Movies like Close Encounters of the Third Kind
If you like "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" you are looking for suspenseful, breathtaking and captivating movies about / with alien, ufo, first contact, alien abduction, alien contact, space and aliens and spacecraft themes of Drama and Sci-Fi genre shot in USA or UK.
Find your next favorite and similar movies in two steps:
1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below).
2. Look for them in the presented list.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
206K
Where to Watch
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 138 min.
Story:
After an encounter with UFOs, a line worker feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen.
Style:
suspenseful, breathtaking, captivating, atmospheric, visually appealing, cerebral, futuristic, light, sentimental, scary ...
Audience:
kids, teens, family outing, pre-teens
Plot:
alien, ufo, first contact, alien abduction, alien contact, space and aliens, spacecraft, secret base, space, technology, airplane, chase, benign alien, evacuation, single mother, sandstorm, flying saucer, obsession, missing person, conspiracy, beautiful scenery, car chase, boy, helicopter, translator ...
Time:
70s, future, 20th century
Place:
indiana, wyoming, india, mongolia, ohio, mexico
Movie in categories
Most similar movies to Close Encounters of the Third Kind
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out thought provoking, cult film, weird and serious films with plots about alien, space, alien invasion, dialogue, technology, first contact and catastrophe mostly in Sci-Fi, Drama and Mystery genres. Some movies like Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Contact (1997), The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008), Signs (2002), The X Files (1998), Arrival (2016). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
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280K
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 150 min.
Story:
Contact is a science fiction film about an encounter with alien intelligence. Based on the novel by Carl Sagan the film starred Jodie Foster as the one chosen scientist who must make some difficult decisions between her beliefs, the truth, and ...
Style:
thought provoking, philosophical, inspirational, futuristic, cerebral ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
science, nasa, scientist, first contact, alien encounter, space travel, religion, space and aliens, alien contact, benign alien, alien, intelligence ...
Time:
future, 90s, 20th century
Place:
puerto rico, new mexico, washington d.c., usa, florida ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
85%
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
A representative of an alien race that went through drastic evolution to survive its own climate change, Klaatu comes to Earth to assess whether humanity can prevent the environmental damage they have inflicted on their own planet. When barred from ...
Style:
futuristic, serious, suspenseful, stylized, apocalyptic ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
end of the world, ufo, alien, alien contact, alien encounter, evil alien, giant robots, disaster, alien invasion, robot, apocalypse, first contact ...
Time:
future, 1920s, 21st century
Place:
usa, egypt, antarctica, washington d.c., virginia ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
370K
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 106 min.
Story:
A family living on a farm finds mysterious crop circles in their fields which suggests something more frightening to come.
Style:
scary, psychological, enigmatic, twist ending, atmospheric ...
Plot:
alien invasion, alien, ufo, single father, first contact, suspense, alien encounter, faith, survival, twists and turns, loss of faith, small town ...
Time:
future, 2000s, 21st century
Place:
philadelphia, usa, pennsylvania, north america, mexico ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
107K
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 121 min.
Story:
Mulder and Scully, now taken off the FBI's X Files cases, must find a way to fight the shadowy elements of the government to find out the truth about a conspiracy that might mean the alien colonization of Earth.
Style:
suspenseful, scary, psychological, entertaining, confusing ...
Audience:
teens, boys' night
Plot:
alien, ufo, conspiracy, first contact, suspense, conspiracy theory, chase, evil alien, twists and turns, virus, paranoia, fbi ...
Time:
future, 90s, 20th century, prehistory, prehistoric times
Place:
washington d.c., london, usa, europe, antarctica ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Movie in collections
709K
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 116 min.
Story:
Taking place after alien crafts land around the world, an expert linguist is recruited by the military to determine whether they come in peace or are a threat.
Style:
psychological, intellectual, futuristic, philosophical, enigmatic ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
alien, first contact, female protagonist, linguist, scientist, extraterrestrial, time, science, alien race, alien contact, alien creature, ufo ...
Time:
future, 2010s
Place:
montana, china, massachusetts, venezuela, russia ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
85%
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Films like Interstellar
1.9M
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, UK, Canada
Duration: 169 min.
Story:
Interstellar chronicles the adventures of a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage.
Style:
futuristic, mind bending, thought provoking, philosophical, atmospheric ...
Audience:
teens, girls' night, kids, chick flick
Plot:
space, time travel, space travel, father daughter relationship, nasa, astronaut, distopia, survival, scientist, space station, end of the world, apocalypse ...
