50+ great survival themed movies
by propro-nfrn | created - 11 Apr 2015 | updated - 26 Sep 2015 | PublicA non-exhaustive list of great survival themed movies. The list includes wilderness, sea, mountain, castaway, stranded and war survival movies.
Have i missed a great survival movie? If you have a suggestion you're welcome to leave your comment!
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1. 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: 401,519 | Gross: $18.34M
2. 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: 64,457 | Gross: $36.73M
3. 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: 8,093
4. Backcountry (I) (2014)
R | 92 min | Adventure, Drama, Horror
An urban couple goes camping in the woods and find themselves lost in the territory of a predatory black bear.
Director: Adam MacDonald | Stars: Jeff Roop, Missy Peregrym, Nicholas Campbell, Eric Balfour
Votes: 24,209
5. Black Water (2007)
R | 90 min | Adventure, Drama, Horror
A boat tour of a mangrove swamp turns into a fight for survival when a group of people are attacked by a ferocious saltwater crocodile.
Directors: David Nerlich, Andrew Traucki | Stars: Diana Glenn, Maeve Dermody, Andy Rodoreda, Ben Oxenbould
Votes: 16,040
6. Burning Bright (2010)
PG-13 | 89 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
A thriller centered on a young woman and her autistic little brother who are trapped in a house with a ravenous tiger during a hurricane.
Director: Carlos Brooks | Stars: Briana Evigan, Charlie Tahan, Garret Dillahunt, Meat Loaf
Votes: 7,971
7. 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: 638,941 | Gross: $233.63M
8. 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: 119,306 | Gross: $7.06M
9. Eight Below (2006)
PG | 120 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
Brutal cold forces two Antarctic explorers to leave their team of sled dogs behind as they fend for their survival.
Director: Frank Marshall | Stars: Paul Walker, Jason Biggs, Bruce Greenwood, Moon Bloodgood
Votes: 68,377 | Gross: $81.61M
10. Frozen (I) (2010)
R | 93 min | Adventure, Thriller
Three skiers stranded on a chairlift are forced to make life-or-death choices, which prove more perilous than staying put and freezing to death.
Director: Adam Green | Stars: Shawn Ashmore, Emma Bell, Kevin Zegers, Ed Ackerman
Votes: 80,762 | Gross: $0.24M
11. Gerry (2002)
R | 103 min | Adventure, Drama, Mystery
A friendship between two young men is tested when they go for a hike in a desert and forget to bring any water or food with them.
Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Casey Affleck, Matt Damon
Votes: 19,702 | Gross: $0.24M
12. Hell in the Pacific (1968)
G | 103 min | Adventure, War
During World War II, an American pilot and a marooned Japanese navy captain are deserted on a small uninhabited island in the Pacific Ocean. There, they must cease their hostility and cooperate if they want to survive, but will they?
Director: John Boorman | Stars: Lee Marvin, Toshirô Mifune
Votes: 9,065
13. Hours (2013)
PG-13 | 97 min | Drama, Thriller
A father struggles to keep his infant daughter alive in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Director: Eric Heisserer | Stars: Paul Walker, Genesis Rodriguez, Nancy Nave, Shane Jacobsen
Votes: 30,825
14. How I Ended This Summer (2010)
Not Rated | 130 min | Drama
One place. One day. Two men. The place is a polar research station on an island in the Arctic Ocean, inhabited now only by Sergei and Pavel. One day when Sergei is out angling, Pavel picks up a radio message that he daren't communicate.
Director: Alexei Popogrebsky | Stars: Grigoriy Dobrygin, Sergey Puskepalis, Igor Chernevich, Artyom Tsukanov
Votes: 6,998 | Gross: $0.01M
15. Ice Bound (2003 TV Movie)
89 min | Drama
One woman's strength and courage under the most extreme weather conditions.
Director: Roger Spottiswoode | Stars: Susan Sarandon, Aidan Devine, Cynthia Mace, Paulino Nunes
Votes: 601
16. Into the White (I) (2012)
R | 104 min | Action, Biography, Drama
World War II: After an aerial battle over Norway, British and German airmen find themselves stranded in the wilderness. Finding shelter in the same cabin, they realize the only way to survive the winter is to set aside the rules of war.
