Made Up Movie Premises That Actually Happened in Real Life

Jacob Shelton
Updated April 22, 2024 1.0M views 16 items

The best movies are usually too good to be true. But what happens when the fictional stories in our favorite films really start to happen? Can we chalk up movie premises that really happened to life imitating art, or is there something more intangible happening in the universe that caused these real life stories to resemble popular films? Is it possible that the people on this list who basically lived out a blockbuster film are just experiencing one of life’s many coincidences, or are we living in some Truman Show hologram where a director choreographs our every move? That’s probably not happening, but these tales of movie plots that really happened are going to freak you out anyway.

It’s not out of the realm of possibility that most blockbuster films could actually happen. As you’ll see from this list of real life movies, everything from a sweet romantic comedy to a karate chopping superhero flick is possible if you apply yourself. Although to be fair, most of the folks on this list didn’t realize they were living out a movie until it was too late. 

  • There Were Actually Snakes On A Plane

    There Were Actually Snakes On A Plane
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    Just like: Snakes on a Plane 

    In a true nightmare-come-to-life situation, an Emirates flight flying from Oman to Dubai in January 2017 was canceled after live snakes were found inside the plane's cargo bay. This isn't the first time in recent memory this happened: in late 2016, a plane in Mexico had to make an emergency landing after a snake fell from a overhead luggage compartment mid-flight. Passengers were able to keep their cool long enough to contain the snake in a blanket. 

  • An Adult Man Pretended To Be A Teenager

    An Adult Man Pretended To Be A Teenager
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    Just like: Never Been Kissed
     
    In 2016 it was discovered that a high school student in Virginia with a 4.6 GPA was actually a 23-year-old man from the Ukraine who decided to go back to high school for some reason. There's no word as to whether or not he kissed anyone on a baseball diamond while Jimmy Eat World played.

     

  • There's A Car Made From Weed

    There's A Car Made From Weed
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      • Cheech And Chong: Up In Smoke
      • Amazon

    Just like: Cheech and Chong: Up in Smoke

    Taking a page from Cheech and Chong, the designers of the Kestrel have made a car entirely out of hemp. It still hasn't hit mass production, but that's probably because the designers are busy listening to "Dave's Not Here" for the 5,000th time.

  • Two Friends Took Their Dead Friend For A Night On The Town

    Two Friends Took Their Dead Friend For A Night On The Town
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    Just like: Weekend at Bernie's

    Jeffrey Young discovered the dead body of his friend, and naturally he decided to take him out for a night on the town, funded by his pal's debit card. Young, his living friend Mark Rubinson, and the corpse of their deceased companion went to Teddy T's Bar and Grill, Viva Burrito, and Shotgun Willie's Show Club for some post-mortem lap dances. They racked up $400 worth of charges on his debit card before reporting his death to police five hours after they discovered the body.

  • A Santa Claus Robbed A Mall Safe

    A Santa Claus Robbed A Mall Safe

    Just like: Bad Santa

    After years of handing out toys to undeserving children, this kind of thing was bound to happen. In Australia, police were stumped when they watched security footage of a man dressed as Santa (down to the white gloves) rob the contents of a mall safe in Westfield. There have been no sightings of his getaway sleigh.

  • A Lonely Man Married A Sex Doll

    A Lonely Man Married A Sex Doll
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    Just like: Lars and the Real Girl

    In a story that's sad on multiple levels, in 2015 a man with terminal cancer decided to marry a sex doll so he wouldn't leave behind a grieving widow. Allegedly, he wanted to experience a fancy wedding shoot before he passed away, so he and his sex doll went all out for their wedding photos.

  • A Teen Girl Was Part Of An Elaborate Homecoming Prank

    A Teen Girl Was Part Of An Elaborate Homecoming Prank

    Just like: Carrie

    A sophomore at a Michigan high school was subjected to an embarrassing prank when she was nominated for homecoming queen as a joke. The girl told NBC News, "I felt like I wasn’t worthy. Why even be a part of this community, this world if I’m just going to be tossed around like basically a piece of trash?"

  • A Bride Walked Out Of Multiple Weddings

    A Bride Walked Out Of Multiple Weddings

    Just like: Runaway Bride

    Marriage isn't for everybody, and it definitely isn't for this anonymous woman who's called off multiple weddings because she's "missing that bridal gene.'” Oddly enough, this mystery woman ended up being a journalist just like Richard Gere in Runaway Bride. Now if only she knew someone who was a high school football coach...