Time:
future, near future, 21st century
Place:
los angeles, colorado
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Genre: Biography, Drama, Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min.
Story:
A group of men who were clearing bush for the government arrive back in town, claiming that their friend was abducted by aliens. Nobody believes them, and despite a lack of motive and no evidence of foul play, their friends' disappearance is ...
Style:
suspenseful, scary, disturbing, psychological, bad ending ...
Plot:
alien, ufo, alien abduction, alien contact, alien encounter, space and aliens, space, extraterrestrial, working class, investigation, murder, natural disaster ...
Time:
70s, 20th century, year 1975
Place:
arizona, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
83%
Genre: Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 116 min.
Story:
This is a sequel to 2001 A Space Odyssey. It is now 2010 and both the Americans and the Russians are racing to get to Jupiter to investigate the black monolith (similar to the one found in Lunar Crater Clavius) which was found by the U.S.S. ...
Style:
futuristic, intellectual, stylized, light, bad ending ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
space, ghost ship, astronaut, space travel, distopia, space and aliens, nasa, alien, space opera, space exploration, mars, extraterrestrial ...
Time:
future, year 1984, year 2010, near future, 80s ...
Place:
new mexico, washington d.c., ussr, paris france, tower bridge london ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Movie in collections
187K
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, Germany
Duration: 120 min.
Story:
Prot is a patient at a mental hospital who claims to be from a far away Planet. His psychiatrist tries to help him, only to begin to doubt his own explanations.
Style:
psychological, touching, sentimental, surprise ending, futuristic ...
Plot:
alien, patient, extraterrestrial, planet, mysterious character, psychiatrist, mental institution, hypnosis, mental illness, science, investigation, space ...
Time:
future, 90s, 80s, 21st century
Place:
usa, new york, grand central station manhattan new york city, albuquerque new mexico, greenland ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
80%
Genre: Biography, Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 109 min.
Story:
A novelist's wife and son see him changed by an apparent encounter with aliens in the mountains.
Style:
atmospheric, psychological, scary, suspenseful, serious ...
Plot:
alien, alien abduction, alien contact, psychiatrist, ufo, hypnosis, writers, halloween, supernatural, paranoia, macabre, extraterrestrial ...
Time:
80s
Place:
new york
⇓ similarity ⇓
80%
Also search:
Movies similar to Prometheus
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 45 min.
TV show
Story:
A chronicle of the true top secret U.S. Air Force-sponsored investigations into UFO-related phenomena in the 1950s and ’60s, known as “Project Blue Book.”
Style:
enigmatic, captivating, exciting, suspenseful, thought provoking ...
Plot:
ufo, alien, special agents, physicist, paranormal activity, political conspiracy, alien abduction, alien contact, space and aliens, abduction, investigation, state affairs ...
Time:
50s, 20th century
Place:
usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
49K
Genre: Romance, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min.
Story:
An alien takes the form of a young widow's husband and asks her to drive him from Wisconsin to Arizona. The government tries to stop them.
Style:
road movie, feel good, thought provoking, touching, sweet ...
Audience:
family outing, chick flick, date night
Plot:
alien, time travel, road trip, supernatural, natural disaster, friendly alien, travel, benign alien, chase, runaway, suspense, resurrection ...
Time:
80s, future, year 1984, 20th century
Place:
usa, washington d.c., arizona, las vegas, wisconsin
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
257K
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
For the past 60 years, a space-traveling smart-ass named Paul has been locked up in a top-secret military base, advising world leaders about his kind. But when he worries he’s outlived his usefulness and the dissection table is drawing ...
Style:
funny, parody, entertaining, unusual plot structure, thought provoking ...
Audience:
teens, kids, date night
Plot:
alien, benign alien, chase, road trip, special agents, first contact, friendship, buddies, space travel, alien encounter, friends, alien invasion ...
Time:
80s, 1940s, future, year 2009, year 1947 ...
Place:
nevada, usa, austin texas, arizona, wyoming ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
182K
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 140 min.
Story:
A civilian oil rig crew is recruited to conduct a search and rescue effort when a nuclear submarine mysteriously sinks. One diver soon finds himself on a spectacular odyssey 25,000 feet below the ocean's surface where he confronts a mysterious ...
Style:
suspenseful, exciting, serious, tense, psychological ...
Audience:
teens, kids
Plot:
ocean, ufo, first contact, submarine, alien, sea, disaster, catastrophe, survival, heroic mission, space and aliens, alien encounter ...
