Movies that are set in the future always face a challenge presenting that future state, especially when it comes to day to day life. Some are extraordinarily immersive—think Blade Runner—while others tend to fall down on what the day after tomorrow might in fact hold.
Cars are especially tough to envision as they are very expensive props. That often leads filmmakers to license the use of some manufacturer’s auto show car or just dress up some already futuristic looking production model. Exhibit A of this technique is Back to the Future Part II.
Interpretations of future cars are so all over the board in fact, that today we want your opinion on which movie did the worst job at either predicting the future, or, perhaps due to budget constraints, did a terrible job of presenting it. What do you think, what was Hollywood’s hokiest future car?
Image: Barrett-Jackson
Hooniverse Asks: What Movie had the Hokiest "Future Cars?"
By Robert Emslie
Feb 8, 2017
Jeff Glucker
Intentionally hokey counts.
The CEO of GM said that this was the primary reason he decided that Pontiac was going to die.
I’ve always liked the future cars in Time Cop. Because they have no attachment to reality.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/09644f0176663e23c3c536d2a6a6c2fb0252e24072a0018683ef74c3dbd36d3c.jpg
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/09258cc89a201677ffca534060eb9355e599e88bf0bb9198cd39edf744e74600.jpg Metropolis. The cars really weren’t as futuristic as everything else.
Well, duh. There will be no advancements in tire or suspension technology in the coming three centuries.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f12ab93ee4b93918e0db2263534301266d264bcb870fd3a87b1dbcb4966eb342.jpg
(Argo buggy from Star Trek: Nemesis)
Is it possible that the cars in Idiocracy were intentionally stupid? https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/644f470181634e8db738475b54affb318ae35b651cd6f1a6f1e2e2abdbf51f44.jpg
That’s actually a film I would really like to watch. It was introduced to me as an accidental documentary of the future.
If it is a documentary I’m looking forward to the presidential upgrade.
I think you mean “Upgrayedd”
I don’t really dislike the car but I love this take https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b9faaf9dcc96388c03d728d44410ed757634d637543c2c8e8e08a2534f788022.jpg , “In the mid-1980s, humans lost the ability to design automobiles, and the result is no more plainly obvious than in the cars – all the cars – that appeared in The Wraith…. The bodywork on top came from PPG, a world renowned carrozzeria most recognized for its amazing design work in fiberglass bathtub inserts.”
The Wraith looked better than the Minority Report Lexus by a mile.
http://images.hgmsites.net/med/ebay-watch-lexus-2054-concept-from-minority-report_100220781_m.jpg
Still looks better than http://www.toyotazone.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Lexus-LF-NX-spindle-grille.jpg
That is a hilarious quote, and I love the M4S.
I love the actual M4S, but the Beetle-based replica used in the film is a bit of a mess, with its gaping chasm under the nose, diminutive scale and too-short wheelbase.
Kinda on-topic:
I heard Syd Mead at a conference discuss Blade Runner. Some of the props in the movie were just regular old things with “technology” added to them. The budget constraints kept them from building as many bespoke cars as needed. To fill the scene, just bolt an AC unit to a Chrysler roof. His other example was a coin parking meter with a computer bolted to it.
Made the movie even more realistic I think… Makes me worry about the new movie though.
Back on topic:
Death Race 2000
http://thenewswheel.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Frankenstein-and-Machine-Gun-Joe.jpg
The cars in DeathRace 2050 aren’t as good as in the original. In fact they can’t go faster than 20mph and that was a huge problem when they were filming it. It really shows in HD and in the featurettes for the movie. Which is a shame because the designs are interesting enough but the execution is lacking. Oh and I will admit to watching the movie the day was released online.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3819acdeae42041d129d0062f58d0fd8183498fd0f51b461f0a98af2fc2ac40a.jpg
I didn’t even know there was a follow-up. Worth the time? What limits their speed to 20 mph? Unless they are pedal cars, it sounds totally stupid.
Death Race 2050 came out a couple weeks back and is streaming on Amazon Prime and Netflix. It’s a true sequel to the original. Take that how you wish.
The WTF with Marc Maron podcast had the director and Roger Corman on. The director said that the outside of the cars were done with styrofoam and that leads to the speed restriction. In fact one of the cars went over it and it destroyed the work.
*facepalm* – like building a bathtub out of paper.
There are others… Death Race (2008) was pretty solid.
2 Prequels – Death Race 2 and Death Race 3: Inferno were straight to DVD. 2 was OK… #3 is worth a $2 rental to say you’ve seen them all.
The 2050 is a throwback to the campy Corman version.
