100 Best Survival Movies (2000-2017)
by ivandjordjevic-43807 | created - 03 Feb 2018 | updated - 04 Feb 2018 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. 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: 637,784 | Gross: $233.63M
2. 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: 68,330 | Gross: $81.61M
3. 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: 666,207 | Gross: $124.99M
4. 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: 51,919 | Gross: $1.52M
5. 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: 16,428 | Gross: $0.71M
6. 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: 30,240 | Gross: $6.17M
7. 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: 110,741 | Gross: $5.49M
8. 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: 263,184 | Gross: $51.58M
9. 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: 121,927 | Gross: $2.70M
10. 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: 182,547 | Gross: $115.64M
11. 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: 306,389 | Gross: $125.10M
12. 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: 93,015 | Gross: $27.29M
13. Everest (2015)
PG-13 | 121 min | Action, Adventure, Biography
On May 10, 1996, mountain guides Rob Hall and Scott Fischer combine their expedition teams for a final ascent to the summit of Mount Everest. With little warning, a storm strikes the mountain and the climbers must now battle to survive.
Director: Baltasar Kormákur | Stars: Jason Clarke, Ang Phula Sherpa, Thomas M. Wright, Martin Henderson
Votes: 232,182 | Gross: $43.48M
14. 12 Years a Slave (2013)
R | 134 min | Biography, Drama, History
In the antebellum United States, Solomon Northup, a free Black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery.
Director: Steve McQueen | Stars: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Kenneth Williams, Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt
Votes: 740,557 | Gross: $56.67M
15. The Martian (2015)
PG-13 | 144 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
An astronaut becomes stranded on Mars after his team assume him dead, and must rely on his ingenuity to find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive and can survive until a potential rescue.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Kate Mara
Votes: 923,495 | Gross: $228.43M
16. The Road (I) (2009)
R | 111 min | Drama, Thriller
In a dangerous post-apocalyptic world, an ailing father defends his son as they slowly travel to the sea.
Director: John Hillcoat | Stars: Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Robert Duvall
Votes: 253,917 | Gross: $0.06M
17. I Am Legend (2007)
PG-13 | 101 min | Action, Drama, Horror
Years after a plague kills most of humanity and transforms the rest into monsters, the sole survivor in New York City struggles valiantly to find a cure.
Director: Francis Lawrence | Stars: Will Smith, Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Salli Richardson-Whitfield
Votes: 813,069 | Gross: $256.39M
18. 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: 56,721 | Gross: $21.01M
19. 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: 11,355
20. The 33 (2015)
PG-13 | 127 min | Biography, Drama, History
Based on the real-life event, when a gold and copper mine collapses, it traps 33 miners underground for 69 days.
Director: Patricia Riggen | Stars: Antonio Banderas, Rodrigo Santoro, Juliette Binoche, James Brolin
Votes: 39,728 | Gross: $12.19M
21. 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: 400,962 | Gross: $18.34M
22. Buried (2010)
R | 95 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Paul is a U.S. truck driver working in Iraq. After an attack by a group of Iraqis he wakes to find he is buried alive inside a coffin. With only a lighter and a cell phone it's a race against time to escape this claustrophobic death trap.
Director: Rodrigo Cortés | Stars: Ryan Reynolds, José Luis GarcÃa-Pérez, Robert Paterson, Stephen Tobolowsky
Votes: 168,377 | Gross: $1.03M
23. 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: 56,409 | Gross: $30.61M
24. Exam (2009)
Not Rated | 101 min | Crime, Horror, Mystery
Eight candidates for a highly desirable corporate job are locked together in an exam room and given a final test with just one seemingly simple question. However, it doesn't take long for confusion to ensue and tensions to unravel.
Director: Stuart Hazeldine | Stars: Adar Beck, Gemma Chan, Nathalie Cox, John Lloyd Fillingham
Votes: 125,105
25. Gravity (2013)
PG-13 | 91 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Dr Ryan Stone, an engineer on her first time on a space mission, and Matt Kowalski, an astronaut on his final expedition, have to survive in space after they are hit by debris while spacewalking.
Director: Alfonso Cuarón | Stars: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Ed Harris, Orto Ignatiussen
Votes: 862,595 | Gross: $274.09M
26. 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: 657,439 | Gross: $18.35M
27. Shackleton (2002)
206 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: 3,090
28. The Revenant (I) (2015)
R | 156 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team.
Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter, Domhnall Gleeson
Votes: 873,166 | Gross: $183.64M
29. 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: 22,343
30. 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: 83,775 | Gross: $6.26M
31. The Shallows (2016)
PG-13 | 86 min | Action, Drama, Horror
A mere 200 yards from shore, surfer Nancy is attacked by a great white shark, with her short journey to safety becoming the ultimate contest of wills.
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra | Stars: Blake Lively, Óscar Jaenada, Angelo Josue Lozano Corzo, Joseph Salas
Votes: 143,277 | Gross: $55.12M
32. 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: 63,525
33. 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: 31,701 | Gross: $0.51M
34. 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: 8,090
35. 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: 243,726 | Gross: $19.02M
36. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
R | 120 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a woman rebels against a tyrannical ruler in search for her homeland with the aid of a group of female prisoners, a psychotic worshiper and a drifter named Max.
Director: George Miller | Stars: Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron, Nicholas Hoult, Zoë Kravitz
Votes: 1,084,335 | Gross: $154.06M
37. In the Heart of the Sea (2015)
PG-13 | 122 min | Action, Adventure, Biography
A recounting of a New England whaling ship's sinking by a giant whale in 1820, an experience that later inspired the great novel Moby-Dick.
Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson, Ben Whishaw
Votes: 148,620 | Gross: $25.02M
38. Deepwater Horizon (2016)
PG-13 | 107 min | Action, Drama, History
A dramatization of the disaster in April 2010, when the offshore drilling rig called the Deepwater Horizon exploded, resulting in the worst oil spill in American history.
Director: Peter Berg | Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, Douglas M. Griffin, James DuMont
Votes: 181,966 | Gross: $61.43M
39. 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: 80,805 | Gross: $30.35M
40. The Book of Eli (2010)
R | 118 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A drifter fights his way across a ravaged, post-apocalyptic America while protecting a sacred book that holds the secrets to humanity's salvation.
Directors: Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes | Stars: Denzel Washington, Mila Kunis, Ray Stevenson, Gary Oldman
Votes: 339,010 | Gross: $94.84M
41. The Finest Hours (2016)
PG-13 | 117 min | Action, Drama, History
The Coast Guard makes a daring rescue attempt off the coast of Cape Cod after a pair of oil tankers are destroyed during a blizzard in 1952.
Director: Craig Gillespie | Stars: Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Eric Bana
Votes: 70,610 | Gross: $27.57M
42. Sully (2016)
PG-13 | 96 min | Biography, Drama
When pilot Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger lands his damaged plane on the Hudson River in order to save the flight's passengers and crew, some consider him a hero while others think he was reckless.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Tom Hanks, Aaron Eckhart, Laura Linney, Valerie Mahaffey
Votes: 297,661 | Gross: $125.07M
43. 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: 20,915
44. Castaway on the Moon (2009)
PG-13 | 116 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance