WThis is a list of fictional stories that, when composed, were set in the future, but the future they predicted is now present or past. The list excludes works that were alternate histories, which were composed after the dates they depict, alternative futures, as depicted in time travel fiction, as well as any works that make no predictions of the future, such as those focusing solely on the future lives of specific fictional characters, or works which, despite their claimed dates, are contemporary in all but name. Entries referencing the current year may be added if their month and day were not specified or have already occurred.
WRetrofuturism is a movement in the creative arts showing the influence of depictions of the future produced in an earlier era. If futurism is sometimes called a "science" bent on anticipating what will come, retrofuturism is the remembering of that anticipation. Characterized by a blend of old-fashioned "retro styles" with futuristic technology, retrofuturism explores the themes of tension between past and future, and between the alienating and empowering effects of technology. Primarily reflected in artistic creations and modified technologies that realize the imagined artifacts of its parallel reality, retrofuturism can be seen as "an animating perspective on the world".
WAmazon Women on the Moon is a 1987 American satirical sci-fi comedy film that parodies the experience of watching low-budget movies on late-night television. The film, featuring a large ensemble cast including cameo appearances from film and TV stars and even non-actors, was written by Michael Barrie and Jim Mulholland, and takes the form of a compilation of 21 comedy skits directed by five different directors: Joe Dante, Carl Gottlieb, Peter Horton, John Landis, and Robert K. Weiss.
WAmericathon is a 1979 American comedy film directed by Neal Israel and starring John Ritter, Fred Willard, Peter Riegert, Harvey Korman, and Nancy Morgan, with narration by George Carlin. It is based on a play by Firesign Theatre members Phil Proctor and Peter Bergman. The movie includes appearances by Jay Leno, Meat Loaf, Tommy Lasorda, and Chief Dan George, with a musical performance by Elvis Costello.
WBarbarella is a 1968 science fiction film directed by Roger Vadim, based on the French comic series of the same name by Jean-Claude Forest. The film stars Jane Fonda as the title character, a space-traveller and representative of the United Earth government sent to find scientist Durand-Durand, who has created a weapon that could destroy humanity. The cast also includes John Phillip Law, Anita Pallenberg, Milo O'Shea, Marcel Marceau, David Hemmings, Ugo Tognazzi and Claude Dauphin.
WBonk Business is a fictional corporation created by Finnish artist and sculptor Alvar Gullichsen. The "products of Bonk Business" are absurd machines, such as the paranormal cannon, that have no apparent use, and which are built by Gullichsen. The story is that Bonk machines are powered by anchovy oil. The works parody corporate and marketing cliches in a retrofuturistic style.
WBrazil is a 1985 dystopian science fiction black comedy film directed by Terry Gilliam and written by Gilliam, Charles McKeown, and Tom Stoppard. The film stars Jonathan Pryce and features Robert De Niro, Kim Greist, Michael Palin, Katherine Helmond, Bob Hoskins, and Ian Holm.
WFreedom Project is a Japanese promotional project by Nissin Cup Noodles for their 35th anniversary in 2006. As part of the project, the 7-part OVA series, titled Freedom, was commissioned with and designed by Katsuhiro Otomo serving as the character and mecha designer. The series is directed by Shuhei Morita, creator of the award-winning animation short Kakurenbo, and is authored by celebrated writer Dai Satō, Katsuhiko Chiba and Yuuichi Nomura. The series openly displays its sponsor's product placement in numerous scenes in which characters are shown consuming Nissin Cup Noodles.
WGoogie architecture is a type of futurist architecture influenced by car culture, jets, the Space Age, and the Atomic Age. It originated in Southern California with the Streamline Moderne architecture of the 1930s, and was popular nationwide from roughly 1945 to the early 1970s.
WKung Fury is a 2015 English-language Swedish martial arts comedy featurette written and directed by David Sandberg. It pays homage to 1980s martial arts and police action films. The film stars Sandberg in the title role, Jorma Taccone, Leopold Nilsson, and a cameo appearance by David Hasselhoff.