Time:
80s, 20th century, future
⇓ similarity ⇓
75%
65K
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 117 min.
Story:
When a group of trespassing seniors swim in a pool containing alien cocoons, they find themselves energized with youthful vigor.
Style:
touching, sentimental, feel good, humorous, captivating ...
Audience:
family outing, girls' night, date night, kids
Plot:
alien, elderly, cocoon, chase, fountain of youth, space and aliens, aging, benign alien, golden years, first contact, life & death, cancer ...
Time:
80s, future, 20th century
Place:
florida, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
50%
Also search:
Arrival similar movies
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 146 min.
Story:
A robotic boy, the first programmed to love, David is adopted as a test case by a Cybertronics employee and his wife. Though he gradually becomes their child, a series of unexpected circumstances make this life impossible for David. Without final ...
Style:
thought provoking, philosophical, sentimental, fairy tale, intellectual ...
Audience:
kids, teens
Plot:
distopia, artificial intelligence, cyberpunk, androids and robots, a.i., future dystopia, robot, adoption, first contact, imagination, end of the world, androids ...
Time:
future, 22nd century
Place:
new york, usa, manhattan new york city, brooklyn new york city, coney island brooklyn new york city
⇓ similarity ⇓
33%
Genre: Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 81 min.
Story:
A number of 'missing person' cases are reported in Phoenix, Arizona when an unexplained light appears in the sky one night in 1997.
Style:
tense, enigmatic, captivating, psychotronic
Plot:
ufo, found footage, military, desert, alien, conspiracy, missing person, alien abduction, investigation, suspense, death, space ...
Place:
phoenix arizona, arizona, usa, mexico
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Genre: Adventure, Family, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min.
Story:
After a gentle alien becomes stranded on Earth, the being is discovered and befriended by a young boy named Elliott. Bringing the extraterrestrial into his suburban California house, Elliott introduces E.T., as the alien is dubbed, to his brother ...
Style:
sentimental, feel good, emotional, sad, sweet ...
Audience:
kids, family outing, girls' night, teens, preschoolers ...
Plot:
alien, friendship, childhood, children, stranded, halloween, extraterrestrial, coming of age, chase, friendly alien, healing power, bicycle ...
Time:
80s, future, 20th century
Place:
california, usa, sesame street, los angeles
⇓ similarity ⇓
33%
Movie in collections
94K
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: UK, Mexico
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
Six years ago NASA discovered the possibility of alien life within our solar system. A probe was launched to collect samples, but crashed upon re-entry over Central America. Soon after, new life forms began to appear and half of Mexico was ...
Style:
thought provoking, breathtaking, stylized, road movie, meditative ...
Audience:
date night
Plot:
monster, alien, alien invasion, post apocalypse, alien encounter, infected, survival, quarantine, suspense, distopia, end of the world, jungle ...
Time:
future
Place:
mexico, central america, austin texas, latin america, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
50%
Genre: Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 97 min.
Story:
During a Space Shuttle mission a satellite rams a unidentified flying object. The UFO afterwards performs an emergency landing in the deserts of Arizona. However the White House denies it's existence because of the near presidential elections. ...
Style:
thought provoking, unusual plot structure, allegory, splatter, campy ...
Plot:
ufo, alien, nasa, extraterrestrial, alien invasion, investigation, first contact, conspiracy, chase, space, astronaut, alternate reality ...
Time:
future, 70s
Place:
las vegas, arizona, california, texas
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Also search:
Films like The Truman Show
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 109 min.
Story:
When astronaut Spencer Armacost returns to Earth after a mission that nearly cost him his life, he decides to take a desk job in order to see his beautiful wife, Jillian, more often. Gradually, Jillian notices that Spencer's personality seems ...
Style:
suspenseful, psychological, surprise ending, scary, sexy ...
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
space, woman in danger, alien, astronaut, pregnancy, nasa, paranoia, space travel, space and aliens, secrets, suspense, suburbs ...
Time:
90s, future
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
Susan Ivanova discovers a derelict spaceship in hyperspace. They tow it back to Babylon 5, then strange things start happening. People are being telepathically taken over by aliens from another (third)space.
Style:
exciting, futuristic, melancholic, absurd, light ...
Audience:
boys' night, teens
Plot:
space and aliens, space, space opera, fight, military, alien, existentialism, doctors, destiny, redemption, fantasy world, immortality ...
