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In the movie Minority Report, there is a lot of build up to the nation wide release of PreCrime. But in the movie the precogs only have a range that entends to the greater D.C. area. And the seemingly retired doctor which accidentally created them didn't seem like the type to make any more.

The precogs clearly have some range, because at the end of the movie they are placed on a distant island far away from people. (I know there is some speculation that the ending is a dream).

If we are to believe that the precogs see all murders everywhere, it would be a never ending stream of murders. How would they isolate murders in D.C. compared to everywhere else?

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The precogs were just sci-fi versions of "crack babies". Per this bit of info from Wikipedia:

The precogs were retarded and deformed individuals in the story, but in the film, they are the offspring of neuroin addicts who took a tainted version of the drug which genetically mutated their children.

Dr. Iris Hineman was doing genetic research on the children of early neuroin addicts. Most children died due to being born with severe brain damage. The ones who survived she discovered had the ability to see future murders when asleep. The movie makes the point that these are children of addicts of early versions of neuroin, and not the "modern cocktails". It's unclear if children of current versions of neuroin still have this ability. But going national is likely just a matter of recruiting children of neuroin addicts, just as they did for the original 3 precogs.

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  • I was under the impression that the Doctor gave some crack babies an experimental drug to get them off the smack, and that caused the mutation in 3 but killed the rest.
    – Jack B Nimble
    Commented Mar 31, 2011 at 21:43
  • @JackBNimble It's been a while since I saw the movie, I vaguely recall the drug angle that the Wikipedia article mentions. But I don't own the movie, so I can't rewatch it to be sure Wikipedia's not mentioning some detail like what you describe.
    – user1027
    Commented Apr 1, 2011 at 0:14
  • @Kyralessa good call. I edited that to make it clear I didn't mean that crack babies were actually different than crack-less babies.
    – user1027
    Commented Apr 17, 2011 at 0:06
  • I finally ordered a copy, so I'll watch for this detail while rewatching.
    – user1027
    Commented Jun 29, 2011 at 20:37
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    @JackBNimble Rewatched the movie, Dr. Hineman's monologue confirms my initial answer. I've expanded that section a bit with more detail.
    – user1027
    Commented Dec 8, 2011 at 4:05
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The film's original script had a line that indicated that the perception of the pre-cogs is is being intentionally "filtered" to limit both the distance and amount of time into the future that they are permitted to see.

FLETCHER: Filtered, the Precogs can see outward up to four days with a sensory range of 200 miles.

The implication is that when the system goes nationwide, they'll extend the perception filters to encompass the entire nation.

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