WMars Attacks! is a 1996 American comic science fiction film directed by Tim Burton, who also co-produced it with Larry J. Franco. The screenplay, which was based on the Topps trading card series of the same name, was written by Jonathan Gems. The film features an ensemble cast consisting of Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Martin Short, Sarah Jessica Parker, Michael J. Fox, Rod Steiger, Tom Jones, Lukas Haas, Pam Grier, Natalie Portman, Jim Brown, Jack Black, Lisa Marie, and Sylvia Sidney in her final film role.
WProject Moonbase is the longest-running retrofuturistic music podcast, recorded in Edinburgh, Scotland, with the tagline "The Historic Sound of the Future".
WRaygun Gothic is a catchall term for a architecture style and visual style that incorporates various aspects of the Googie, Streamline Moderne and Art Deco architectural styles when applied to retrofuturistic science fiction environments. Academic Lance Olsen has characterised Raygun Gothic as "a tomorrow that never was". It is inspired from space age, Raypunk and Atom punk subcultures
WThe Raygun Gothic Rocketship is a retro-futurist art sculpture in the shape of a giant rocketship. It was created by Bay Area artists Nathaniel Taylor, Sean Orlando, and David Shulman.
WRetrotronics is the making of electric circuits or appliances using older electric components, such as vacuum tubes, Nixie displays, relays, uniselectors, analogue meters, etc. These are usually chosen more for their aesthetic qualities than performance.
WPerry Rhodan is a long-running and popular West German/German space opera franchise, named after its hero. It commenced in 1961. Having sold approximately two billion copies worldwide,, it is the most successful science fiction book series ever written. The first billion of worldwide sales was celebrated in 1986. The series has spun off into comic books, audio dramas, video games and the like. A reboot, Perry Rhodan NEO, was launched in 2011 and began publication in English starting in April 2021.
WThe Rocketeer is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books originally published by Pacific Comics. Created by writer/artist Dave Stevens, the character first appeared in 1982 and is a homage to the Saturday matinee serial heroes from the 1930s through the 1950s.
WSpace Station 76 is a 2014 American science fiction film, directed by Jack Plotnick, and co-written by Plotnick, Jennifer Elise Cox, Sam Pancake, Kali Rocha, and Michael Stoyanov.
WSimon Stålenhag is a Swedish artist, musician, and designer specialising in retro-futuristic digital images focused on nostalgic Swedish countryside alternate history environments. The settings of his artwork have formed the basis for the 2020 Amazon television drama series Tales from the Loop.
WTales from the Loop is an alternate history science fiction tabletop role-playing game designed by Nils Hintze, based on the art of Simon Stålenhag. It was published in 2017 by Free League Publishing, the international arm of Swedish game and book publisher Fria Ligan AB, and Modiphius Entertainment. The game is built upon the Year Zero Engine created by Tomas Härenstam, who also served as the editor and project manager.
WThe Theme Building is an iconic Space Age structure at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Influenced by "Populuxe" architecture, it is an example of the Mid-century modern design movement later to become known as "Googie". The Airport Theme Building Exterior and Interior was designated as a historic-cultural monument in 1993 by the city.
WTomorrowland is one of the many themed lands featured at all of the Magic Kingdom styled Disney theme parks around the world owned or licensed by The Walt Disney Company. Each version of the land is different and features numerous attractions that depict views of the future. Disneyland Park in Paris includes a similar area called Discoveryland, which shares some elements with other Tomorrowlands but emphasizes visions of the future inspired by Jules Verne.
WTracy Island is the secret headquarters of the International Rescue organisation in the British 1960s Supermarionation television series Thunderbirds and its adaptations. In the original series, the heavily-camouflaged island is located in the South Pacific Ocean and is home to the Tracy family, scientists Brains and Tin-Tin and housekeeper Kyrano.
WVampire Hunter D is a series of Japanese novels written by Hideyuki Kikuchi and illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano since 1983.