Movies like The Back 80 (2017)
The best movies like The Back 80 (2017) are The Crystal Calls - Making The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019), My Octopus Teacher (2020) and Our Planet: Behind the Scenes (2019). If The Back 80 hooked you with its documentary, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMy Octopus Teacher (2020)7.9/10 from 1,114 votes
- NewestCapturing Bigfoot (2026)Released 2026
The Crystal Calls - Making The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019)
Go behind the scenes with stars, puppeteers and creators as they bring Jim Henson's magical world of Thra back to life in a sweeping fantasy series.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Octopus Teacher (2020)
After years of swimming every day in the freezing ocean at the tip of Africa, Craig Foster meets an unlikely teacher: a young octopus who displays remarkable curiosity. Visiting her den and tracking her movements for months on end he eventually wins the animal’s trust and they develop a never-before-seen bond between human and wild animal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisOur Planet: Behind the Scenes (2019)
Years spent recording footage of creatures from every corner of the globe is bound to produce a bit of drama. Here's a behind-the-scenes look.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisElephant (2020)
Disneynature’s Elephant follows African elephant Shani and her spirited son Jomo as their herd make an epic journey hundreds of miles across the vast Kalahari Desert. Led by their great matriarch, Gaia, the family faces brutal heat, dwindling resources and persistent predators, as they follow in their ancestors’ footsteps on a quest to reach a lush, green paradise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEvil Influencer: The Jodi Hildebrandt Story (2025)
Unravel the case of Utah therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, whose child abuse arrest with parenting YouTuber Ruby Franke exposed a twisted tale of manipulation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Curious Birth of Benjamin Button (2009)
A documentary about the making of David Fincher's 2008 film THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON. Virtually every element in the evolution of the Fincher's film is documented here, from the project's attachment to numerous other directors during the 1990s, to its shoot in 2006 and 2007 in New Orleans, to its complex, CGI-intensive postproduction process.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Mom Jayne (2025)
Through deeply personal interviews with her siblings and an examination of the photographs, letters, and belongings left behind, Mariska assembles a new portrait of her mother Jayne Mansfield, an extraordinary and complex woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisAvatar: The Deep Dive - A Special Edition of 20/20 (2022)
An inside look at one of the most anticipated movie sequels ever with James Cameron and cast.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Crimson Wing: Mystery of the Flamingos (2008)
In the remote and forgotten wilderness of Lake Natron, in northern Tanzania, one of nature's last great mysteries unfolds: the birth, life and death of a million crimson-winged flamingos.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Toxic Love Story (2026)
A string of threatening emails escalates into a revenge plot involving a newly married US marshal and his ex-girlfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAfrican Cats (2011)
African Cats captures the real-life love, humor and determination of the majestic kings of the savanna. The story features Mara, an endearing lion cub who strives to grow up with her mother’s strength, spirit and wisdom; Sita, a fearless cheetah and single mother of five mischievous newborns; and Fang, a proud leader of the pride who must defend his family from a once banished lion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Class of ‘92 (2013)
A detailing of the rise to prominence and global sporting superstardom of six supremely talented young Manchester United football players (David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Phil and Gary Neville). The film covers the period 1992-1999, culminating in Manchester United's European Cup triumph.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like this180° South (2010)
The film follows adventurer Jeff Johnson as he retraces the epic 1968 journey of his heroes Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTo Kill a Tiger (2023)
Ranjit, a farmer in India, takes on the fight of his life when he demands justice for his 13-year-old daughter, the victim of a brutal gang rape. His decision to support his daughter is virtually unheard of, and his journey unprecedented.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBillie Eilish - Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D) (2026)
Captured during Billie Eilish's sold-out world tour, a concert experience from one of the most celebrated and successful artists of her generation, presented in immersive 3D.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Making of The Walking Dead (2010)
The Making of the TV Series The Walking Dead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGrizzly Man (2005)
Follows the story of "Grizzly Man" Timothy Treadwell and what the thirteen summers in a National Park in Alaska were like in his attempt to protect the grizzly bears. The film is full of unique images and a look into the spirit of a man who sacrificed himself for nature.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGhost Elephants (2026)
In Angola's mist-shrouded highlands, three KhoiSan master trackers embark on a spiritual quest to rediscover the legendary "ghost elephants" of Lisima, creatures presumed lost but remembered in ancestral trance, ritual, and memory.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEx Libris: The New York Public Library (2017)
