Movies like The Aviator (2004)
The best movies like The Aviator (2004) are The Spirit of St. Louis (1957), Flyboys (2006) and The Tarnished Angels (1957). If The Aviator hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedTop Gun: Maverick (2022)8.2/10 from 11,882 votes
- NewestThe Boys in the Boat (2023)Released 2023
The Spirit of St. Louis (1957)
In 1927, Charles Lindbergh struggles to finance and design an airplane that will make his New York to Paris flight the first solo transatlantic crossing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlyboys (2006)
The adventures of the Lafayette Escadrille, young Americans who volunteered for the French military before the U.S. entered World War I, and became the country's first fighter pilots.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Tarnished Angels (1957)
In the 1930s, once-great World War I pilot Roger Shumann performs as a daredevil barnstorming pilot at aerial stunt shows while his wife, LaVerne, works as a parachutist. When newspaper reporter Burke Devlin arrives to do a story on the Shumanns’ act, he quickly falls in love with the beautiful--and neglected--LaVerne.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOn a Wing and a Prayer (2023)
After their pilot dies unexpectedly mid-flight, passenger Doug White must safely land a plane and save his entire family from insurmountable danger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisSully (2016)
On 15 January 2009, the world witnessed the 'Miracle on the Hudson' when Captain 'Sully' Sullenberger glided his disabled plane onto the Hudson River, saving the lives of all 155 souls aboard. However, even as Sully was being heralded by the public and the media for his unprecedented feat of aviation skill, an investigation was unfolding that threatened to destroy his reputation and career.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Right Stuff (1983)
At the dawn of the Space Race, seven test pilots set out to become the first American astronauts to enter space. However, the road to making history brings momentous challenges.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe High and the Mighty (1954)
Dan Roman is a veteran pilot haunted by a tragic past. Now relegated to second-in-command cockpit assignments he finds himself on a routine Honolulu-to-San Francisco flight that takes a terrifying turn when disaster strikes high above the Pacific Ocean after the point of no return.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisChronicle (2012)
Three high school students make an incredible discovery, leading to their developing uncanny powers beyond their understanding. As they learn to control their abilities and use them to their advantage, their lives start to spin out of control, and their darker sides begin to take over.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRed Tails (2012)
The story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American pilots to fly in a combat squadron during World War II.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDon't Bother to Knock (1952)
An airline pilot pursues a live-in babysitter at his hotel and gradually realizes she is not as stable as perhaps she should be.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChaplin (1992)
An aged Charlie Chaplin narrates his life to his autobiography's editor, including his rise to wealth and comedic fame from poverty, his turbulent personal life and his run-ins with the FBI.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Perfect Storm (2000)
In October 1991, a confluence of weather conditions combined to form a killer storm in the North Atlantic. Caught in the storm was the sword-fishing boat Andrea Gail.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTop Gun: Maverick (2022)
After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell finds himself training a detachment of TOP GUN graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisFreud's Last Session (2023)
On the eve of the Second World War, two of the greatest minds of the twentieth century, C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud converge for their own personal battle over the existence of God. The film interweaves the lives of Freud and Lewis, past, present, and through fantasy, bursting from the confines of Freud’s study on a dynamic journey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Boys in the Boat (2023)
The triumphant underdog story of the University of Washington men's rowing team, who stunned the world by competing at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRichard Jewell (2019)
Richard Jewell thinks quick, works fast, and saves hundreds, perhaps thousands, of lives after a domestic terrorist plants several pipe bombs and they explode during a concert, only to be falsely suspected of the crime by sloppy FBI work and sensational media coverage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Cat's Meow (2002)
Semi-true story of the Hollywood murder that occurred at a star-studded gathering aboard William Randolph Hearst's yacht in 1924.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisCradle Will Rock (1999)
A true story of politics and art in the 1930s USA, centered around a leftist musical drama and attempts to stop its production.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn the Bedroom (2001)
