Survival Movies
by manoloblahnik | created - 16 Jan 2019 | updated - 15 Oct 2021 | PublicCall them what you want; action, adventure, thriller ..... I call them survival movies. Assorted stories of people struggling to survive against all odds. A few titles included where people are simply trying to find themselves, find their place or just trying to recover from a personal tragedy.
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. Apocalypto (2006)
R | 139 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
As the Mayan kingdom faces its decline, a young man is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression.
Director: Mel Gibson | Stars: Gerardo Taracena, Raoul Max Trujillo, Dalia Hernández, Rudy Youngblood
Votes: 331,294 | Gross: $50.87M
2. 127 Hours (2010)
R | 94 min | Biography, Drama
A mountain climber becomes trapped under a boulder while canyoneering alone near Moab, Utah and resorts to desperate measures in order to survive.
Director: Danny Boyle | Stars: James Franco, Amber Tamblyn, Kate Mara, Sean Bott
Votes: 401,379 | Gross: $18.34M
3. Tracks (I) (2013)
PG-13 | 112 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
A young woman goes on a 1,700-mile trek across the deserts of West Australia with four camels and her faithful dog.
Director: John Curran | Stars: Mia Wasikowska, Adam Driver, Lily Pearl, Philip Dodd
Votes: 31,728 | Gross: $0.51M
4. Cast Away (2000)
PG-13 | 143 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
A FedEx executive undergoes a physical and emotional transformation after crash landing on a deserted island.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Tom Hanks, Helen Hunt, Paul Sanchez, Lari White
Votes: 638,643 | Gross: $233.63M
5. Into the Wild (2007)
R | 148 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
After graduating from Emory University, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters that shape his life.
Director: Sean Penn | Stars: Emile Hirsch, Vince Vaughn, Catherine Keener, Marcia Gay Harden
Votes: 658,121 | Gross: $18.35M
6. The Way Back (I) (2010)
PG-13 | 133 min | Adventure, Drama, History
Siberian gulag escapees travel four thousand miles by foot to freedom in India.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris, Colin Farrell, Dragos Bucur
Votes: 122,013 | Gross: $2.70M
7. Alive (1993)
R | 128 min | Biography, Drama, Thriller
After crash-landing in the snowswept Andes, a Uruguayan rugby team has no choice but to turn to desperate measures in order to survive.
Director: Frank Marshall | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Vincent Spano, Josh Hamilton, Bruce Ramsay
Votes: 64,424 | Gross: $36.73M
8. Beyond the Reach (2014)
R | 91 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
In the Mojave Desert, a naked and unarmed hunting guide runs from a wealthy hunter who wants to ensure his silence in the death of an old man.
Director: Jean-Baptiste Léonetti | Stars: Michael Douglas, Jeremy Irvine, Martin Palmer, Hanna Mangan Lawrence
Votes: 11,093 | Gross: $0.04M
9. Behind Enemy Lines (2001)
PG-13 | 106 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
A disillusioned pilot shot down over war-torn Bosnia goes on the run from the local military and an assassin, as his commanding officer risks all to save him.
Director: John Moore | Stars: Gene Hackman, Owen Wilson, Gabriel Macht, Charles Malik Whitfield
Votes: 112,863 | Gross: $59.07M
10. Death Hunt (1981)
R | 97 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
In 1931 Canada, Yukon trapper Johnson has a feud with a dog owner who later retaliates by publicly accusing Johnson of murder and thus triggering a police manhunt in the wilderness.
Director: Peter R. Hunt | Stars: Charles Bronson, Lee Marvin, Andrew Stevens, Carl Weathers
Votes: 8,345
11. Jungle (I) (2017)
R | 115 min | Action, Adventure, Biography
A group of friends join a guide for a trek into the Bolivian jungle, searching for an Indian village. The men soon realize that the jungle is a difficult place to be.
Director: Greg McLean | Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Thomas Kretschmann, Alex Russell, Joel Jackson
Votes: 63,630
12. Southern Comfort (1981)
R | 106 min | Action, Thriller
During a routine exercise, a team of National Guardsmen are threatened by angry and violent locals.
Director: Walter Hill | Stars: Keith Carradine, Powers Boothe, Fred Ward, Franklyn Seales
Votes: 21,909 | Gross: $5.00M
13. Deliverance (1972)
R | 109 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
Intent on seeing the Cahulawassee River before it's dammed and turned into a lake, outdoor fanatic Lewis Medlock takes his friends on a canoeing trip they'll never forget into the dangerous American back-country.