  • A Superhero With No Powers Began Stalking Seattle

    A Superhero With No Powers Began Stalking Seattle

    Just like: Kick-Ass

    About a year after the comic book adaptation hit the big screen, an MMA fighter hit the streets of Seattle under the guise of "Phoenix Jones." As a masked superhero he mostly broke up fights and stopped drunks from driving, but much like his onscreen counterpart he was also denounced by the police for his violent actions.

  • A Man Stole Pennies From Thousands Of Transactions

    A Man Stole Pennies From Thousands Of Transactions

    Just like: Office Space

    The protagonist of Office Space steals mere cents from every transaction with the idea that the company he works for would never miss such small amounts. In 2007, Michael Largent from Plumas Lake, California scammed E-trade and Schwab.com, two companies which verify bank accounts by depositing a small amount of money between two cents to one dollar. They then ask the customer to confirm the deposited amount. Largent opened 58,000 accounts, making thousands of dollars from the scheme. He was sentenced to 15 months in jail.

  • A 44-Year-Old Virgin Finally Had Sex

    A 44-Year-Old Virgin Finally Had Sex
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    Just like: The 40-Year-Old Virgin

    After receiving a bionic penis at the age of 44, a Scottish man finally lost his virginity to a dominatrix who offered to waive her staggering $230 an hour fee. That's basically like getting your driver's license and entering a Formula One race.

  • AI Put Its Faith In Humanity And Things Went Downhill Quickly

    AI Put Its Faith In Humanity And Things Went Downhill Quickly
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      • AI: Artificial Intelligence
      • Amazon

    Just like: AI: Artificial Intelligence 

    When will we learn that all artificial intelligence is childlike in nature, and that it's something to which we should be kind? Judging from the way Twitter users treated Microsoft's Tai AI, probably never.

  • Students Discovered A Squatter Living In A Furnished Bedroom In Their Basement

    Students Discovered A Squatter Living In A Furnished Bedroom In Their Basement

    Just like: Real Genius

    Much like Lazlo Hollyfeld in Real Genius, "some random guy" was discovered to be living in off campus housing at the University of Ohio. The students who lived in the home knew that something was off when their cupboards and microwave were left open, but it's unreported whether or not the uninvited house guest won a car by eating Fritos.

  • National Geographic Recreated The House From 'Up'

    National Geographic Recreated The House From 'Up'

    Just like: Up

    In 2011, a group of scientists from National Geographic's TV series How Hard Can It Be?built a light weight replica of the house from Up and attached 300 balloons to the structure. The house flew 10,000 feet into the air. Each balloon was eight feet high and filled with an entire tank of helium.

  • Prisoners Escaped Through A Hole In The Wall

    Prisoners Escaped Through A Hole In The Wall
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    Just like: Shawshank Redemption

    In an Elizabeth, New Jersey prison circa 2007, Otis Blunt and Jose Espinosa broke out of prison in a manner incredibly similar to that of Andy Dufresne's escape in Shawshank Redemption. The two men first loosened and removed a cinder block between their cell walls, covering the hole with a poster. Blunt squeezed through the small opening into Espinosa's cell. The pair then left through a hole in the wall and found themselves on the roof of an adjacent building. They jumped off the roof, clearing a 30-foot-high fence. Both men were caught within several weeks of their escape.

  • A Man Really Did Live In An Airport

    A Man Really Did Live In An Airport

    Just like: The Terminal

    Tom Hanks played Viktor Navorski, an Eastern European tourist who ends up having to take up residence in New York City's JFK airport. While Viktor was not from a real country - he's from Krakozhia - the story of Viktor is similar to those surrounding Mehran Karimi “Alfred” Nasseri's travel story. The Iran-born Nasseri spent nearly 20 years living at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris as a refugee. 

    Between 1988 and 2006, Nasseri slept, ate, and used the facilities at the airport -  making friends with the employees and benefiting from the kindness of strangers along the way. Despite being allowed to travel in parts of Europe without issue, Nasseri opted to stay because he was “scared to leave this bubble world.”

    There were as many differences as similarities between Nasseri and Viktor, which is why Nasseri merely inspired The Terminal. Spielburg bought the rights to his story and actually wrote a book, but the extent to which that connection existed remains unclear. The Terminal was released in North America in June 2004.

    Nasseri passed away at the airport on November 12, 2022.