Summertime on the coast of Maine, "In the Bedroom" centers on the inner dynamics of a family in transition. Matt Fowler is a doctor practicing in his native Maine and is married to New York born Ruth Fowler, a music teacher. His son is involved in a love affair with a local single mother. As the beauty of Maine's brief and fleeting summer comes to an end, these characters find themselves in the midst of unimaginable tragedy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJulia (1977)
At the behest of an old and dear friend, playwright Lillian Hellman undertakes a dangerous mission to smuggle funds into Nazi Germany.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisParmanu: The Story of Pokhran (2018)
A look at India's second confidential nuclear test series at Pokhran lead by Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, during the time of PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee's tenure.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIron Eagle II (1988)
Chappy Sinclair is called to gather together a mixed Soviet/U.S. strike force that will perform a surgical strike on a massively defended nuclear missile site in the Middle East. Chappy finds that getting the Soviet and U.S. Pilots to cooperate is only the most minor of his problems as he discovers someone in the Pentagon is actively sabotaging his mission.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Dark Horse (2014)
One-time Maori speed-chess champ, Genesis Potini, lives with a bi-polar disorder and must overcome prejudice and violence in the battle to save his struggling chess club, his family and ultimately, himself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLilya 4-ever (2002)
In a struggling post-Soviet community, Lilya a teenage girl is abandoned when her mother moves to the United States with her boyfriend. Facing neglect and poverty, she meets Andrei, who offers her a job in Sweden, giving her hope for a better life — and a journey that will change everything.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLove in the Afternoon (1972)
Successful Parisian lawyer Frédéric is happily married to schoolteacher Hélène. Though he daydreams of affairs with other women, he doesn't come close to acting on such thoughts until he runs into Chloé, a beautiful old acquaintance. Tempted by the vibrant Chloé, Frédéric is torn between impulsive lust and his love for Hélène.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOnce Upon a Time in… Hollywood (2019)
Los Angeles, 1969. TV star Rick Dalton, a struggling actor specializing in westerns, and stuntman Cliff Booth, his best friend, try to survive in a constantly changing movie industry. Dalton is the neighbor of the young and promising actress and model Sharon Tate, who has just married the prestigious Polish director Roman Polanski…
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShinran, Part II (1960)
Continuation of the biographical film about the monk Shinran, based on the novel by Eiji Yoshikawa. Shinran, born of the fading aristocratic class, was placed in a monastary on Mount Hiei when still a child. He did not come down for twenty years, when his wanderings begin as he spreads his ideas for achieving enlightenment through the Pure Land sutra. Because his teachings contradict the powerful Tendai sect, he comes to grief with the government, his followers persecuted, himself exiled to far coastal Echigo where he married & began raising a family but soonafter was wandering & teaching again. He lived to be ninety.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Animal Attraction II: Passion's Desire (1999)
Unable to control his carnal desires, handsome and successful Mark gets caught in a dicey situation in this slick erotic thriller helmed by Mike Sedan. Juggling relationships with three beautiful women -- Cindy , Donna, and Jill -- the young lothario can't decide between them but crosses into dangerous territory when he adds more ladies to his harem.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Other Boleyn Girl (2008)
A sumptuous and sensual tale of intrigue, romance and betrayal set against the backdrop of a defining moment in European history: two beautiful sisters, Anne and Mary Boleyn, driven by their family's blind ambition, compete for the love of the handsome and passionate King Henry VIII.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMatar al Nani (1988)
The story of El Nani, a juvenile delinquent from the years of the Transition, whose disappearance in a police station after an interrogation has not yet been clarified, putting the accent on the denunciation of police brutality and speculating on the outcome of the story. A story that mixes political denunciation and social chronicle of an era.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Aviator?
The closest matches to The Aviator are The Spirit of St. Louis (1957), Flyboys (2006) and The Tarnished Angels (1957). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Aviator?
Start with The Spirit of St. Louis (1957), the closest match to The Aviator.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Aviator?
Top Gun: Maverick (2022), rated 8.2/10 by 11,882 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Aviator?
The Boys in the Boat (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Aviator?
Yes: The Spirit of St. Louis (1957), Flyboys (2006) and The Tarnished Angels (1957).
How are movies similar to The Aviator chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Aviator, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.