] The Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency described the event
] -- carried out on Wednesday in a 747 fuselage on the
] ground at Edwards Air Force Base in California -- as a
] "landmark achievement" for the so-called Airborne Laser
] system.

Yes, the technology present in Real Genius exists in real life now. Only its being used to shoot down missiles, not vaporize human targets.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089886/

CNN.com - U.S. airborne laser advances to 'First Light' - Nov 15, 2004