Has a movie ever referred to a later movie? [closed]

Question

In an answer to another question, I wrote "characters in the later movie watch or discuss the earlier movie".

Then it occurred to me, have characters in an earlier movie watched or discussed a later movie?

It would take an extraordinary set of circumstances for it to happen -- perhaps a movie was expected or hoped for to such a degree, it showed up in a produced script, perhaps just a very lucky guess. Even more difficult would be getting footage of movie that is still a ways off.

At some point, someone in a movie from the 80's or 90's must have hoped for a Star Wars prequel, right? Or that some old TV show like Mod Squad or The Man From UNCLE would be re-made for the big screen?

Clarification: I'm hoping for something organic or accidental, not a deliberate promo by the studio.

Two characters in a 90's movies who in-universe are Star Wars fans talking about how great it would be if George Lucas made some more Star Wars movies is Hilarious In Hindsight. Nick Fury in a stinger inviting the hero to join the next Marvel ensemble-flick is eye-rolling to everybody who isn't a fan-boy.

Further clarification: Seriously, no promos.

Answer 1

Most Pixar films have appearances of characters from future movies.

This list comes from the Pixar Fan Wiki:

Monsters, Inc. - Clownfish, the main characters of Finding Nemo, are depicted three times:

• Harryhausen's has a painted mural featuring a clownfish.
• A Nemo model is seen hanging in the trailer where Randall is banished.
• Boo gives Sulley a Nemo toy.

Finding Nemo has allusions to the two films that followed it:

• A boy in the dentist's waiting room is reading a Mr. Incredible comic book.
• A non-anthropomorphic version of Luigi from Cars drives by when the tank gang finally escapes.

The Incredibles

• A non-anthropomorphic version of Doc Hudson from Cars is parked in a street of Metroville during the final battle.

Ratatouille:

• A shadow of Dug is seen when Remy wanders in an apartment.
• Hal, from WALL•E, also makes a cameo.

Your Friend the Rat

• WALL•E is the driver of the vehicle on Mars.

WALL•E

• Carl Fredricksen's walking stick can be seen upside down (with the tennis balls attached to the feet) on two occasions. Firstly, when WALL•E is about to pull across the magnifying screen the walker is sitting behind the iPod. Secondly, when WALL•E falls down from the ceiling of his truck (after being knocked there by EVE), he collides with the walker.

Up

• A Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear is placed next to the bed of a little girl.

Toy Story 3:

• Finn McMissile is featured on a poster in Andy's room.

• Also in Andy's room is a "Newt Xing" sign, an allusion to newt. Even though newt was canceled, it had been set to be released in 2012 (two years after Toy Story 3), and as such, this was technically a reference to an upcoming film.

Cars 2

• A car-ified version of the DunBroch family tapestry from Brave appears in the Ye Left Turn Inn in London.

Brave

• A wood engraving of Sulley appears in the witch's hut. Although Sulley is an original character from Monsters, Inc., this cameo was advertised as an allusion to Monsters University.

Monsters University

• Toy versions of dinosaur characters from The Good Dinosaur appear in the Scare simulators used for the final event of the Scare Games.

Toy Story of Terror!

• The paintings hung in the motel room depict dinosaurs under a tree, another allusion to The Good Dinosaur.

Toy Story That Time Forgot

• According to director Steve Purcell, the three posters in Mason's gaming room were allusions to three of Pixar's upcoming films: Inside Out, Cars 3 and Coco.

Inside Out

• Giant statues of Forrest Woodbush and Arlo from The Good Dinosaur are seen in Riley's memories of the road trip to San Francisco.

The Good Dinosaur

• A stone engraving of Hank from Finding Dory appears at the bottom of the water when Arlo learns to swim.

Finding Dory

• A stock version of Lightning McQueen can be seen.

Answer 2

Then it occurred to me, have characters in an earlier movie watched or discussed a later movie?

As mentioned in the comments, there is the Batman v Superman/I am Legend scenario. I'm sure there may be other instances like this.

In I am Legend, there is a reference to Batman v Superman in the form of a billboard. In the linked vid, at about the 26 second mark.

Edit: For reference purposes, I am Legend came out in 2007, Batman v Superman came out 2016.

Answer 3

In Pulp Fiction (1994), Uma Thurman plays the role of an actress / wife of a gangster, and speaks about one of the gigs she has starred in:

It was show about a team of female secret agents called "Fox Force Five." [...]

There was a blonde one, Sommerset O’Neal, she was a leader. The Japanese fox was a kung fu master. The black girl was a demolition expert. French fox’s speciality was sex. [...]

The character I played, Raven McCoy, her background was she grew up raised by circus performers. According to the show, she was the deadliest woman in the world with a knife.

It turns out that her description matches reasonably well some of the characters of Kill Bill (2003), including the lead role played by the same actress.

Link with picture.

Both movies are directed by Quentin Tarantino, who has later confirmed that Kill Bill is indeed set in a "movie inside the movie" universe.