A documentary about how a dominant cultural and demographic institution both sustains their traditional activities and adapts to the digital revolution.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJane (2017)
Drawing from never-before-seen footage that has been tucked away in the National Geographic archives, director Brett Morgen tells the story of Jane Goodall, a woman whose chimpanzee research revolutionized our understanding of the natural world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Million Debt Is Normal, Says My Grandfather (2006)
"In A MILLION IN DEBT IS NORMAL, SAYS MY GRANDFATHER, Gabriele Mathes traces the consequences of the decline of her father’s furniture factory via her family’s Super-8 footage(..)" (Viennale)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
En Rang Par Deux (2020)
The idea for this film comes from the encounter with two African boys who live in Rome, and is based on their music. Tunisian Afif and Senegalese Aliou tell their different stories, talk about friendship, immigration, freedom and, above all, about the fundamental value of making music together.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
CIVIL WAR SURVEILLANCE POEMS (Part 1) (2019)
"CIVIL WAR SURVEILLANCE POEMS (Part 1)" is the first installment in a five-part project of experimental and hybrid-form short films contemplating a second American civil war via lyrical nonfiction, mixing call-in radio, twenty years of verité footage from the filmmaker's archive, and robots. Conceptually speculating from sixteen years in the future (and a protracted civil war), the project is partly nostalgic political travelogue, partly a quest to mine the archive for what went wrong, and part prewar surveillance records, the project deconstructs and builds to a clashing ideology, culminating in an installation of sound sculpture, four-walled video and artifacts.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Capturing Bigfoot (2026)
On October 20, 1967, Roger Patterson captured 60 seconds of film showing a creature walking through the Northern California woods—footage that became the most analyzed and debated in history. Fifty-seven years later, a reel of 16mm film discovered in a safe changes everything, revealing the untold story behind the world's greatest mystery, told for the first time by Patterson's own son and the people who were there.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
The Town That Cried Bigfoot (TBA)
In the bitter winter of 1978, four desperate council members from a small Virginia town hatched a daring Bigfoot hoax to save it from the brink of bankruptcy. But as the money grew, so did the greed-triggering the town's first unsolved murder.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Bigfoot: Man or Beast? (1972)
People go and search for the legendary Bigfoot creature.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Touching the Void (2003)
The true story of Joe Simpson and Simon Yates' disastrous and nearly-fatal mountain climb of 6,344m Siula Grande in the Cordillera Huayhuash in the Peruvian Andes in 1985.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSTILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie (2023)
A short kid from a Canadian army base becomes the international pop culture darling of the 1980s—only to find the course of his life altered by a stunning diagnosis. What happens when an incurable optimist confronts an incurable disease?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAbîmes (1972)
Mountaineers Roberto Sorgato and Ignazio Piussi relive their 1961 adventure: the first winter ascent of the north face of Cima Ovest di Lavaredo, a formidable Dolomite wall reaching 2,973 meters. During this expedition, Sorgato accidentally fell 60 meters while the climbers were preparing their third bivouac and found himself suspended in mid-air by a rope. Through sheer perseverance, ingenuity, and courage, he managed to pull himself back to his partner. The film, shot eleven years later, is a reenactment with the protagonists playing themselves. The difficulties this climb presents, even for the most experienced climbers, are irrefutably highlighted. The film received the Genziana d'Oro award at the Trento Film Festival in 1973.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
King Leopold's Ghost (2006)
The modern history of the Congo, the heart of Africa, is a terrifying tale of appalling brutality: how the greedy and incredibly ruthless King Leopold II of Belgium (1935-1909) turned a vast country into his private estate (1885-1908) and how he plundered the land and raped the bodies and souls of its defenceless inhabitants, causing countless victims; and what exactly is the true impact of this often forgotten story of crime and horror today.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both documentary
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Back 80?
The closest matches to The Back 80 are The Crystal Calls - Making The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019), My Octopus Teacher (2020) and Our Planet: Behind the Scenes (2019). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Back 80?
Start with The Crystal Calls - Making The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019), the closest match to The Back 80.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Back 80?
My Octopus Teacher (2020), rated 7.9/10 by 1,114 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Back 80?
Capturing Bigfoot (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Back 80?
Yes: The Crystal Calls - Making The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019), My Octopus Teacher (2020) and Our Planet: Behind the Scenes (2019).
How are movies similar to The Back 80 chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Back 80, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.