Director: Petter Næss | Stars: Florian Lukas, David Kross, Lachlan Nieboer, Stig Henrik Hoff
Votes: 22,367
17. 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: 658,344 | Gross: $18.35M
18. Iron Will (1994)
PG | 108 min | Adventure, Family
A brave young man is thrust into adulthood as he and his courageous team of sled dogs embark on a grueling and treacherous cross-country marathon.
Director: Charles Haid | Stars: Mackenzie Astin, Kevin Spacey, David Ogden Stiers, August Schellenberg
Votes: 9,404 | Gross: $21.01M
19. 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: 35,003 | Gross: $47.74M
20. 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: 51,981 | Gross: $1.52M
21. Life of Pi (2012)
PG | 127 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
A young man who survives a disaster at sea is hurtled into an epic journey of adventure and discovery. While cast away, he forms an unexpected connection with another survivor: a fearsome Bengal tiger.
Director: Ang Lee | Stars: Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Adil Hussain, Tabu
Votes: 667,044 | Gross: $124.99M
22. Lifeboat (1944)
Not Rated | 97 min | Drama, War
Several survivors of a torpedoed merchant ship in World War II find themselves in the same lifeboat with one of the crew members of the U-boat that sank their ship.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Tallulah Bankhead, John Hodiak, Walter Slezak, William Bendix
Votes: 31,191
23. Magic Hour: Lost in the Barrens (1990 TV Movie)
93 min | Adventure, Drama
An orphaned teen and a young tribal hunter get lost in the wilderness.
Director: Michael J.F. Scott | Stars: Nicholas Shields, Evan Adams, Lee J. Campbell, Graham Greene
Votes: 433
24. Man in the Wilderness (1971)
GP | 104 min | Adventure, Drama, Western
Left for dead after a bear attack, a fur-trapper recuperates and pursues his former companions through dangerous Indian territory.
Director: Richard C. Sarafian | Stars: Richard Harris, John Huston, Henry Wilcoxon, Percy Herbert
Votes: 3,478
25. North Face (2008)
Not Rated | 126 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
A secretary at a Berlin newspaper in 1936 gets to write about two Alpinists, as she knows them well. She later gets to report on and photograph her friends' and other Alpinists' climbs of the dangerous Swiss Eiger north face.
Director: Philipp Stölzl | Stars: Benno Fürmann, Florian Lukas, Johanna Wokalek, Simon Schwarz
Votes: 16,436 | Gross: $0.71M
26. Open Water (2003)
R | 79 min | Adventure, Drama, Horror
Based on the true story of two scuba divers accidentally stranded in shark infested waters after their tour boat has left.
Director: Chris Kentis | Stars: Blanchard Ryan, Daniel Travis, Saul Stein, Michael E. Williamson
Votes: 56,469 | Gross: $30.61M
27. Open Water 2: Adrift (2006)
R | 94 min | Adventure, Drama, Horror
When a group of friends fail to lower the ladder of their boat, they find themselves stranded in the surrounding waters and struggle to survive.
Director: Hans Horn | Stars: Susan May Pratt, Richard Speight Jr., Niklaus Lange, Ali Hillis
Votes: 19,948
28. 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: 30,264 | Gross: $6.17M
29. Rescue Dawn (2006)
PG-13 | 125 min | Adventure, Biography, War
A U.S. fighter pilot's epic struggle of survival after being shot down on a mission over Laos during the Vietnam War.
Director: Werner Herzog | Stars: Christian Bale, Steve Zahn, Jeremy Davies, Zach Grenier
Votes: 110,824 | Gross: $5.49M
30. Shackleton (2002– )
103 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
The true story of Shackleton's 1914 Endurance expedition to the South Pole, and his epic struggle to lead his twenty-eight man crew to safety after his ship was crushed in the pack ice.
Stars: Kenneth Branagh, Eve Best, Mark Tandy, Embeth Davidtz
Votes: 3,092
31. Silence of the North (1981)
PG | 94 min | Drama
Based on the biography of Olive Fredrickson, It tells of her life as a girl, then a trapper's wife and later a widow with three small children surviving under rugged pioneer conditions in ... See full summary »
Director: Allan King | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Tom Skerritt, Gordon Pinsent, Jennifer McKinney
Votes: 268 | Gross: $1.62M
32. Survival Quest (1988)
R | 96 min | Adventure, Thriller
A group on an Outward Bound-type adventure runs across a paramilitary team with a sadistic leader who has harmful intentions towards anyone who may find themselves in their path.