Time:
future, 23rd century
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Family, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, Norway
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
This 1986 Disney adventure tells the story of 12-year-old David who lives with his family in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. When he awakens from being accidentally knocked out in the forest near his home, he finds that eight years have passed. His family is ...
Style:
feel good, futuristic, entertaining, exciting, stylized ...
Audience:
kids, family outing, preschoolers, pre-teens
Plot:
time travel, ufo, benign alien, space and aliens, flying saucer, nasa, alien, space travel, space, young heroes, getting home, first contact ...
Time:
80s, future, year 1986, year 1978, 20th century ...
Place:
florida, miami, miami beach, tokyo, japan ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
A group of young pilots in a remote region of the Canadian wilderness begin to hear strange reports over their radios about planes crashing, cars stalling and a deadly plague which has gripped the planet. It becomes clear that earth is in the midst ...
Style:
surprise ending
Plot:
wilderness, alien, forest, lake, alien invasion, apocalypse, ufo, tv news, spacecraft, poison gas, insanity, survival ...
Place:
canada
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: UK
Duration: 139 min.
Story:
Thomas Jerome Newton is an alien who comes to Earth to get water for his dying planet. He starts a high technology company to get the billions of dollars he needs to build a return spacecraft. A British science-fiction film from director Nicolas ...
Style:
surreal, atmospheric, stylized, erotic, meditative ...
Plot:
alien, space and aliens, surrealism, alien invasion, alien life-form, female nudity, sex scene, distopia, humanity, disorder, oral sex, mysterious character ...
Time:
20th century, 70s
Place:
usa, new mexico
⇓ similarity ⇓
23%
Also search:
Movies like Ex Machina
20K
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 877 min.
TV show
Story:
Taken spans five decades and four generations, centering on three families: the Keys, Crawfords, and Clarkes. World War II veteran Russell Keys is plagued by nightmares of his abduction by aliens during the war; the Roswell incident transforms Owen ...
Style:
serious, captivating, psychological, stylized, sentimental ...
Plot:
ufo, alien, alien abduction, alien encounter, medical experiment, supernatural, alien invasion, kidnapping, space and aliens, officer, loneliness, extraterrestrial ...
Time:
80s, 60s, 20th century, 90s, 50s ...
Place:
usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
Genre: Action, Adventure, Family, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story:
A taxi driver gets more than he bargained for when he picks up two teen runaways. Not only does the pair possess supernatural powers, but they're also trying desperately to escape people who have made them their targets.
Style:
exciting, entertaining, atmospheric, semi serious, sweet ...
Audience:
teens, family outing, kids, girls' night, pre-teens
Plot:
alien, benign alien, children, ufo, spacecraft, disney, teleportation, desert, supernatural ability, young heroes, fight scenes, redemption ...
Time:
future, 21st century
Place:
usa, las vegas, nevada
⇓ similarity ⇓
100%
94K
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: Soviet Union
Duration: 167 min.
Story:
A psychologist is sent to a space station orbiting a planet called Solaris to investigate the death of a doctor and the mental problems of cosmonauts on the station. He soon discovers that the water on the planet is a type of brain which brings out ...
Style:
art house, atmospheric, psychedelic, cerebral, intellectual ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
space, scientist, space travel, russian, space station, immortality, astronaut, dreams, space and aliens, loneliness, hallucination, insanity ...
Time:
70s, future, distant future
Place:
ussr, tokyo, russia
⇓ similarity ⇓
20%
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
Nuclear war in the United States is portrayed in a realistic and believable manner. The story is told through the eyes of a woman who is struggling to take care of her family. The entire movie takes place in a small suburban town outside San ...
Style:
depressing, thought provoking, bleak, disturbing, emotional ...
Plot:
nuclear war, disaster, cold war, apocalypse, post apocalypse, tragedy, distopia, small town, death, end of the world, visceral, life is a bitch ...
Time:
20th century, 80s, future, near future
Place:
california, usa, san francisco
⇓ similarity ⇓
20%
364K
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 97 min.
Story:
With only three weeks left in his three year contract, Sam Bell is getting anxious to finally return to Earth. He is the only occupant of a Moon-based manufacturing facility along with his computer and assistant, GERTY. When he has an accident ...
Style:
psychological, futuristic, bleak, philosophical, twist ending ...
Plot:
isolation, moon, astronaut, loneliness, space travel, space, solitude, cloning, suspense, twists and turns, distopia, dystopic future ...
Time:
future, 21st century
Place:
hawaii, mexico
⇓ similarity ⇓
20%
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