Opening

87% Star Trek Into Darkness May 16
24% Erased May 17
91% Frances Ha May 17
44% The English Teacher May 17
42% Black Rock May 17
77% Pieta May 17
—— Populaire May 17
21% 33 Postcards May 17

Top Box Office

78% Iron Man 3 $72.5M
50% The Great Gatsby $50.1M
47% Pain & Gain $5.0M
37% Peeples $4.6M
77% 42 $4.6M
56% Oblivion $4.1M
69% The Croods $3.6M
98% Mud $2.5M
8% The Big Wedding $2.5M
60% Oz the Great and Powerful $1.1M

Coming Soon

—— The Hangover Part III May 23
77% Fast & Furious 6 May 24
—— Epic May 24
94% Before Midnight May 24
Things to Come

Things to Come (1936)

tomatometer

95

Average Rating: 7.5/10
Reviews Counted: 21
Fresh: 20 | Rotten: 1

Eerily prescient in its presentation of a dystopian future, Things to Come's special effects may be somewhat dated, but its potent ideas haven't aged at all.

No Score Yet...

Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 4
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 1

Eerily prescient in its presentation of a dystopian future, Things to Come's special effects may be somewhat dated, but its potent ideas haven't aged at all.

audience

54

liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 2,051

My Rating

Movie Info

H. G. Wells was both the author of the original source -- an essay, rather than an actual novel, concerning mankind's future -- and the screenplay (in conjunction with Lajos Biro) of this epic science fiction tale, but it was producer Alexander Korda who framed the terms on which it is presented, vast and elegant, and visually striking. Opening in the year 1940, we see the next century of human history unfold, initially with amazing prescience. In Everytown (a stand-in for London) in 1940, the

Feb 1, 2000

United Artists

Watch It Now

Cast

ADVERTISEMENT

All Critics (21) | Top Critics (4) | Fresh (21) | Rotten (2) | DVD (9)

Things to Come is an unusual picture, a fantasy, if you will, with overtones of the Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon comic strips. But it is, as well, a picture with ideas which have been expressed dramatically and with visual fascination.

May 31, 2007 Full Review Source: New York Times
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This is England's first $1 million picture. It's an impressive but dull exposition of a bad dream.

May 31, 2007 Full Review Source: Variety
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

In the realm of 'prophetic science fiction', it is a genre landmark.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
Top Critic IconTop Critic

[An] imaginative, only occasionally naive forecast of the age of nuclear warfare in 1936.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Its lecture-dialogue stilted and ideas simplistic, 'Things to Come' is nevertheless a worthy visual experience.

November 28, 2010 Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews
ReelTalk Movie Reviews

Essential viewing today for anyone interested in the history of celluloid science fiction, but general audiences will most likely find it to be dull.

February 5, 2009 Full Review Source: Sci-Fi Movie Page
Sci-Fi Movie Page

A truly epic work which continues to fascinate.

May 31, 2007 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Spookily prescient in many of its ideas, this is fascinating whilst being a little clumsy and dated, even for its time.

May 14, 2007 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine
Empire Magazine

Wells' heart must have sunk as audiences avoided his impassioned and idealistic -- yet dour and didactic -- cri de coeur.

April 6, 2006 Full Review Source: DVDJournal.com
DVDJournal.com

[Image Entertainment's] original 35mm studio masters ... were themselves far from pristine ... making the phrases 'beautifully restored' and 'pristine new film-to-video transfer' more than a little disingenuous.

April 6, 2006 Full Review Source: DVDJournal.com
DVDJournal.com

An astonishing black-and-white visualization of Wells' view of the future.

May 13, 2005 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Landmark sci-fi achievement by Menzies, and still imitated.

October 15, 2004

At once dated and weirdly modern, this may not be the film Wells wanted it to be, but it's still more ambitious and impressive than most fantasy cinema of the past 30 years.

May 24, 2003 Full Review Source: Film4
Film4

Audience Reviews for Things to Come

I do give this movie credit for being one of the only sci-fi movies of the thirties, seriously I couldn't find that many, there were about two or three others I found. Anyway. I think H. G. Wells' story of Things To Come was probably much better than this movie. Most of the film is montage of footage of so-called future wars and the progress of mankind, which got really boring after a while. in between that, there are three stories of how war and violence are destroying the world, and the last story doesn't end any different from the other two. It does have good special effects, but other than that it isn't a great movie.
September 21, 2010
ajv2688

Super Reviewer

This early sci-fi film, based on an H.G. Wells story, is a good try, but not the classic I had been led to believe it is. Decent special effects for the 30's, and some nifty futuristic machines (I'm sure courtesy of Wells), but especially hammy acting by the leads (Raymond Massey, Ralph Richardson, et al) and truly horrendous costumes (seemed to cover every time period between the Bronze Age and The Jetsons, at times within the same scene) really distracted from my enjoyment.
January 1, 2008
webalina

Super Reviewer

No quotes approved yet for Things to Come. Logged in users can submit quotes.

Discussion Forum

There are no discussion threads for Things to Come yet.

Foreign Titles

  • H.G. Wells' Things to Come (1936) (UK)
  • Things to Come (1936) (CA)
Help | About | Jobs | Critics Submission | API | Licensing | Mobile