Put Some Money On The Cubbies: How Accurate Were 'Back To The Future' Predictions?

Way back in 1989, the hit movie “Back to the Future: Part II” gave the world a glimpse into how things might look 26 years into the future. Of course, 26 years into the future at the time was the year 2015. Incredibly, the movie has been eerily accurate in a number of its seemingly outlandish predictions.

Here’s a look at some of the calls the movie got right and some it got wrong.

Accurate Predictions

• Flat-screen TVs: Flat-screen TVs are standard these days, and it’s easy to forget that these TVs only became popular in the early 2000s.
• Video conferencing: This prediction is certainly not unique to “Back to the Future,” but it was accurate nonetheless.
• Holograms: Holograms have brought pop icons like Tupac back to life for a new generation of fans, and there are even hologram theaters popping up around the world. 
• Drones: Although drones may not yet be walking our dogs like they did in “Back to the Future,” they have certainly taken the world by storm in recent years.

Inaccurate Predictions

• Fax machines: Fax machines were everywhere in the “Back to the Future” version of 2015. Thankfully, fax machines are certainly not the preferred method of communication these days.
• Phone booths: Phone booths definitely became a relic of the past well before 2015.
• Flying cars: Fiction writers and movie directors have been imagining flying cars for decades, but the world is still nowhere close to that technology.
• Hover boards: Marty McFly’s iconic hover board is another prediction that hasn’t quite come to fruition, although it’s not for lack of trying.

Close Enough

• Self-lacing shoes: Self-lacing shoes were nowhere to be seen in 2015. But with Nike Inc NKE set to launch its first self-lacing shoes later this month, this prediction may have only been off by one year.
• Cubs championship: Of all the seemingly absurd “Back to the Future” predictions, a 2015 Chicago Cubs World Series championship after a 107-year drought may have been the most outlandish. Incredibly, the movie’s prediction was off by only one year.