History Main / FailedFutureForecast

* ''Literature/TheDarkForest'' by Creator/CixinLiu, originally published in 2008, has a meeting TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture between a former American secretary of defense and an aged Islamic fundamentalist hiding out in Afghanistan who is clearly intended to be — but not named as — Osama bin Laden. The English translation of the book didn't appear until 2015, meaning that the mess-up was baked into it from the start.

* ''Franchise/{{Patlabor}}'': A Brocken military mech shows up to cause trouble for the Mobile Police in every continuity, and was said to have been commissioned by West Germany's border guards. ''Anime/Patlabor2TheMovie'' mentions the InUniverse end of the Cold War, but it's uncertain if this is a {{Retcon}} or if it happened sometime between 1998 and 2002 in the movie-verse.
** The ''Anime/MobilePolicePatlaborTheEarlyDays'' episode featuring it has it "accidentally" falling into the hands of communist sympathizers as part of some kind of ill-conceived WarForFunAndProfit scheme by the manufacturer. The Berlin Wall fell mere months after the episode was delivered.
** A memorable episode of ''Anime/PatlaborTheTVSeries'' involved a Soviet defector bringing an experimental mech to a Japanese seaside resort town where everybody was actually a spy of some sort.

* ''Anime/{{Patlabor}}'', created in the late '80s but taking place in the late '90s has this. The Brocken military mech that shows up to cause trouble for the Mobile Police in every continuity was said to have been commissioned by West Germany's border guards and the OAV episode featuring it has it "accidentally" falling into the hands of communist sympathizers as part of some kind of ill-conceived WarForFunAndProfit scheme by the manufacturer. A memorable episode of the TV series involved a Soviet defector bringing an experimental mech to a Japanese seaside resort town where everybody was actually a spy of some sort. The second movie mentions the end of the Cold War, but it's uncertain if this is a {{Retcon}} or if it happened sometime between 1998 and 2002 in the movie-verse.

* Inverted in ''Film/CoolRunnings'', which was made in 1993 and set in 1988. At one point, the flag of UsefulNotes/TheNewRussia is anachronistically included amongst the flags of the nations competing at the 1988 Winter Olympics. Period-appropriate Soviet flags and insignia are seen elsewhere in the film, however.

** In one that crosses with HarsherInHindsight, "Queen Diana visits Washington". Not only did Princess Diana leave the royal family through a divorce and then die tragically long before, in 1997, but UsefulNotes/ElizabethII was still reigning in 2015 and all the way until her own death in 2022. [[EpilepticTrees Maybe the two swapped fates?]]. On October 21, 2015, the real-life ''USA Today'' [[https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/10/22/back-to-the-future-newspaper-success/74418826/ issued a special edition]] replicating the front page from the movie, but omitting the Queen Diana headline.

* A major plot point of ''Literature/{{Eon}}'', the Greg Bear novel written in 1985 and set in the early 21st century, is that the USSR still exists [[spoiler: and the Third World War breaks out between it and the USA]]. On the other hand [[spoiler: the plot makes extensive use of the concept of parallel worlds and alternate histories, which handwaves the problem away: The story is not taking place in our timeline]].

* DatedHistory: Improved understanding of historical events renders the prediction outdated.

** Among the frozen inmates is Jeffrey Dahmer, the real life cannibalistic SerialKiller. Dahmer was sentenced to [[LongerThanLifeSentence over 900 years]], so his still being in prison 2032 actually fits. However, the real Dahmer was killed by a fellow inmate roughly a year after the movie was released.

* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'': Zig-zagged during the December 12, 1998 episode hosted by Creator/AlecBaldwin, which had Baldwin experiencing YetAnotherChristmasCarol during the show's opening monologue, with then-new castmember Creator/JimmyFallon appearing as the "Ghost of Hosts Future", telling Alec that he was given a prediction that he would become famous and host the show on December 12, 2011. [[WritersCannotDoMath That date was actually a Monday, not a Saturday]], [[HilariousInHindsight although he would indeed host SNL that week on December 17, 2011]]. The sketch also stated that Music/{{REM}} was the musical guest for the episode Fallon hosted. In reality, REM broke up earlier that year.