Director: John Boorman | Stars: Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds, Ned Beatty, Ronny Cox
Votes: 119,257 | Gross: $7.06M
14. Catch Me If You Can (2002)
PG-13 | 141 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Barely 17 yet, Frank is a skilled forger who has passed as a doctor, lawyer and pilot. FBI agent Carl becomes obsessed with tracking down the con man, who only revels in the pursuit.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen
Votes: 1,095,565 | Gross: $164.62M
15. The Snow Walker (2003)
PG | 103 min | Adventure, Drama
A pilot and his passenger struggle for survival after crashing in the Arctic tundra.
Director: Charles Martin Smith | Stars: Barry Pepper, Annabella Piugattuk, James Cromwell, Kiersten Warren
Votes: 11,369
16. Walkabout (1971)
GP | 100 min | Adventure, Drama
Two city-bred siblings are stranded in the Australian Outback, where they learn to survive with the aid of an Aboriginal boy on his "walkabout": a ritual separation from his tribe.
Director: Nicolas Roeg | Stars: Jenny Agutter, David Gulpilil, Luc Roeg, John Meillon
Votes: 27,347 | Gross: $0.02M
17. Wild (I) (2014)
R | 115 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
A chronicle of one woman's 1,100-mile solo hike undertaken as a way to recover from a recent personal tragedy.
Director: Jean-Marc Vallée | Stars: Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Gaby Hoffmann, Michiel Huisman
Votes: 138,849 | Gross: $37.88M
18. Grizzly Man (2005)
R | 103 min | Documentary, Biography
A devastating and heart-rending take on grizzly bear activists Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard, who were killed in October of 2003 while living among grizzly bears in Alaska.
Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Timothy Treadwell, Amie Huguenard, Werner Herzog, Carol Dexter
Votes: 61,881 | Gross: $3.17M
19. Savages (1974 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 74 min | Thriller
Ben Campbell, a twenty-two-year-old gas station attendant in a small desert town, is looking to make some extra money. He is surprised when Madec, a wealthy lawyer, asks him to be his guide... See full summary »
Director: Lee H. Katzin | Stars: Andy Griffith, Sam Bottoms, Noah Beery Jr., James Best
Votes: 319
20. Robinson Crusoe (1997)
PG-13 | 105 min | Adventure, Drama
1703: Robinson Crusoe has to leave Scotland for a year, but after months sailing, a storm wrecks his ship. He ends up as only survivor on a desolate island.
Directors: Rod Hardy, George Miller | Stars: Pierce Brosnan, William Takaku, Polly Walker, Ian Hart
Votes: 13,215
21. No Escape (I) (2015)
R | 103 min | Action, Thriller
In their new overseas home, an American family soon finds themselves caught in the middle of a coup, and they frantically look for a safe escape from an environment where foreigners are being immediately executed.
Director: John Erick Dowdle | Stars: Lake Bell, Pierce Brosnan, Owen Wilson, Thanawut Ketsaro
Votes: 93,179 | Gross: $27.29M
22. The Way (I) (2010)
PG-13 | 123 min | Comedy, Drama
A father heads overseas to recover the body of his estranged son who died while traveling the "El camino de Santiago," and decides to take the pilgrimage himself.
Director: Emilio Estevez | Stars: Martin Sheen, Emilio Estevez, Deborah Kara Unger, Yorick van Wageningen
Votes: 35,344 | Gross: $4.43M
23. The Mountain Between Us (2017)
PG-13 | 112 min | Drama, Thriller
Stranded after a tragic plane crash, two strangers must forge a connection to survive the extreme elements of a remote snow-covered mountain. When they realize help is not coming, they embark on a perilous journey across the wilderness.
Director: Hany Abu-Assad | Stars: Kate Winslet, Idris Elba, Beau Bridges, Dermot Mulroney
Votes: 80,860 | Gross: $30.35M
24. A Walk in the Woods (2015)
R | 104 min | Adventure, Biography, Comedy
After spending two decades in England, Bill Bryson (Robert Redford) returns to the U.S., where he decides the best way to connect with his homeland is to hike the Appalachian Trail with one of his oldest friends, Stephen Katz (Nick Nolte).
