We have now entered 2026, so let’s check out the films that pin the setting to this specific year. 2026 isn’t a round-number year, so there are only a handful of films (pre-2020) that clearly place all or part of their story in that exact year. They range from silent-era spectacle to video-game horror, big-budget apes, and near-future anime tech. How well do these movies capture “2026”, now that we’re actually here? Let’s find out!
- Metropolis (1927)
Setting: 2026 (as presented in some versions, most famously via the Giorgio Moroder re-release). It makes sense that the film—finished in 1926—would place its story 100 years into the future.
Metropolis is a foundational sci-fi film and one of the most influential visions of a future city ever put on screen. Even though it was made nearly 100 years ago, it still contains ideas that feel surprisingly relevant today. Not bad for a film that old.
In a towering megacity, society is split between an elite who live in comfort above ground and workers who labour below to keep the machines running. The ruler’s son becomes disturbed by the brutality of the system after meeting a woman who preaches compassion and unity. As tensions rise, manipulation, propaganda, and a technological “miracle” push the city towards chaos, forcing a reckoning over power, class, and what it means for a society to hold together. - Doom (2005)
Setting: Begins in 2026, then jumps forward 20 years (so 2026 is a prologue rather than the main timeline).
Doom is a military sci-fi horror film based on the Doom video-game franchise. Even though it’s technically set in the future, that isn’t especially important to the story, and it doesn’t really explore what everyday life in 2026 looks like.
The story kicks off with a scientific discovery on Mars in 2026, hinting at a breakthrough that should never have been opened. Years later, a distress call brings a squad of marines to a research facility where something has gone catastrophically wrong. As the team pushes deeper into sealed corridors and labs, they’re hunted by mutated, violent threats and the truth behind the experiments starts to surface. It’s less “life in 2026” and more “the mistake that started it all”. - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)
Setting: 2026.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is a post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller in which humans and intelligent apes are forced into uneasy proximity. Thankfully, we’re not ruled by super-smart apes, so it’s not exactly a spot-on prediction of 2026.
A deadly virus has devastated humanity, and the survivors are scattered and fragile. Meanwhile, a community of highly intelligent apes has built a structured society in the wilderness under a strict code meant to prevent conflict. When human survivors attempt to restore power and rebuild, both sides face fear, mistrust, and internal pressure from hardliners who see compromise as weakness. The film escalates through moral dilemmas and misunderstandings into confrontation, asking whether coexistence is possible when both communities feel they are fighting for survival. - Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale (2017)
Setting: 2026.
Sword Art Online the Movie: Ordinal Scale is a near-future tech thriller/anime film centred on augmented reality gaming. This one feels more futuristic than our real-world 2026. We’re simply not there yet.
After surviving virtual-reality death-game trauma in earlier stories, the characters are pulled into a new craze: an AR game played out in the real world using wearable tech. It looks safer than full-dive VR, but players begin experiencing dangerous side effects and memory-related disturbances linked to the game’s design. As the stakes climb, the protagonists investigate the true purpose behind the system and confront a threat that doesn’t trap bodies in a digital world, but instead weaponises data, identity, and experience in the real one.
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