13 Movies That Depressingly Predicted The Future

7. The Three Mile Island Meltdown - The China Syndrome

Videodrome Saw
Columbia Pictures

This Jane Fonda-starring thriller about a nuclear reactor malfunction and the subsequent safety cover-ups hit cinemas on March 16, 1979, just 12 days before Pennsylvania's infamous Three Mile Island nuclear meltdown.

Heightening the irony is the fact that leading figures in the nuclear power industry condemned the film as irresponsible and manipulative prior to release, only for its scenario to turn out borderline-prophetic, with one character even mentioning that a meltdown would make "an area the size of Pennsylvania" uninhabitable.

To their credit, Columbia Pictures actually distanced themselves from the disaster rather than exploit it for financial gain, even pulling the movie from some markets in an admirable act of sensitivity.

Almost four decades later, though, it remains a mind-boggling coincidence and almost hilariously perfect indictment of nuclear power's dangers.

Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.