Director: Ken Kwapis | Stars: Robert Redford, Nick Nolte, Emma Thompson, Mary Steenburgen
Votes: 29,763 | Gross: $29.47M
25. As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me (2001)
TV-G | 158 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A German Army officer is captured by the Soviets in World War II and sent to a labor camp in Eastern Siberia. After five years of enormous hardship he escapes, commencing an incredible, arduous, danger-filled journey.
Director: Hardy Martins | Stars: Bernhard Bettermann, Iris Böhm, Anatoliy Kotenyov, Michael Mendl
Votes: 8,091
26. Jeremiah Johnson (1972)
GP | 108 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
A mountain man who wishes to live the life of a hermit becomes the unwilling object of a long vendetta by the Crow tribe and proves to be a match for their warriors in single combat on the early frontier.
Director: Sydney Pollack | Stars: Robert Redford, Will Geer, Delle Bolton, Josh Albee
Votes: 34,987 | Gross: $47.74M
27. Captain Phillips (2013)
PG-13 | 134 min | Action, Biography, Crime
The true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the U.S.-flagged MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred years.
Director: Paul Greengrass | Stars: Tom Hanks, Barkhad Abdi, Barkhad Abdirahman, Catherine Keener
Votes: 492,621 | Gross: $107.10M
28. Flight of the Phoenix (2004)
PG-13 | 113 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Survivors of a plane crash in the Mongolian desert work together to build a new plane.
Director: John Moore | Stars: Dennis Quaid, Miranda Otto, Giovanni Ribisi, Tyrese Gibson
Votes: 56,747 | Gross: $21.01M
29. Kon-Tiki (2012)
PG-13 | 118 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
Legendary explorer Thor Heyerdahl's epic 4,300-mile crossing of the Pacific on a balsawood raft in 1947, in an effort to prove that it was possible for South Americans to settle in Polynesia in pre-Columbian times.
Directors: Joachim Rønning, Espen Sandberg | Stars: Pål Sverre Hagen, Anders Baasmo, Gustaf Skarsgård, Odd-Magnus Williamson
Votes: 51,962 | Gross: $1.52M
30. Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)
PG | 94 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
In 1931, three half-white, half-Aboriginal girls escape after being plucked from their houses to be trained as domestic staff, and set off on a journey across the Outback.
Director: Phillip Noyce | Stars: Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury, Kenneth Branagh, Laura Monaghan
Votes: 30,256 | Gross: $6.17M
31. Runaway Train (I) (1985)
R | 111 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Two escaped convicts and a female railway worker find themselves trapped on a speeding train with no brakes and nobody driving.
Director: Andrey Konchalovskiy | Stars: Jon Voight, Eric Roberts, Rebecca De Mornay, Kyle T. Heffner
Votes: 32,996 | Gross: $7.94M
32. Wildlike (2014)
Not Rated | 104 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
After conditions in her new home become unbearable, a teenage girl runs away and befriends an older man preparing for a hike through the Alaskan wilderness.
Director: Frank Hall Green | Stars: Ella Purnell, Brian Geraghty, Diane Farr, Nolan Gerard Funk
Votes: 5,402
33. Z for Zachariah (2015)
PG-13 | 98 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
In the wake of a disaster that wipes out most of civilization, two men and a young woman find themselves in an emotionally charged love triangle as the last known survivors.
Director: Craig Zobel | Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Chris Pine, Margot Robbie
Votes: 32,745 | Gross: $0.12M
34. All Is Lost (2013)
PG-13 | 106 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
After a collision with a shipping container at sea, a resourceful sailor finds himself, despite all efforts to the contrary, staring his mortality in the face.
Director: J.C. Chandor | Star: Robert Redford
Votes: 83,819 | Gross: $6.26M
35. Dead Calm (1989)
R | 96 min | Horror, Thriller
After a tragedy, John Ingram and his wife Rae are spending some time isolated at sea, when they come across a stranger who has abandoned a sinking ship.
Director: Phillip Noyce | Stars: Nicole Kidman, Sam Neill, Billy Zane, Rod Mullinar
Votes: 43,693 | Gross: $7.83M
36. East of the Mountains (2021)
93 min | Action, Drama
Based on the best-selling novel by David Guterson When retired heart surgeon Ben Givens learns that he has terminal cancer, he takes his beloved dog back to his boyhood home in Eastern ... See full summary »
Director: S.J. Chiro | Stars: Tom Skerritt, Mira Sorvino, Annie Gonzalez, Wally Dalton
Votes: 1,079
Tell Your Friends