There's the realer than real universe, alright, and all the characters inhabit that one. But then there's this movie universe. And so From Dusk Till Dawn, Kill Bill, they all take place in this special movie universe. So basically when the characters of Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction, when they go to the movies, Kill Bill is what they go to see. From Dusk Till Dawn is what they see.

Answer 4

It never actually happened (unfortunately), but Spaceballs (1987) referred to its own sequel toward the end of the movie. (I searched for the clip, but could not find it.) Here is the dialog:

Lone Starr: I wonder, will we ever see each other again?

Yogurt: Who knows? God willing, we'll all meet again in Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money.

Extract from IMDB:

King Roland of the planet Druidia is trying to marry his daughter Princess Vespa to Prince Valium, but Vespa is kidnapped by the evil race of the Spaceballs. The Spaceballs ask Roland a tremendous ransom: all the air of Druidia (you see, the air of Spaceball had serious pollution problems...). The King decides to offer a generous amount of money to a space rogue, Lone Starr, to persuade him to save Vespa. What follows is the parody of a LOT of famous SF movies.

Answer 5

Tyler Perry's Boo! A Madea Halloween (2016) was inspired by a gag in the Chris Rock film Top Five (2014) just two years earlier which featured the film by name being shown in theaters.

Tyler Perry did not intend to ever do a halloween-themed movie until after the studios nudged him.

From Cinema Blend:

A throwaway gag in Chris Rock‘s 2014 movie “Top Five” features a spoof of a Tyler Perry comedy starring his signature character Madea set during Halloween. The joke turns on the fact that people are lined up around the block for Perry’s silly movie while Rock can’t get anybody to go to his own film.

That’s when the executives at Lionsgate studio got an idea. They called Perry to ask him if he’d seen that scene in “Top Five.” Perry had — in fact, he’d given Rock permission to do it. They then asked if Perry wanted to actually do a Halloween-themed Madea movie.

“I don’t do Halloween witches and demons,” Perry remembers saying. “But it all worked out. I was watching YouTube one day and found a way I thought I could do this that I was happy with. And here we are.”

Answer 6

In Back to the Future II, a movie poster for an elderly Rocky sequel was shown. This matched the actual release time of Creed, a month after “Back to the Future Day” so posters were indeed on display on October 21 2015.

Answer 7

Look no further than a show about time travel! Technically Doctor Who is a television series and not movies, but you did mention TV shows in the question body, so this should count as an answer.

There are many examples scattered throughout the show, but the first that comes to mind involves River Song. In Forest of the Dead (Series 4 Episode 9), just before she dies, she tells the Doctor about the last time (in her timeline) that she saw him:

RIVER: Funny thing is, this means you've always known how I was going to die. All the time we've been together, you knew I was coming here. The last time I saw you, the real you, the future you, I mean, you turned up on my doorstep, with a new haircut and a suit. You took me to Darillium to see the Singing Towers. What a night that was. The Towers sang, and you cried.
COMPUTER: Autodestuct in one minute.
RIVER: You wouldn't tell me why, but I suppose you knew it was time. My time. Time to come to the library. You even gave me your screwdriver. That should have been a clue.

Back in 2008, when this episode aired, the series had a different showrunner, and a different actor was playing the Doctor. I doubt anyone - not Russell T Davies, not Steven Moffat, and certainly not Alex Kingston, who's on record as saying she had no idea what her lines were supposed to mean - really knew how, or indeed whether, the prophecies inherent in River's recollections would ever be fulfilled on-screen.

But much much later (both in his timeline and in the real world), all of it comes true in the 2015 Christmas special The Husbands of River Song:

(The Doctor has swapped his burgundy velvet jacket for a black suit and tie, and is carrying a gift.)
RIVER: Now that, my dear, is a suit.
DOCTOR: Happy Christmas.
RIVER: Really? I don't think you've ever given me a present before.
(She opens the box to reveal the sonic screwdriver she had in the Library.)
RIVER: Oh, it's a sonic screwdriver! How lovely!

[...]

DOCTOR: So what do you think? The Singing Towers.
(River gazes at the pillars with the sun setting behind them.)
RIVER: Oh. The music. Listen to it. Are you crying?
DOCTOR: No. Just the wind.

_{(all emphasis mine; quotes courtesy of Chakoteya)}

Answer 8

Machete, which was released in 2010, "is an expansion of a fake trailer that was included in Rodriguez's and Quentin Tarantino's 2007 Grindhouse double-feature" (quote from Wikipedia)

Answer 9

If you look at this other question and its accepted answer about back to the future, you can see that the final scene in the movie refers to the plot of back to the future 2, which was then written to comply with this final scene of the first movie.

Answer 10

In Jurassic Park 1, when Nedry (the person who stole the DNAs) get attacked by a dinosaur, the can falls to mud, and camera follows it. While this wasn't directly mentioned in future movies, it refers to possibilities on the time gap between the first and the future movies. You can see that scene here, after 2:36, that video doesn't have the exact part I mentioned, but after the camera moves away from the car, it shows the can get covered by mud.

Also, in anime series "Steins;Gate", the first ep references the last ep.