Movies like The Ivory Ape (1980)
The best movies like The Ivory Ape (1980) are Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding (2003), Mighty Joe Young (1949) and Surviving the Game (1994). If The Ivory Ape hooked you with its action and adventure, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedKingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)7.0/10 from 4,569 votes
- Newest40 Acres (2025)Released 2025
Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding (2003)
Mitch Buchannon, believed to have died in a boating accident survived and only has amnesia, he has been recovering in a Los Angeles hospital. His new fiancée, Allison Ford, resembles his old lover, Lt. Stephanie Holden who died years ago.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMighty Joe Young (1949)
A young woman, Jill Young, grew up on her father's ranch in Africa, raising a large gorilla named Joe from an infant. Years later, she brings him to Hollywood to become a star.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSurviving the Game (1994)
A homeless man is hired as a survival guide for a group of wealthy businessmen on a hunting trip in the mountains, unaware that they are killers who hunt humans for sport, and that he is their new prey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJack Hunter and the Star of Heaven (2009)
Jack Hunter pursues his arch nemesis Littman across ancient Europe, intent on thwarting his attempt to salvage a deadly artefact.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJungle Run (2021)
A brother and sister's journey into the jungle to find their missing father.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisKing Kong (2005)
In 1933 New York, an overly ambitious movie producer coerces his cast and hired ship crew to travel to mysterious Skull Island, where they encounter Kong, a giant ape who is immediately smitten with the leading lady.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMighty Joe Young (1998)
As a child living in Africa, Jill Young saw her mother killed while protecting wild gorillas from poachers led by Andrei Strasser. Now an adult, Jill cares for an orphaned gorilla named Joe -- who, due to a genetic anomaly, is 15 feet tall. When Gregg O'Hara arrives from California and sees the animal, he convinces Jill that Joe would be safest at his wildlife refuge. But Strasser follows them to the U.S., intent on capturing Joe for himself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)
Several generations following Caesar's reign, apes – now the dominant species – live harmoniously while humans have been reduced to living in the shadows. As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all he's known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRampage (2018)
Primatologist Davis Okoye shares an unshakable bond with George, the extraordinarily intelligent, silverback gorilla who has been in his care since birth. But a rogue genetic experiment gone awry mutates this gentle ape into a raging creature of enormous size. To make matters worse, it’s soon discovered there are other similarly altered animals. As these newly created alpha predators tear across North America, destroying everything in their path, Okoye teams with a discredited genetic engineer to secure an antidote, fighting his way through an ever-changing battlefield, not only to halt a global catastrophe but to save the fearsome creature that was once his friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lion Guard: Return of the Roar (2016)
Set in the African savannah, the film follows Kion as he assembles the members of the 'Lion Guard'. Throughout the film, the diverse team of young animals will learn how to utilize each of their unique abilities to solve problems and accomplish tasks to maintain balance within the Circle of Life, while also introducing viewers to the vast array of animals that populate the prodigious African landscape.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTarzan and His Mate (1934)
Harry Holt returns to Africa with his friend Martin Arlington to head up a large ivory expedition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Double (2011)
The mysterious murder of a US senator bearing the distinctive trademark of the legendary Soviet assassin 'Cassius', forces retired CIA operative, Paul Shepherson to team with rookie FBI agent, Ben Geary to solve the crime. Having spent his career chasing Cassius, Shepherdson is convinced his nemesis is long dead, but is pushed to take on the case by his former supervisor, Tom Highland. Geary, who wrote his Master's thesis on Shepherdson's pursuit of the Soviet killer, is certain that Cassius has resurfaced.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Legend of Tarzan (2016)
Tarzan, having acclimated to life in London, is called back to his former home in the jungle to investigate the activities at a mining encampment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisSilverton Siege (2022)
After a failed sabotage mission, a trio of anti-apartheid freedom fighters ends up in a tense bank hostage situation. Based on a true story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTarzan Escapes (1936)
White hunter Captain Fry tries to take Tarzan back to civilization, caged for public display. He arrives in the jungle with Jane's cousins, Eric and Rita, who want Jane's help in claiming a fortune left her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhite Hunter, Black Heart (1990)
Renowned filmmaker John Wilson travels to Africa to direct a new movie, but constantly leaves to hunt elephants and other game, to the dismay of his cast and crew. He eventually becomes obsessed with hunting down and killing one specific elephant.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this40 Acres (2025)
