneously stated UsefulNotes/BillClinton, who defeated Bush in the election that year and would be inaugurated in '93[[/note]]

* ''Film/IndependenceDayResurgence'' takes place in an alternate 2016 where the events of the 21st century were drastically altered by the War of 1996 in the [[Film/IndependenceDay previous movie]]. For the last 20 years, humanity has enjoyed a prolonged period of peace and stability after uniting against a common foe, which means events like the War on Terror have been avoided. They also had a significant jump in technological advance after they learned how to reverse engineer the invader's tech, creating smartphones and drones sooner than their creation in our timeline and allowing the colonization of other planets. The entire world is a paradise...until the aliens come back.

** Subtle example in ''Film/Godzilla2014''. While the Pacific nuke tests being covert attempts to kill Godzilla falls under HistoricalInJoke, the 1999 collapse of the Janjira NPP and the subsequent quarantine of a sizable Japanese metropolitan area is a much bigger divergence. And then Honolulu and San Francisco are attacked by monsters, completely altering the timeline altogether.

* ''Film/IndependenceDayResurgence'' takes place in an alternate 2016 where the events of the 21st century were drastically altered by the War of 1996 in the [[Film/IndependenceDay previous movie]]. For the last 20 years, humanity has enjoyed a prolonged period of peace and stability after uniting against a common foe, which means events like the War on Terror have been avoided. They also had a significant jump in technological advance after they learned how to reverse engineer the invader's tech, creating smartphones and drones sooner than their creation in our timeline and allowing the colonization of other planets.

** Subtle example in ''Film/Godzilla2014''. While the Pacific nuke tests being covert attempts to kill Godzilla falls under HistoricalInJoke, the 1999 collapse of the Janjira NPP and the subsequent quarantine of a sizable Japanese metropolitan area is a much bigger divergence.

* ''Film/DraculaUntold'': Like ''Bram Stoker's Dracula'', the historical Vlad the Impaler is merged with Dracula. However, perhaps the biggest change in history is having Mehmed the Conqueror die during the invasion of Wallachia, being killed by Vlad the Impaler. With his death, the Ottomans never attempted to conquer Europe again. In real life, Mehmed died of sickness a good twenty years later, back in the capital of Constantinople, having managed to not only suppress the Wallachian rebellion, but also conquer Bosnia, Euboea, southern Ukraine, and Albania. The Ottoman conquest of Europe was continued by Mehmed's descendants; his great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson Mehmed IV extended the empire to as far north as the outer reaches of Kyiv.

* Though it's never addressed onscreen, ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' has this trope in its backstory. The film's setting [[{{Americasia}} San Fransokyo]] is an AlternateUniverse San Francisco, which was rebuilt by Japanese immigrants using architectural concepts from their home country after the city was damaged during the 1906 Earthquake. [[spoiler:This is furthered in ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6TheSeries'', which revealed that the "earthquake" happened two weeks earlier than it did in real life and was acutally the result of a failed experiment involving an artificial star instead of a natural event.]]

* The backstory of the South Korean/Japanese action film ''Film/TwoThousandAndNineLostMemories'' has a time traveler prevent the assassination of Ito Hirobumi in 1909, which alters history in that Japan retains its imperial conquests (so Korea is still under Japanese rule in the present-day) and allies with the United States in World War II.

'''Whitaker:''' I'm replaying the battle as ''I'' would have fought it! Meade was tenacious, but he was cautious. [[ArmchairMilitary He missed his chance to crush Lee at Gettysburg.]]

* The {{Mockumentary}} ''Punishment Park'' takes place in an alternate 1970. After the Vietnam War escalates, Richard Nixon implements the [=McCarran=] Internal Security Act, which authorizes federal authorities to detain persons deemed a risk to internal security without referring to Congress. Anti-war protesters, civil rights activists, feminists, black militants, and conscientious objectors are tried by special tribunals, then given a choice: either spend their time in a federal prison or spend three days in the titular punishment park. There, they will have to travel across 53 miles of the hot California desert in three days, without water or food, while being chased by National Guardsmen and police as part of training. If they succeed and reach the American flag at the end of the course, they'll get to go free. If they fail and get "arrested", they'll be sent to prison anyway. The story is about a joint British-West German film crew following groups of these people during their excursion.

* It gets increasingly apparent that 21st century Creator/Disney princess-centered movies, i.e. both ''WesternAnimation/Frozen'', ''WesternAnimation/Tangled'' as well as the live-action remakes ''Cinderella'' and ''Beauty and the Beast'' are not set in a separate fairytale-dimension akin to ''Once Upon A Time'', but in a carefully crafted alternate history version of our planet. Actual places are mentioned (Paris, Portugal, Denmark) as well as historical figures implied (Joan of Arc, Shakespeare). Dates in Frozen imply that it is set around 1840 (this means by extension that the same is the case for Tangled). Shown technology (rails,photography) support that. It also somewhat fits the fashion shown, but especially military uniforms (with Beauty and the Beast probably set about 60 years earlier...however we cannot bet on it due to this being an alternate history).

Changes they have in common are: magic exists, but in most places so rare that people can largely ignore it.
Firearms are banned or very rare (crossbows however seem to have seen continued development). Europe has a noticeable population share of originally African origin, society however seems to be colorblind. Politically, small independent principalities seem to have been more common throughout the Continent (in Germany and Italy they were a reality until the 1860s). France instead of being a near-superpower had trouble fending off a Portuguese invasion in Gaston‘s youth. The plague killed Belle‘s mother in Paris of (most probably) the mid-18th century while historically, the last outbreak of the plague in France was successfully restricted to Southern France in 1720.
The point of divergence is up to speculation so far.

** ''Film/OnceUponATimeInHollywood'' continues on with this trend with ForWantOfANail. Basically, [[spoiler:Creator/SharonTate lives. [[UsefulNotes/CharlesManson Her would-be killers]] don't]].