No, the movie "Leave the World Behind" didn’t predict the Baltimore bridge collapse

Following the March 26  bridge collapse in Baltimore, social media users claimed the event had been predicted by the October 2023 movie "Leave the World Behind." 

Instagram, TikTok and X users claimed that a ship hitting the bridge and its subsequent collapse was not a surprise, and linked it to the apocalyptic movie.

"They’ve already warned us this was coming," said the person in a March 26 Instagram video, showing still photos from the movie in which a cargo ship crashes into shore during a presumed cyberattack. 

The Instagram post’s caption said, "‘Leave the world behind’ should be viewed as a documentary. As self fulfilling prophecy so to speak. They have to tell you what they are going to do before they do it." 

(Screenshot of Instagram post)

Another Facebook post described the collapse as "scripted," in reference to the film. Asked a TikTok video: "Did Leave the World Behind predict the bridge collapse in Maryland?"

The Instagram and Facebook posts were flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

"Leave the World Behind" does not depict a cargo ship crashing into a bridge, or a bridge collapse. And there is no evidence that the March 26 real-world cargo ship crash in Baltimore involved a cyberattack, as "Leave the World Behind" did.

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Federal and state officials have called the Baltimore incident an accident.

Around 1:30 a.m. March 26, the cargo ship ‘Dali’ collided with a support pillar of the Francis Scott Key bridge in Baltimore.

The ship lost power prior to the crash and issued a mayday call which allowed bridge operators to limit traffic to the bridge, according to The Associated Press. As of March 27, six people were presumed dead. 

"The preliminary investigation points to an accident," said Maryland Gov. Wes Moore during a March 26 press conference. William J. DelBagno, special agent in charge of the FBI's Baltimore field office, said, "There is no specific or credible information to suggest that there are ties to terrorism in this incident."

Both President Joe Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said indications are that the crash was unintentional.

We have debunked many similar claims that clips from movies or TV shows such as the Simpsons have "predicted" real-world events such as the COVID-19 pandemic or Queen Elizabeth II’s death.

The movie "Leave the World Behind," starring Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke and Mahershala Ali, is based on a 2020 novel of the same name written by fiction author Rumaan Alam. It centers on two families in a Long Island home trying to survive a mysterious cyber attack that causes a communication blackout.

For the characters in the film, one of the first indications of the attack is a large cargo ship that runs aground on a beach full of people. 

The film’s producers included Barack and Michelle Obama which further fueled speculation by the Instagram user that the bridge crash was planned: "How did the Obamas know that ships were going to start crashing due to hackers … Seems orchestrated to me." 

The movie’s director has addressed other coincidences between the film and real-world events. One movie scene shows Teslas on autopilot crashing in a pileup, and Director Sam Esmail said that was unrelated to a real recall of Teslas because of autopilot issues.

We rate the claim that the movie "Leave the World Behind" predicted the Baltimore bridge crash False.