The 2008 cars were strong…
https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s—nFKsCLk–/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/18axkkvomvbxfjpg.jpg
https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s–hI11uv2Y–/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/186m60ov4iv6xjpg.jpg
https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s—ZMdtM60–/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/18axkkvoja4k6jpg.jpg
So Roger Corman went and made 2050 because he said this about the 2008 one. His complaint was they removed the political message and, more importantly, the bit about running over people to reduce the population. Which was the entire point of the first Death Race movie. So he decided it was a good idea to make a true sequel to the first movie.
Although i will say this. Frankenstein doesn’t have a hand grenade in 2050.
This image will only mean something to those who saw the original and should lead to a facepalm. Oh how I love my B movies.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5b58b30d6d3e4c3c16ca6a06dfa31786010895178f5ff44795df20052574622b.jpg
I’ll find 2050 somewhere.
The other movies were pretty good. 2008 was just DR meets Running Man. The production value was excellent. I enjoyed it.
Politics and population control, yeah, but he didn’t say anything about reviving the terrible puns! That Carradine could deadpan that line is really something.
My local pub usually has movies on. They’re either The El Rey network or Netflix, and they had 2050 on a couple weeks ago. Millennials were like, whah?!?
I think I’ve shown DR 2000 to my son… but it is worth a revisit.
The DeLorian was authentic 80ies, but the future had taxis based on DS21?
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2540/3874868197_8561331ab6.jpg
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0edwpjX151qjprejo1_500.gif
The Fifth Element made so much more sense when I learned that it was based on a French comic book.
I can’t attatch an image right now, but Total Recall’s Johnny Cabs must be in with a shout of the hokiness title
Wait is Johnny Cab a modified Citicar? Ok it’s time to go look up IMCDB.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c47d07df460ae883e0c0f34363381114f3b90ac791ed194cbaeac54ba7435f40.jpg
Ok let’s do this. IMCDB and I don’t agree on this. It says it’s custom built but as a fan of the citicar, commutacar and it’s variants I want you to take a look at this. http://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_181778-Made-for-Movie-JohnnyCab.html
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/fc8c9a2417efd9ce4670b22bef43786e471fddda401b0a3673b47b7bdc9d62f4.jpg
Don’t see it. Larger windshield, different door and window location, larger tires, wider body and track, no tumblehome on the sides, no light bulges or fake NACA duct on the hood…there would be so much modding required to make a Citicar into that, it would be just as easy to start from scratch. They only share the general shape of slabby flat surfaces and wedge front – kind of an easy and obvious path to simple fabrication.
It looks like a highly customized one, if it is one. It’s wider, the side door is a lot different.
The Citicar is tiny. The JC is probably based on a Beetle chassis.
Most everything is, isn’t it?
The ropey “take a current car, make it look banged up and add a dubious exhaust/fuel tank energy conversion that we have no idea how it works” thing in Looper
http://www.imcdb.org/i557259.jpg
At least if featured a Miata as a plausible future classic.. but with no headrests.
http://www.imcdb.org/i494246.jpg
There must be some sort of Hollywood fines levied if your cars have headrests
Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn
…back when 3D was considered enough of a gimmick to draw an audience to a lousy B-movie.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e00bbfb42da2acb75193a8f026d4f5cfa580cadeba5f52f1491232744d418b77.jpg
That movie is also notable for having a pre-Night Court Bull in it as well. Well to be honest he made a ton of B Movies.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/870ac6e2505d6e1f7b2f3670ccecdf525d0c8ef4f77162719b731cb65876902c.jpg
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0c1fe4318ce2c92a04e6c6121a5cde6c9d0773b110dee25de59667fcdfe0fdb1.jpg
Biff’s BMW from Back to the Future.
Gattaca.
Cars of this future will be Rover P6s, Citroen DS decapotables and estates, Lincoln Continentals, Mk2 Jaguars, Jensen Interceptors, Aston Martin DBSs and Studebaker Avantis, but they’ll all be electric.
Actually, what does ‘Hokey’ mean again?
http://joshldavis.com/img/gattaca/electric-car.png
http://www.imcdb.org/i003930.jpg
http://static.stuff.co.nz/files/unlikely1.jpg
http://www.theavanti.net/gattaca/tunnelcars.jpg
I kinda want to live there.
That statement is highly dependent on your DNA quality.
I’ll leave this here…
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a7d8ead1abf53df1c59cd35c6383ceb525ed6ab9abd468d6c7dea11c5bc6d2fd.jpg
Can this really be considered a future car, though? The movie took place in like 1899 or so.
I’m not holding my breath until 2035 for the Audi RSQ from I, Robot.
http://images.thecarconnection.com/med/audi_rsq_100007545_m.jpg
I thought of this but it is not very hokey.
Snake liiiives in the Maliase-era https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/e5d07ac68a24bb24fa3ae9d47770aae622618d2f960671f89631197e4e25ca80.jpg