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Escape from the Planet of the Apes poster

Movies that feel likeEscape from the Planet of the Apes (1971)

The world is shocked by the appearance of three talking chimpanzees, who arrived mysteriously in a spacecraft. Intrigued by their intelligence, humans use them for research - until the apes attempt to escape.

If you loved Escape from the Planet of the Apes, the closest films we have are Silent Running (1972), Logan's Run (1976) and Aniara (2019). All three share Escape from the Planet of the Apes' cerebral and bleak feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Fantastic Planet (1973).

🍅 75% Rotten Tomatoes★ 6.3 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Don Taylorkineticcerebralbleakawe
5 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Hulu · Paramount Plus Premium

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If Escape from the Planet of the Apes hit the spot, these will too

Looking for the series itself? Also in this series: Planet of the Apes (1968) · Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)

Silent Running poster
Silent Running
1972 · dir. Douglas Trumbull
🍅 71%★ 6.6science fiction · adventure · drama

One thread runs through both: dystopia

The difference: Less kinetic, more its own thing

After the entire flora goes extinct, ecologist Lowell maintains a greenhouse aboard a space station for the future with his android companions. However, he rebels after being ordered to destroy the greenhouse in favor of carrying cargo, a decision that puts him at odds with everyone but his mechanical companions.

Logan's Run poster
Logan's Run
1976 · dir. Michael Anderson
🍅 58%★ 6.8action · science fiction

Both are built on the same subject: dystopia

The difference: Lighter on awe

In the 23rd century, inhabitants of a domed city freely experience all of life's pleasures — but no one is allowed to live past 30. Citizens can try for a chance at being "renewed" in a civic ceremony on their 30th birthday. Escape is the only other option.

Aniara poster
Aniara
2019 · dir. Pella Kågerman
🍅 70%★ 6.3science fiction · drama

Both land ideas and bleakness at once

The difference: Leans further into drama

A ship carrying settlers to a new home on Mars after Earth is rendered uninhabitable is knocked off-course, causing the passengers to consider their place in the universe.

The War of the Worlds poster
The War of the Worlds
1953 · dir. Byron Haskin
★ 7science fiction · action

Kinetic action in both cases

The residents of a small town are excited when a flaming meteor lands in the hills, until they discover it is the first of many transport devices from Mars bringing an army of invaders invincible to any man-made weapon, even the atomic bomb.

Pitch Black poster
Pitch Black
2000 · dir. David Twohy
🍅 58%★ 7thriller · science fiction · action

Awestruck science fiction, and it commits to that

The difference: Played as thriller first

When their ship crash-lands on a remote planet, the marooned passengers soon learn that escaped convict Riddick isn't the only thing they have to fear. Deadly creatures lurk in the shadows, waiting to attack in the dark, and the planet is rapidly plunging into the utter blackness of a total eclipse. With the body count rising, the doomed survivors are forced to turn to Riddick with his eerie eyes to guide them through the darkness to safety. With time running out, there's only one rule: Stay in the light.

Total Recall poster
Total Recall
1990 · dir. Paul Verhoeven
🍅 80%★ 7.5action · adventure · science fictionParamount+

Action with a pulse of momentum, in both cases

Construction worker Douglas Quaid's obsession with the planet Mars leads him to visit Rekall, a virtual vacation company that manufactures memories. When something goes wrong during Quaid's memory implant procedure, his life turns upside down, leading him to question what is reality and what isn't.

Planet of the Apes poster
Planet of the Apes
2001 · dir. Tim Burton
🍅 42%★ 5.7thriller · science fiction · actionHulu

The same two preoccupations: chimpanzee, and time travel

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

After a spectacular crash-landing on an uncharted planet, brash astronaut Leo Davidson finds himself trapped in a savage world where talking apes dominate the human race. Desperate to find a way home, Leo must evade the invincible gorilla army led by Ruthless General Thade.

Rollerball poster
Rollerball
1975 · dir. Norman Jewison
🍅 55%★ 6.5science fiction

Both lean on ideas more than on science fiction

In a corporate-controlled future, an ultra-violent sport known as Rollerball represents the world, and one of its powerful athletes is out to defy those who want him out of the game.

The Omega Man poster
The Omega Man
1971 · dir. Boris Sagal
🍅 65%★ 6.4science fiction · action · drama

Action built on bleakness, twice over

Due to an experimental vaccine, Dr. Robert Neville is the only human survivor of an apocalyptic war waged with biological weapons. Besides him, only a few hundred deformed, nocturnal people remain; sensitive to light, and homicidally psychotic.

The Creator poster
The Creator
2023 · dir. Gareth Edwards
🍅 67%★ 6.7science fiction · action · adventureHulu

Awestruck science fiction in both cases

The difference: Made in the 2020s, in a different era of the craft

Amid a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife, is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war—and mankind itself.

Fantastic Planet poster
Fantastic Planet
1973 · dir. René Laloux
🍅 91%★ 7.6animation · science fictionMax

The shared currency is ideas

On the planet Ygam, the Draags, extremely technologically and spiritually advanced blue humanoids, consider the tiny Oms, human beings descendants of Terra's inhabitants, as ignorant animals. Those who live in slavery are treated as simple pets and used to entertain Draag children; those who live hidden in the hostile wilderness of the planet are periodically hunted and ruthlessly slaughtered as if they were vermin.

Serenity poster
Serenity
2005 · dir. Joss Whedon
🍅 82%★ 7.8science fiction · action · adventure

Both keep coming back to the same thing: spacecraft

A group of rebels travel the outskirts of space evading the sinister Alliance regime. Their lives of smuggling and cargo-running are interrupted by a psychic passenger who harbours a dangerous secret. Soon, the crew find themselves being pursued by an Alliance agent who will stop at nothing to find them.

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The best-reviewed films that share Escape from the Planet of the Apes’ defining feeling.