* During the TV movie ''Knight Rider 2000'', made in 1991, a news clip can be seen of "President Quayle" giving a speech. At the time, Dan Quayle was the ''Vice'' President and had things followed a typical political trend, assuming he would be President in the year 2000 wasn't too farfetched.

* In the film version of Pushkin's poem ''Literature/{{Onegin}}'', there is a throwaway line about communism, which is pretty good going for a story published 16 years before the Communist Manifesto. A less egregious example of this as regards foresight about 1917 comes in the 1990s Sean Bean/Sophie Marceau version of ''Film/AnnaKarenina'', where Vronsky is the one making throwaway remarks about the coming of communism in the 1880s, when such fears would have been more realistic, though still slightly misplaced. It seems from historical films about Russia set in the 19th century that the whole country had nothing better to do than to muse upon its ultimate 20th-century fate.

*** The beginning of "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E12TheRoyale The Royale]]" has Picard sitting at his computer console trying to confirm Fermat's Last Theorem as he briefly waxes philosophical to Riker that after 800 years and after all their advancements, no one has managed to decipher it. Apparently, nobody told him that Andrew Wiles figured it out in 1995.

*** The beginning of "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E12TheRoyal The Royal]]" has Picard sitting at his computer console trying to confirm Fermat's Last Theorem as he briefly waxes philosophical to Riker that after 800 years and after all their advancements, no one has managed to decipher it. Apparently, nobody told him that Andrew Wiles figured it out in 1995.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': When studying Presidents with Max, Terry has trouble remembering who came after Clinton, which Max describes as "the boring one." Unless something even bigger than UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror occurred between 2001 and the time of ''Beyond'' - which, at least as of 2021, [[UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump it seems to have]] - boring is not a word to describe UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush's tenure. This is certainly a reference to UsefulNotes/AlGore, Clinton's vice president who at the time the episode was made was believed by the writers as likely to succeed Clinton as president and who had a reputation for being perceived as boring. Then again, there was [[WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague that time]] ''ComicBook/LexLuthor'' ran for [[OurPresidentsAreDifferent President]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Killraven}}:'' In the 90s, TV and cars were phased out, NASA had manned flights to Mars (but only ''one'' female astronaut), thermonuclear power is used to warm every home, and cattle farming has died out due to artificial food becoming commonplace.

series/ Airwolf; in one episode, Stringfellow Hawke wakes up in a hospital bed and is told that he has been in a coma for five years. The television on the wall in his private room is pernanently tuned to a 24-hour news channel: the dominant story is "The British Royal Divorce" (presumably Chaz & Di): at one point a nurse comes in, crying, saying "I never thought those two would split" (this episode was broadcast in 1987): before long, Hawke realises that the hospital is a fake, and he is being held by "Dastardly Commies" trying to discover where he has stashed Airwolf.
* ''Series/TwentyFour''. Season 1 was written and filmed pre-9/11 but was set in 2004. By the second season, 9/11 had happened, and the Department of Homeland Security suddenly existed when it hadn't before.

** As shown above, the newspaper that mentions "Queen Diana" also suggests a female president. If it's referring to the President of the United States, that still hasn't happened (as of 2020).

* The sequel, ''Film/EscapeFromLA'', predicted that in 2000 a massive earthquake would separate a chunk of California from the mainland, creating a new island, which also became a penal colony. This was followed by the president moving the capital to Lynchburg, Virginia, making his term lifelong, and reshaping the US into a puritanical hellhole where things like alcohol, cigarettes, and premarital sex are crimes worthy of the death sentence. The film itself is set in 2013.

* The sequel, ''Film/EscapeFromLA'', predicted that in 2000 a massive earthquake would separate a chunk of California from the mainland, creating a new island, which also became a penal colony. This was followed by the president moving the capital to Lynchburg, Virginia, making his term lifelong, and reshaping the US into a puritanical hellhole where things like alcohol, cigarettes, and premarital sex are crimes worthy of the death sentence.

* ''Film/PlanetTerror'', the leader of the infected soldiers claims ''his'' team had already killed bin Laden, but the circumstances would've embarrassed his superiors, so they kept it quiet.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': When studying Presidents with Max, Terry has trouble remembering who came after Clinton, which Max describes as "the boring one." Unless something even bigger than UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror occurred between 2001 and the time of ''Beyond'' - which, at least as of 2021, [[UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump it seems to have]] - boring is not a word to describe UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush's tenure. This is certainly a reference to UsefulNotes/AlGore, Clinton's vice president who at the time the episode was made was believed by the writers as likely to succeed Clinton as president and who had a reputation for being perceived as boring. Then again, there was [[{{WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague}} that time]] ''ComicBook/LexLuthor'' ran for [[{{OurPresidentsAreDifferent}} President]].

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': When studying Presidents with Max, Terry has trouble remembering who came after Clinton, which Max describes as "the boring one." Unless something even bigger than UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror occurred between 2001 and the time of ''Beyond'' - which, at least as of 2021, [[UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump it seems to have]] - boring is not a word to describe UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush's tenure. This is certainly a reference to UsefulNotes/AlGore, Clinton's vice president who at the time the episode was made was believed by the writers as likely to succeed Clinton as president and who had a reputation for being perceived as boring. Then again, there was [[{{WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague}} that time]] ''ComicBook/LexLuthor'' [[{{ItMakesSenseInContext}} ran for]] [[{{OurPresidentsAreDifferent}} President]].

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': When studying Presidents with Max, Terry has trouble remembering who came after Clinton, which Max describes as "the boring one." Unless something even bigger than UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror occurred between 2001 and the time of ''Beyond'' - which, at least as of 2021, [[UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump it seems to have]] - boring is not a word to describe Bush's tenure. This is certainly a reference to UsefulNotes/AlGore, Clinton's vice president who at the time the episode was made was believed by the writers as likely to succeed Clinton as president and who had a reputation for being perceived as boring. Then again, there was [[{{WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague}} that time]] ''ComicBook/LexLuthor'' [[{{ItMakesSenseInContext}} ran for]] [[{{OurPresidentsAreDifferent}} President]].

* The FramingDevice of the original ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreed'' was set in the not-too-distant future of ''2012''. As 2012 came and went in real life and the MayanDoomsday behind the use of this date was thwarted in-universe, the series dropped overt references to modern real-world events and dates.

* A poster in ''Series/RedDwarf'', on board on a ship that left the solar system in either the 21st, 22nd or 23rd century depending on the series, features a rather prominent Soviet flag. There was also an episode in which the characters become convinced they're in Bulgaria, and seem to think it's still part of the Communist bloc.

* ''Series/TwentyFour''. Season 1 was written and filmed pre-9/11 but was set in 2004. By the second season, 9/11 had happened, and the Department of Homeland Security suddenly existed when it hadn't before.

* ''Series/LostInSpace'' has the interstellar Jupiter 2 vessel sent from Earth to Alpha Centauri in October 16, 1997.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS11E17BartToTheFuture "Bart to the Future"]], a glimpse into Lisa Simpson's adulthood set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, Lenny offhandedly references the idea of Chaz Bono taking up a career in politics like his father, Music/SonnyBono, when in reality, he ended up becoming an actor. The episode also refers to the younger Bono by his deadname, as he didn't come out as a trans man until nine years after its premiere.

** In one that crosses with HarsherInHindsight, "Queen Diana visits Washington". Not only did Princess Diana leave the royal family through a divorce and then die tragically long before, in 1997, but UsefulNotes/ElizabethII was still reigning in 2015 and all the way until her own death in 2022. [[EpliepticTrees Maybe the two swapped fates?]]. On October 21, 2015, the real-life ''USA Today'' [[https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/10/22/back-to-the-future-newspaper-success/74418826/ issued a special edition]] replicating the front page from the movie, but omitting the Queen Diana headline.

** In one that crosses with HarsherInHindsight, "Queen Diana visits Washington". Not only did Princess Diana leave the royal family through a divorce and then die tragically long before, but UsefulNotes/ElizabethII was still reigning in 2015. On October 21, 2015, the real-life ''USA Today'' [[https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/10/22/back-to-the-future-newspaper-success/74418826/ issued a special edition]] replicating the front page from the movie, but omitting the Queen Diana headline.

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