General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Futmalls.com (预支未来)

Futmalls.com (預支未來; also known as 未來商城, "Future Mall") is a 2020 Taiwanese science-fiction suspense television series in which a group of people encounter strange events after buying items on a mysterious online shopping website that claims to come from the future¹. The eight-episode first season premiered on December 3, 2020 on Youku in mainland China, with Netflix and the Taiwanese platform myVideo joining on December 10, 2020². It stars Bryan Chang (張書豪), Eugenie Liu (劉奕兒), Bruce He (禾浩辰), and Ivy Shao (邵雨薇)³.

Key fact	Detail
Original title / English title	預支未來 / Futmalls.com (alias 未來商城, "Future Mall")¹
Format	8 episodes, about 40 minutes each; crime, drama, science fiction, suspense, thriller¹
Premiere	December 3, 2020 on Youku; December 10, 2020 on Netflix and myVideo²
Director	Lai Chun-yu (賴俊羽)⁴
Origin	Adapted from Hsu Chao-ling's (許肇玲) script 未來商城, a merit (佳作) winner in the Ministry of Culture's 105th-year (2016) TV drama script competition⁴
Main cast	Bryan Chang as Zhao Xuzhen, Eugenie Liu as Yang Nian-jun, Bruce He as Li Zhong-wei, Ivy Shao as Bai Yong-xin³
Recognition	Three nominations at the 56th Golden Bell Awards, including Mini-series and Most Promising Newcomer (Xia Long)⁵
Status	Ended; one season¹

Spoilers

Premise

The story is set in the fictional Titanium City district (鈦城区)⁴. Zhao Xuzhen (趙旭鎮), a criminal-investigation squad leader, and Yang Nian-jun (楊念君), a psychiatrist, are a couple preparing for marriage, but Zhao's constant absorption in work leaves Yang feeling neglected⁶. While the wedding is being arranged, the police receive a series of bizarre cases, and Zhao's investigation leads them all to one source: a mysterious online shopping site, futmalls.com⁶.

Everyone involved in the cases claims the site comes from the future. Its goods include unpublished best-selling novels, artificial tears that let the user see the dead, and lifelike high-intelligence androids⁶. Through these products, an unknown writer tastes reader recognition for the first time, a mother who lost her child confronts her old grief, and a withdrawn engineer longing for love experiences being loved⁶. Buyers can obtain fame, family affection, friendship, and even beauty, but the desires the site satisfies end in irreversible tragedy⁷. Episode by episode, Zhao comes to see that the more readily something exists, the less people cherish it, and that the goods are only tools; what matters is always the user's feelings. He re-examines his own treatment of Yang and learns to value the people around him⁶.

Structure and episodes

The first season is an anthology that moves toward a single larger mystery⁸. It divides into three arcs³:

Episodes 1–3, "Best-selling writer" (暢銷作家). A popular mystery writer is found dead at home in a pose matching a "confession-style death" she wrote in her own books⁹. The investigation reveals she had bought two unpublished novels on the site, noticed their publication dates were in the future, and passed them off as her own work¹⁰.
Episodes 4–5, "No chance to grow up" (來不及長大). A mother uses the artificial tears to see her dead son, in a warmer, more sorrowful register than the surrounding cases⁹.
Episodes 6–8, "Air doll and internet celebrity kidnappings" (充氣娃娃與網紅綁架案). A withdrawn young man buys an android doll resembling the YouTuber he loves, and a chain of kidnappings of internet celebrities unfolds⁴.

The first arc is not fully resolved within its three episodes; its threads continue as subplots in later episodes⁴.

Production and origins

The series originated in Hsu Chao-ling's script 未來商城, which won a merit award in the Ministry of Culture's excellent TV drama script competition for the 105th year of the Republic of China calendar (2016)⁴. Lai Chun-yu (賴俊羽) directed; his earlier credits include work on the visual effects of Secret (不能說的秘密, 2007) and the feature All You Need Is Love 2013 (愛情無全順)⁴. The writing team comprised Hsu Chao-ling, Chen Pei-wen (陳佩妏, script supervisor), Yang Nian-chun (楊念純), Fei Kung-yi (費工怡), and Chung Wei-heng (鍾維恆)⁷.

Financing and distribution. Youku partly invested in the series and commissioned it¹¹. Production companies included MM2 Entertainment¹, with Baiwei International Entertainment and Hong Kong Shark Culture as co-producers¹². Medialink Group listed futmalls.com among its co-invested drama series, targeted for December 2020 release on Youku in mainland China and on a global platform elsewhere¹³. Filming was completed on August 30, 2019¹⁴.

Reception and international reach

Producer Hu Pai-wei (胡百薇) stated that the first season aired in 20 to 30 countries worldwide. She cited positive viewer feedback on Douban and in Youku's bullet comments, and favorable ratings from international viewers on IMDb, including a Japanese blogger who promoted the series episode by episode⁵. Aggregated user scores include 6.7 on Douban⁷ and 6.5 on myVideo⁶.

Press coverage frequently compared the show to the British anthology Black Mirror, describing it as a Taiwanese version of that series with the mystery channeled through an online shopping site¹¹. A Japanese review praised the balance between suspense and warm human drama, while noting that the season ends with major questions unresolved, leaving room for a second season⁴.

Awards

At the 56th Golden Bell Awards, the series received three nominations: Mini-series Award, Most Promising Newcomer in a Mini-series or TV Movie for Xia Long (夏朧), and lighting⁵.

Same-name works

The Chinese title 预支未来 is also used by an unrelated, ongoing Chinese web novel of the eastern-fantasy (xuanhuan) genre, Yu Shou: Yuzhi Weilai (御兽：预支未来), serialized on the Xiaoxiang Academy platform, whose plot concerns a beast-tamer protagonist and has no connection to the television series¹⁵.

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Unscripted, reality, and web-native series › Web-native and streaming-original series › Genre web series: horror, thriller, science fiction, and mystery

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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