Honestly, the most annoying thing about a good movie is having to wait two years for a sequel. Now imagine waiting a century. That isn’t a hyperbolic joke. There is a finished, fully edited film sitting in a high-tech vault in France right now that won’t be screened until November 18, 2115.
It’s called 100 Years: The Movie You’ll Never See.
If you’re reading this, you’re almost certainly going to be dead when the credits roll. It’s a bizarre, existential flex by director Robert Rodriguez and writer/star John Malkovich. They didn't just make a movie; they made a time capsule that treats the audience like a distant, unborn relative.
What is 100 Years: The Movie You’ll Never See?
Back in 2015, the luxury cognac brand Louis XIII approached Robert Rodriguez. They didn't want a 30-second spot. They wanted to mirror their craft. You see, a bottle of Louis XIII takes 100 years to age. The cellar master who starts the process will never taste the final product.
That’s the hook.
Rodriguez and Malkovich teamed up to create a short film that follows the same logic. It was filmed, edited, and then promptly locked inside a custom-made safe by Fichet-Bauche. This safe is a beast. It’s bulletproof, kept behind glass, and has no keypad.
There is no code. No emergency override.
The vault is on a physical timer. When the gears finally click into place on November 18, 2115, the door will simply swing open. Until then, the only "footage" we have are three teaser trailers that don't even show the actual movie. They just show three different versions of what the year 2115 might look like: a nature-reclaimed wasteland, a neon cyberpunk city, and a retro-futurist "dark" version.
The cast you won't see in action
We know who is in it, even if we’ll never see them perform. John Malkovich is the lead. He’s joined by Shuya Chang and Marko Zaror. Pharrell Williams even got involved, though his contribution was a song called "100 Years" that was recorded onto a clay record. That record is also in a vault and will only survive if the world doesn't succumb to rising sea levels, as the clay will dissolve in water.
It’s all very dramatic.
Is it just a giant marketing stunt?
Kinda. I mean, obviously, it's a promotion for expensive booze. A bottle of Louis XIII can set you back $3,000 to $30,000 depending on the edition. But labeling it "just" an ad feels a bit reductive when you realize they actually produced a legitimate film.
Robert Rodriguez is known for being a "one-man film crew" type of guy. He doesn't do things halfway. He told reporters at Cannes that the film is "emotionally charged" and that he had to send the final cut off to be locked away before he even saw the finished visual effects. He’s basically the ultimate "trust the process" director.
- The Tickets: They gave out 1,000 metal invitations.
- The Legacy: These aren't for the people who received them. They are for their descendants.
- The Location: The safe spent some time touring the world, including a stop at the Cannes Film Festival, before heading to its permanent home in the Louis XIII cellars in Cognac, France.
People have spent a lot of time trying to guess the plot. Some think it’s a profound meditation on time. Others think it’s probably a goofy five-minute short that would be a letdown if we saw it today. But that’s the genius of the project—the mystery is better than any possible reality. In 2115, it won't be judged as a "new" movie. It will be a historical artifact. It'll be like us finding a lost Charlie Chaplin reel, only with better CGI and John Malkovich's distinct, whispering intensity.
The technical nightmare of waiting a century
Think about the tech for a second. In 1925, movies were silent and black and white. If they had locked a film away then, we’d be watching it today thinking, "Wow, this looks ancient."
What happens in 2115?
Will they even have projectors that can run whatever format Rodriguez used? The creators claim they’ve accounted for this, but technology moves fast. There’s a real risk that by the time the vault opens, the medium itself will be as obsolete as a wax cylinder. There's also the physical degradation. Even with a climate-controlled, bulletproof safe, film stock or digital drives can fail.
It’s a gamble.
Why we're still talking about it
The reason 100 Years: The Movie You’ll Never See sticks in the brain is that it forces you to confront your own mortality. It’s a movie premiere that acts as a deadline for your life. Most of us hate spoilers, but in this case, the spoiler is just the fact that we won't be there.
It’s rare for a brand to do something that requires this much patience. Usually, marketing is about "buy now" or "watch this weekend." This is about "your great-grandkids might see this." It’s pretentious, sure. But it’s also one of the only pieces of modern media that refuses to give us instant gratification.
If you want to stay "involved" with the project, you can't really do much besides mark a calendar you’ll never use. However, you can look into the teasers—Retro, Nature, and Future—to see the aesthetic Malkovich and Rodriguez were playing with. They are widely available on YouTube and give the only hint of the "vibes" the movie might hold.
Beyond that, the best thing you can do is write a note to your descendants. Tell them if they actually make it to the premiere in 2115, they better hope the popcorn is still fresh and the movie was worth a century of hype.