Director: Don Coscarelli | Stars: Lance Henriksen, Mark Rolston, Steve Antin, Michael Allen Ryder
Votes: 1,221
33. The Canyon (2009)
R | 102 min | Thriller
A survival story about a honeymooning couple who get lost in the wide expanse of the Grand Canyon.
Director: Richard Harrah | Stars: Eion Bailey, Yvonne Strahovski, Will Patton, Wendy Worthington
Votes: 5,040 | Gross: $0.00M
34. The Deep (2012)
Not Rated | 95 min | Action, Drama
Based on actual events, a fisherman tries to survive in the freezing ocean after his boat capsizes off the south coast of Iceland.
Director: Baltasar Kormákur | Stars: Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Stefán Hallur Stefánsson, Joi Johannsson, Thora Bjorg Helga
Votes: 5,727
35. The Disappeared (2012)
Not Rated | 86 min | Drama, Mystery
The story of six men lost at sea in the North Atlantic.
Director: Shandi Mitchell | Stars: Billy Campbell, Shawn Doyle, Brian Downey, Ryan Doucette
Votes: 370
36. The Edge (1997)
R | 117 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
An intellectual billionaire and two other men struggle to band together and survive after getting stranded in the Alaskan wilderness with a blood-thirsty Kodiak Bear hunting them down.
Director: Lee Tamahori | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Alec Baldwin, Elle Macpherson, Harold Perrineau
Votes: 79,058 | Gross: $27.78M
37. The Flight of the Phoenix (1965)
Approved | 142 min | Adventure, Drama
After an oil company plane crashes in the Sahara, the survivors are buoyed with hope by one of the passengers, an airplane designer who plans for them to build a flyable plane from the wreckage.
Director: Robert Aldrich | Stars: James Stewart, Richard Attenborough, Peter Finch, Hardy Krüger
Votes: 22,421
38. The Grey (2011)
R | 117 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
After their plane crashes in Alaska, six oil workers are led by a skilled huntsman to survival, but a pack of merciless wolves haunts their every step.
Director: Joe Carnahan | Stars: Liam Neeson, Dermot Mulroney, Frank Grillo, Dallas Roberts
Votes: 263,398 | Gross: $51.58M
39. The Guardian (I) (2006)
PG-13 | 139 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A high school swim champion with a troubled past enrolls in the U.S. Coast Guard's "A" School, where legendary rescue swimmer Ben Randall teaches him some hard lessons about loss, love, and self-sacrifice.
Director: Andrew Davis | Stars: Kevin Costner, Ashton Kutcher, Sela Ward, Melissa Sagemiller
Votes: 98,048 | Gross: $55.01M
40. The Impossible (2012)
PG-13 | 114 min | Drama, History, Thriller
The story of a tourist family in Thailand caught in the destruction and chaotic aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.
Director: J.A. Bayona | Stars: Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, Tom Holland, Oaklee Pendergast
Votes: 244,162 | Gross: $19.02M
41. The Perfect Storm (2000)
PG-13 | 130 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
An unusually intense storm pattern catches some commercial fishermen unaware and puts them in mortal danger.
Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, John C. Reilly, Diane Lane
Votes: 177,997 | Gross: $182.62M
42. The Reef (2010)
R | 94 min | Adventure, Horror, Thriller
A great white shark hunts the crew of a capsized sailboat along the Great Barrier Reef.
Director: Andrew Traucki | Stars: Damian Walshe-Howling, Gyton Grantley, Adrienne Pickering, Zoe Naylor
Votes: 20,941
43. The River Wild (1994)
PG-13 | 111 min | Adventure, Crime, Thriller
Rafting expert Gail takes on a pair of armed killers while navigating a spectacularly violent river.
Director: Curtis Hanson | Stars: Meryl Streep, Kevin Bacon, David Strathairn, Joseph Mazzello
Votes: 50,210 | Gross: $46.82M
44. 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: 11,374
45. 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: 122,030 | Gross: $2.70M
46. Touching the Void (2003)
R | 106 min | Documentary, Adventure, Drama
The true story of two climbers and their perilous journey up the west face of Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.
Director: Kevin Macdonald | Stars: Simon Yates, Joe Simpson, Brendan Mackey, Nicholas Aaron
Votes: 38,112 | Gross: $4.59M
47. 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: 31,738 | Gross: $0.51M
48. Unbroken (I) (2014)
PG-13 | 137 min | Action, Biography, Drama
After a near-fatal plane crash in WWII, Olympian Louis Zamperini spends a harrowing 47 days in a raft with two fellow crewmen before he's caught by the Japanese navy and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp.