Hailey Freeman and her family are the last descendants of African American farmers who settled in rural Canada after the Civil War. In a famine-decimated near future, they now struggle to safeguard their farm, as they make one last stand against a vicious militia hell-bent on taking their 40 Acres.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Warrior (2001)
In feudal India, a warrior who renounces his role as the longtime enforcer to a local lord becomes the prey in a murderous hunt through the Himalayan mountains.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018)
A human child raised by wolves, must face off against a menacing tiger named Shere Khan, as well as his own origins.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wind in the Willows (1983)
One spring, Mole decides that he can ignore the spring cleaning for a little longer, and begins a series of adventures with his new friend Rat. They go for a picnic on the riverbank, on a caravan expedition with Toad, until Toad switches allegiance to his new car and his reckless driving makes Mole and Rat search out Badger for help in curbing Toad's profligate habits. But Toad gets away from them and gets a 20-year sentence from the magistrate for theft, reckless driving, and Gross Impertinence. While Toad works his wiles on the jailer's daughter and escapes jail dressed as a washer woman, Badger tries to guard Toad Hall from the machinations of the Weasels and is badly beaten. And it requires a plan of attack and all four comrades to regain Toad Hall.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisZamba (1949)
Jenny and her six-year-old son, Tommy, are flying over the Belgian Congo when they are forced to bail out and become separated. Jenny lands in a dense jungle and is rescued by a safari headed by two wild-animal collectors, but Tommy is not found. He has amnesia and is lost, but is adopted by Zamba, a huge gorilla. He lives happily with his new family. Jenny comes back with a searching party, and Zamba, the gorilla mother, is determined to protect Tommy from his real mother.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & adventure
Empire of The Apes (2013)
In a distant galaxy three escaped female convicts crash land on a primitive world inhabited by a race of warlike apes. They fight for survival as the humanoid apes fight for their possession, body and soul. A daring escape is their only way out. Hot on their heels are the blood lusting gorillas and a prison warden bent on their return to the prison ship they escaped from. Treachery, alliances and battle await the fighting factions. Who will survive on a planet where apes rule and humans are only breeding stock.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & adventure
Battles of Chief Pontiac (1952)
In pre-Revolutionary America, the efforts of a Colonial officer trying to broker a peace deal between Indian chief Pontiac and British and American settlers are threatened by the commander of a Hessian mercenary unit who embarks on a campaign of extermination against the Indians.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Flash Gordon: The Greatest Adventure of All (1982)
Flash Gordon, Dale Arden and Dr. Hans Zarkov travel to the planet Mongo to fight the evil emperor Ming the Merciless.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & adventure
Lorraine of the Lions (1925)
A ship carrying a touring circus troupe sinks at sea, and Lorraine, a young girl, is washed up on a deserted island. Her only companion is a gorilla from the circus, Bimi, who raises her as its own. Several years later Lorraine's wealthy grandfather, who has hired a psychic to help find her, is led by the psychic to Lorraine's island, and she and Bimi are taken back to "civiliation" in San Francisco, but things don't work out exactly as planned.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & drama
Mogambo (1953)
On a Kenyan safari, white hunter Victor Marswell has a love triangle with seductive American socialite Eloise Kelly and anthropologist Donald Nordley's cheating wife Linda.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStark Mad (1929)
An expedition sets out through the jungle to find a missing explorer, but stumbles upon an ancient Mayan temple that houses a giant ape.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & action
Gorillas in the Mist (1988)
The story of Dian Fossey, a scientist who came to Africa to study the vanishing mountain gorillas, and later fought to protect them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisInstinct (1999)
In a prison for the criminally insane, deranged anthropologist Ethan Powell is set to be examined by a bright young psychiatrist, Theo Caulder. Driven by ambition and a hunger for the truth, Caulder will eventually risk everything—even put his very life on the line—in a harrowing attempt to understand the bizarre actions of this madman.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEmanuelle and the Last Cannibals (1977)
Intrepid photographer Emanuelle is taken deep into the Amazonian jungle to search for a cannibalistic tribe long believed to be extinct.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Ivory Ape?
The closest matches to The Ivory Ape are Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding (2003), Mighty Joe Young (1949) and Surviving the Game (1994). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Ivory Ape?
Start with Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding (2003), the closest match to The Ivory Ape.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Ivory Ape?
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024), rated 7.0/10 by 4,569 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Ivory Ape?
40 Acres (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Ivory Ape?
Yes: Baywatch: Hawaiian Wedding (2003), Mighty Joe Young (1949) and Surviving the Game (1994).
How are movies similar to The Ivory Ape chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Ivory Ape, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.