Hollywood predicted future: 80s movie tech that exists today
Gadgets of the future are already here (screenshot: Universal Pictures YouTube channel)
Movies like Back to the Future or Runaway once portrayed a world full of magical devices that seemed impossible at the time. Today, in 2026, some of those fantasies have become everyday objects we can no longer imagine our routines without, according to BGR.
Smartwatches
The idea of a multifunctional wrist device has been used in cinema for decades, including in the James Bond franchise. In the film Octopussy (1983), Agent 007 used a Seiko watch capable of broadcasting TV.
Interestingly, such a device did exist in real life, but it was extremely impractical: the user had to carry a heavy receiver in their pocket, connected to the watch via a wire running through the sleeve.
Modern smartwatches, which measure heart rate and enable payments, have far surpassed even the boldest fantasies of screenwriters.
Self-lacing sneakers
Marty McFly in Back to the Future Part 2 amazed audiences with shoes that tied themselves. What was just a 12-second on-screen effect in 1989 became a real engineering challenge.
In 2016, Nike released a limited MAG series with motors and sensors. Later, the technology appeared in more mass-market models such as Adapt BB.
Although high prices and software issues prevented them from becoming everyday footwear for the mass market, the technology itself successfully proved its viability.
Robot vacuum cleaners
If today an autonomous vacuum cleaner is seen as ordinary household equipment, in 1984 it was pure science fiction. The film Runaway (1984) showed smart home-integrated devices long before they turned into killer robots in the plot.
Fortunately, today, smart devices remain peaceful assistants that can map rooms and maintain cleanliness on their own. The concept of the “smart home” greatly simplifies life for users who keep up with modern technology.
Hoverboards
The flying skateboard was perhaps the most desired gadget of the 1980s. In 2014–2015, companies Hendo and Lexus actually created prototypes using magnetic levitation. However, unlike in the movie, they could only hover over specially prepared metal surfaces.
Due to technical limitations and a lack of infrastructure, hoverboards never reached mass production. Developers instead focused on industrial applications of maglev technology, such as magnetic-levitation trains that float above the track and move using electromagnetic force.
