Movies like Lost Horizon (1937)
The best movies like Lost Horizon (1937) are Sands of the Kalahari (1965), Scott of the Antarctic (1948) and The African Queen (1952). If Lost Horizon hooked you with its adventure and fantasy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)8.0/10 from 1,422 votes
- NewestThe Primevals (2023)Released 2023
Sands of the Kalahari (1965)
A diverse group of individuals struggle to survive in the Kalahari desert after their passenger plane crashes.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure
Scott of the Antarctic (1948)
The true story of the British explorer Robert Falcon Scott and his ill-fated expedition to try to be the first man to discover the South Pole - only to find that the murderously cold weather and a rival team of Norwegian explorers conspire against him
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe African Queen (1952)
At the start of the First World War, in the middle of Africa’s nowhere, a gin soaked riverboat captain is persuaded by a strong-willed missionary to go down river and face-off a German warship.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Rains of Ranchipur (1955)
India. The spoilt and stubborn Edwina Esketh, comes to a small town with her husband. She falls in love with an indian doctor, Dr. Safti. She also meets an old friend of hers, the alcoholic Tom Ransome. An awful earthquake is followed by days of rain.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & romance
The Lost World (1925)
The first film adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novel about a land where prehistoric creatures still roam.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Two jobless Americans convince a prospector to travel to the mountains of Mexico with them in search of gold. But the hostile wilderness, local bandits, and greed all get in the way of their journey.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Thief of Bagdad (1940)
When Prince Ahmad is blinded and cast out of Bagdad by the nefarious Jaffar, he joins forces with the scrappy thief Abu to win back his royal place, as well as the heart of a beautiful princess.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Naked Prey (1965)
A group of men are on safari. One of the party refuses to give a gift to a tribe they encounter. The tribe is offended, seizes the party, and one-by-one, kills all but one of the safari members in various creative and horrifying ways. The last surviving member is given "The Lion's Chance" by the tribal leader to be hunted down by a party of tribal warriors.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Man Who Would Be King (1975)
Tired of life as soldiers, Peachy Carnehan and Danny Dravot travel to the isolated land of Kafiristan, where they are ultimately embraced by the people and revered as rulers. After a series of misunderstandings, the natives come to believe that Dravot is a god, but he and Carnehan can't keep up their deception forever.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRobinson Crusoe (1954)
The titular adventurer, after defying his parents to go to sea, survives a shipwreck and becomes a castaway on a deserted island for nearly thirty years, learning to build a new life from scratch, discovering companionship with a native man he names Friday, and eventually returning to civilisation a changed man, finding wealth and new challenges.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAround the World in 80 Days (1956)
Based on the famous book by Jules Verne the movie follows Phileas Fogg on his journey around the world. Which has to be completed within 80 days, a very short period for those days.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGreen Mansions (1959)
A young Venezuelan idealist flees his native land to escape a revolution. Hoping to find peace, he goes to the mountains and the forests of the Amazon. There he encounters Rima, the Bird Girl, an orphan living a life of nature, who is feared by a local jungle tribe.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & romance
Lost Horizon (1973)
While escaping war-torn China, a group of Europeans crash in the Himalayas, where they are rescued and taken to the mysterious Valley of the Blue Moon, Shangri-La.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)
Writer Harry Street reflects on his life as he lies dying from an infection while on safari in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisShe (1935)
Leo Vincey, told by his dying uncle of a lost land visited 500 years ago by his ancestor, heads out with family friend Horace Holly to try to discover the land and its secret of immortality, said to be contained within a mystic fire. Picking up Tanya, a guide's daughter, in the frozen Russian arctic, they stumble upon Kor, revealed to be a hidden civilization ruled over by an immortal queen, called She, who believes Vincey is her long-lost lover John Vincey, Leo's ancestor.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisKing Solomon's Mines (1950)
Fortune hunter Allan Quatermain teams up with a resourceful woman to help her find her missing husband lost in the wilds of 1900s Africa while being pursued by hostile tribes and a rival German explorer.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJungle Book (1942)
Mowgli, lost in the jungle when a toddler, raised by wolves, years later happens upon his human village and reconnects with its inhabitants, including his widowed mother. Continuing to maintain a relationship with the jungle, adventures follow.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & fantasy
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: Fans watch both · both adventure & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Naked Jungle (1954)