Director: Angelina Jolie | Stars: Jack O'Connell, Miyavi, Domhnall Gleeson, Garrett Hedlund
Votes: 182,780 | Gross: $115.64M
49. Vertical Limit (2000)
PG-13 | 124 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A climber must rescue his sister on the peak of K2, the second highest mountain in the world .
Director: Martin Campbell | Stars: Scott Glenn, Chris O'Donnell, Bill Paxton, Robin Tunney
Votes: 65,364 | Gross: $69.24M
50. 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: 27,353 | Gross: $0.02M
51. White Water Summer (1987)
PG | 90 min | Adventure, Drama
The story of a shy boy who gets convinced by his parents to spend a few summer days in the mountains. So, he joins a group, and the vacation begins. Unfortunately, things turn out to be a little tough for our small friend.
Director: Jeff Bleckner | Stars: Kevin Bacon, Sean Astin, Jonathan Ward, K.C. Martel
Votes: 5,919 | Gross: $0.30M
52. Against the Sun (2014)
PG | 100 min | Biography, Drama, War
A WWII pilot, bombardier, and radioman find themselves adrift on a lifeboat without food or water after being forced to ditch their plane during a scouting mission.
Director: Brian Peter Falk | Stars: Garret Dillahunt, Tom Felton, Jake Abel, Nadia Parra
Votes: 6,476
53. Beneath (V) (2013)
Unrated | 89 min | Adventure, Drama, Horror
A crew of coal miners becomes trapped 600 feet below ground after a disastrous collapse. As the air grows more toxic and time runs out, they slowly descend into madness and begin to turn on one another.
Director: Ben Ketai | Stars: Brent Briscoe, Kurt Caceres, Eric Etebari, Jeff Fahey
Votes: 4,731
54. Scenic Route (2013)
R | 82 min | Drama, Horror, Thriller
Tensions rise between lifelong friends Mitchell and Carter after their truck breaks down on an isolated desert road as they start to attack each other's life decisions with unwavering brutality.
Directors: Kevin Goetz, Michael Goetz | Stars: Josh Duhamel, Dan Fogler, Miracle Laurie, Christie Burson
Votes: 11,382
55. The Naked Prey (1965)
Approved | 96 min | Adventure, Drama, Thriller
During the 1800s, a safari guide, two elephant hunters and their crew run into trouble with the natives in the South African veld when they refuse to offer gifts to the tribesmen.
Director: Cornel Wilde | Stars: Cornel Wilde, Gert van den Bergh, Ken Gampu, Patrick Mynhardt
Votes: 5,879
56. Lone Survivor (2013)
R | 121 min | Action, Biography, Drama
Marcus Luttrell and his team set out on a mission to capture or kill notorious Taliban leader Ahmad Shah, in late June 2005. Marcus and his team are left to fight for their lives in one of the most valiant efforts of modern warfare.
Director: Peter Berg | Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster
Votes: 306,788 | Gross: $125.10M
57. The Last Voyage (1960)
Approved | 91 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
After a boiler explosion aboard an aging ocean liner, a man struggles to free his injured wife from the wreckage of their cabin and ensure the safety of their four-year-old daughter as the ship begins to sink.
Director: Andrew L. Stone | Stars: Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone, George Sanders, Edmond O'Brien
Votes: 2,430
58. The Climb (1986)
PG | 90 min | Adventure
Based on the true story of the 1953 assault on Nanga Parbat, a treacherous Himalayan Peak.
Director: Donald Shebib | Stars: Bruce Greenwood, James Hurdle, Kenneth Welsh, Ken Pogue
Votes: 118
59. Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)
Approved | 107 min | Adventure, Drama, War
During World War II, an American marine and an Irish nun form an unlikely friendship after being stranded on a South Pacific island. They find comfort in one another while hoping for a rescue, as they try to avoid capture by the Japanese.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Deborah Kerr
Votes: 9,622
60. Never Cry Wolf (1983)
PG | 105 min | Adventure, Drama
A government researcher, sent to research the "menace" of wolves in the north, learns about the true beneficial and positive nature of the species.
Director: Carroll Ballard | Stars: Charles Martin Smith, Brian Dennehy, Zachary Ittimangnaq, Samson Jorah
Votes: 8,788 | Gross: $29.60M
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