For much of the 20th century, “the year 2000” was shorthand for the distant future. Predictions ranged from flying cars to colonies on the moon. By the 1990s, the number itself carried so much futuristic weight that Conan O’Brien turned it into a running gag. He’d hold a flashlight under his chin and chant *“In the year 2000 … ”* before making absurd predictions about life after the millennium.
By the time 2000 arrived, the allure of the digital age had also sparked a wave of movies reflecting the techno-optimism and techno-anxieties that had crept into public consciousness. The evolution of technology since then has been frenetic — from social media and smartphones to AI and advances in automation. With technology now at another inflection point, I’ve found myself looking back at tech movies from around the turn of the century and thinking about which ones have aged well, and why.
There’s a big difference between a good movie with tech and a good tech movie. Take 2025’s *Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning*. Good movie. Who doesn’t want to see a 60-something Tom Cruise doing his own stunts? But while it centers on AI, it treats technology mainly as a plot device. It’s got tech, but it is not a tech movie.
Some of the movies that have held up best — as insights about technology itself — anticipated three key features of the digital age: the abundance of information and resulting struggles over trust, truth and surveillance; the chase for convenience and immediacy, often at odds with human connection; and technology’s capacity to amplify inequality and reshape power.
To be sure, the past quarter-century has seen real innovation — in gene editing, social media and today’s wave of artificial intelligence, just to name a few. But too often, digital technology turns out to be profitable for a lucky few, and a mixed bag for everyone else. From junk fees and dubious advertisements to digital addiction and misinformation, too many corners of the online economy can feel like a digital dystopia. It isn’t inevitable; it results from technology meeting human nature in a world with too few guardrails.
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*Michael Luca for Bloomberg News*
For much of the 20th century, “the year 2000” was shorthand for the distant future. Predictions ranged from flying cars to colonies on the moon. By the 1990s, the number itself carried so much futuristic weight that Conan O’Brien turned it into a running gag. He’d hold a flashlight under his chin and chant *“In the year 2000 … ”* before making absurd predictions about life after the millennium.
By the time 2000 arrived, the allure of the digital age had also sparked a wave of movies reflecting the techno-optimism and techno-anxieties that had crept into public consciousness. The evolution of technology since then has been frenetic — from social media and smartphones to AI and advances in automation. With technology now at another inflection point, I’ve found myself looking back at tech movies from around the turn of the century and thinking about which ones have aged well, and why.
There’s a big difference between a good movie with tech and a good tech movie. Take 2025’s *Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning*. Good movie. Who doesn’t want to see a 60-something Tom Cruise doing his own stunts? But while it centers on AI, it treats technology mainly as a plot device. It’s got tech, but it is not a tech movie.
Some of the movies that have held up best — as insights about technology itself — anticipated three key features of the digital age: the abundance of information and resulting struggles over trust, truth and surveillance; the chase for convenience and immediacy, often at odds with human connection; and technology’s capacity to amplify inequality and reshape power.
To be sure, the past quarter-century has seen real innovation — in gene editing, social media and today’s wave of artificial intelligence, just to name a few. But too often, digital technology turns out to be profitable for a lucky few, and a mixed bag for everyone else. From junk fees and dubious advertisements to digital addiction and misinformation, too many corners of the online economy can feel like a digital dystopia. It isn’t inevitable; it results from technology meeting human nature in a world with too few guardrails.
[Here are five films — each at least more than a decade old — that captured how human behavior, market forces and technology would ultimately collide.](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-06/how-sci-fi-movies-like-the-truman-show-wall-e-predicted-our-ai-future?accessToken=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJzb3VyY2UiOiJTdWJzY3JpYmVyR2lmdGVkQXJ0aWNsZSIsImlhdCI6MTc3MDM4Mzg1MCwiZXhwIjoxNzcwOTg4NjUwLCJhcnRpY2xlSWQiOiJUQTFBS1NLSUpIOEgwMCIsImJjb25uZWN0SWQiOiJEMzU0MUJFQjhBQUY0QkUwQkFBOUQzNkI3QjlCRjI4OCJ9.-vbOHXEt9T_R5oW_BgaBmdlPbJjCkIQHAQR2d9zrY4A)