The Leiningen South American cocoa plantation is threatened by a 2-mile-wide, 20-mile-long column of army ants.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Matter of Life and Death (1946)
A British wartime aviator who cheats death must argue for his life before a celestial court, hoping to prolong his fledgling romance with an American girl.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAdventure (1945)
A rough and tumble man of the sea falls for a meek librarian.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & romance
Seven Years in Tibet (1997)
Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer journeys to the Himalayas without his family to head an expedition in 1939. But when World War II breaks out, the arrogant Harrer falls into Allied forces' hands as a prisoner of war. He escapes with a fellow detainee and makes his way to Lhasa, Tibet, where he meets the 14-year-old Dalai Lama, whose friendship ultimately transforms his outlook on life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTarzan the Ape Man (1932)
James Parker and Harry Holt are on an expedition in Africa in search of the elephant burial grounds that will provide enough ivory to make them rich. Parker's beautiful daughter Jane arrives unexpectedly to join them. Jane is terrified when Tarzan and his ape friends abduct her, but when she returns to her father's expedition she has second thoughts about leaving Tarzan.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Indian Tomb (1959)
Seetha and Harold Berger are rescued from the desert by a caravan and brought to a small village. However, the greedy owner of the house where they are lodged betrays the law of hospitality and reveals their location to Prince Ramigani. The couple tries to escape but is hunted and captured by Ramigani and his men. Meanwhile Irene Rhode and her husband Walter Rhode suspect that Maharaja Chandra is not telling the truth about Harold's destiny. The conspirator Ramigani forces Seetha to accept to get married with Chandra to provoke the wrath of the priests and get the alliance of Prince Padhu and his army. In the meantime, Harold succeeds in escaping from the dungeon and seeks out Seetha to save her.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe River (1951)
Director Jean Renoir’s entrancing first color feature—shot entirely on location in India—is a visual tour de force. Based on the novel by Rumer Godden, the film eloquently contrasts the growing pains of three young women with the immutability of the Bengal river around which their daily lives unfold. Enriched by Renoir’s subtle understanding and appreciation for India and its people, The River gracefully explores the fragile connections between transitory emotions and everlasting creation.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOrpheus (1950)
A famous poet in postwar Paris, scorned by the Left Bank youth, is in love with both his wife Eurydice and a mysterious princess. Seeking inspiration, the poet becomes obsessed and follows the princess from the world of the living to the land of the dead.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Tiger of Eschnapur (1959)
In Eschnapur, a German architect saves the life of the Maharajah's favorite temple dancer and becomes Maharajah's friend but their friendship is tested when the architect and the dancer fall in-love, triggering the Maharajah's vengeful ire.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShe (1965)
The lost city of Kuma is ruled by the cruel, arrogant, beautiful queen, Ayesha, gifted with eternal life. She lures Leo Vincey into her world, seeing in him the reincarnation of the lover she long ago murdered in a fit of violent jealousy. Against all advice Leo is determined to stay and Ayesha persuades him to bathe in the flame of eternal youth... with disastrous consequences.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both adventure & fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisParadise (1982)
After their caravan is attacked and their respective families butchered by Arab marauders, teenagers David and Sarah flee across the desert. But the desert is filled with danger from the elements, animals and the unwholesome appetite of the Jackal, a sheik who wants Sarah for himself. However, the desert also holds temptation and love. David and Sarah hide out in an oasis and build a life for themselves, discovering each other in new ways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Primevals (2023)
Deep in the Himalayas, a group of sherpas kills a gigantic humanoid creature. Convinced that it is the legendary Yeti, Dr. Claire Collier organizes an expedition with her former student Matt Connor and hunter Rondo Montana, among others, to search for more specimens. But what awaits them is something that none of them could have imagined. A colorful fusion of real image and stop-motion that is reminiscent of fantastic films from the 1980s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & adventure
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Lost Horizon?
The closest matches to Lost Horizon are Sands of the Kalahari (1965), Scott of the Antarctic (1948) and The African Queen (1952). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Lost Horizon?
People who watched Lost Horizon most often go on to Sands of the Kalahari (1965), Scott of the Antarctic (1948) and The African Queen (1952).
What is the highest-rated movie like Lost Horizon?
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), rated 8.0/10 by 1,422 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Lost Horizon?
The Primevals (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Lost Horizon?
Yes: Sands of the Kalahari (1965), Scott of the Antarctic (1948) and The African Queen (1952).
How are movies similar to Lost Horizon chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Lost Horizon, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.