Famous Utopias in Sci-Fi Movies

Disney’s ‘Tomorrowland’ takes moviegoers on an E-ticket ride through a dynamic future full of hope and possibility. Here’s a look at some other movie utopias that we’d be happy to call home.

Loosely based on the Disney theme park attraction of the same name, Disney’s ‘Tomorrowland’ centers on a reclusive inventor (George Clooney) with ties to this seemingly magical place of jet packs and towering cityscapes. He helps a young girl embark on one very memorable adventure. 

This silent classic set the tone for utopian sci-fi, in that only the rich are able to enjoy said utopian living, while the poor are stuck with an undeniably dystopian existence (see: 'The Hunger Games,' 'Elysium,' etc.).

How quaint is 'Things to Come'? For starters, it imagines a 2036 where Basra, Iraq is the utopian capital, and where man is finally getting around to visiting the moon! A fun old curio, written by none other than H. G. Wells.

Another Wells story brought to life. Rod Taylor travels more than 800,000 years ahead in time, arriving at a golden future where the beautiful but apathetic Eloi people are little more than food for the monstrous underground Morlocks.

Woody Allen is frozen in 1973, then defrosted in the 22nd century. Everything in this brave new world is topsy-turvy, including a misguided rebellion against the national leader. 'Sleeper' is Allen at his zaniest.

James Caan plays a champion in the bloody titular sport, which is enjoyed worldwide by a rich, corporate-run society. 'Rollerball' is a precursor to both 'The Running Man' and 'Hunger Games.' Skip the 2002 remake.

Things seem great in the computer-controlled 2274 of 'Logan's Run.' Everybody's young, sexy and content. The catch? They all have to die at the age of 30. Logan 5 (Michael York) decides that's not such a cool system.

Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes emerge from 20th century cryogenics to raise hell in 2032, where things are so peaceful in "San Angeles" that even the police don't know how to handle a violent criminal. Or how to use the "Three Seashells."

Steven Spielberg and his team worked hard to envision a plausible (if murder-free) 2054. With self-driving cars and gesture-based computer interfaces now around the corner, 'Minority Report' may be as prescient as its mutant "precogs."

Genetic manipulation is the norm in this future, where bioengineered humans are at the top of the social food chain. Tough luck for Ethan Hawke, who was conceived naturally and is thus an "in-valid" -- though he pretends to be otherwise.

Andrew Niccol, who also wrote and directed 'Gattaca,' may be Hollywood's go-to guy for creepy-cool utopias. Here, Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried try to survive a 'Logan's Run'-like setup where time is literally money.

Despite the mega-success of the 'Twilight' saga, audiences didn't go for this adaptation (made by Andrew Niccol!) of Stephenie Meyer's follow-up, about future humans serving as hosts for parasitic aliens called "Souls."

For once, we get a shining utopia that isn't evil at its heart; thank writer/director Spike Jonze for that. But with rampant loneliness causing people to fall in love with their computers, this future has its own problems.

Not all utopias are set far in the future; in fact, the bucolic – and fake – world in which unwitting TV star Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) lives could be set in 1998 or even today. And guess who wrote the screenplay? That's right: Andrew Niccol.