Movies like Bill and the Lions (1912)
The best movies like Bill and the Lions (1912) are The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), The Petrified Forest (1936) and Restraint (2008). If Bill and the Lions hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSecondhand Lions (2003)7.2/10 from 873 votes
- NewestWolf Man (2025)Released 2025
The Ghost and the Darkness (1996)
Sir Robert Beaumont is behind schedule on a railroad in Africa. Enlisting noted engineer John Henry Patterson to right the ship, Beaumont expects results. Everything seems great until the crew discovers the mutilated corpse of the project's foreman, seemingly killed by a lion. After several more attacks, Patterson calls in famed hunter Charles Remington, who has finally met his match in the bloodthirsty lions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Petrified Forest (1936)
Gabby, the waitress in an isolated Arizona diner, dreams of a bigger and better life. One day penniless intellectual Alan drifts into the joint and the two strike up a rapport. Soon enough, notorious killer Duke Mantee takes the diner's inhabitants hostage. Surrounded by miles of desert, the patrons and staff are forced to sit tight with Mantee and his gang overnight.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRestraint (2008)
Two fugitives land in hot water when they take a hostage who poses a threat to their well-being.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisPrey (2007)
An American family on holiday in Africa becomes lost in a game reserve and stalked by vicious killer lions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisHouse on Haunted Hill (1959)
Frederick Loren invites five strangers to the party of a lifetime and offers each of them $10,000 if they can stay the night in the reportedly haunted house. Armed with a gun for protection, each guest arrives in a hearse and will either leave in it much richer…Or dead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOf Unknown Origin (1983)
A man who recently completed rebuilding a townhouse becomes obsessed with a rat infestation until it becomes an interspecies duel.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisSee for Me (2022)
When blind former Olympic skier Sophie Scott cat-sits in a secluded mansion, she gets caught in the crossfire of a home invasion scheme. She must rely on a sighted Army veteran via the See for Me app to help her survive the night.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBorn Free (1966)
At a national park in Kenya, English game warden George Adamson and his wife, Joy, care for three orphaned lion cubs. After the two larger lions are shipped off to a zoo in the Netherlands, the smallest of the three, Elsa, stays with the couple. When Elsa is blamed for causing an elephant stampede in the nearby village, head warden John Kendall demands the young lion either be trained to survive in the wilds of the Serengeti or be sent to a zoo.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSecondhand Lions (2003)
The comedic adventures of an introverted boy left on the doorstep of a pair of reluctant, eccentric great-uncles, whose exotic remembrances stir the boy's spirit and re-ignite the men's lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTwilight's Last Gleaming (1977)
A renegade USAF general, Lawrence Dell, escapes from a military prison and takes over an ICBM silo near Montana and threatens to provoke World War 3 unless the President reveals details of a secret meeting held just after the start of the Vietnam War between Dell and the then President's most trusted advisors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPanic Room (2002)
Trapped in their New York brownstone's panic room, a hidden chamber built as a sanctuary in the event of break-ins, newly divorced Meg Altman and her young daughter Sarah play a deadly game of cat-and-mouse with three intruders - Burnham, Raoul and Junior - during a brutal home invasion. But the room itself is the focal point because what the intruders really want is inside it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMurders in the Zoo (1933)
Dr. Gorman is a millionaire adventurer, traveling the world in search of dangerous game. His bored, beautiful, much younger wife entertains herself in the arms of other men. In turn, Gorman uses his animals to kill these men. When a New York City zoo suggests a fundraising gala, Gorman sees a prime opportunity to dispatch the dashing Roger and anyone else who might cross him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Last Stop in Yuma County (2024)
While awaiting the next fuel truck at a middle-of-nowhere Arizona rest stop, a traveling young knife salesman is thrust into a high-stakes hostage situation by the arrival of two similarly stranded bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty—or cold, hard steel—to protect their bloodstained, ill-gotten fortune.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPet (2016)
A man bumps into an old crush and becomes obsessed. After several failed attempts at winning her over, he kidnaps her and holds her captive underneath the animal shelter where he works.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisBad Samaritan (2018)
A thief makes a disturbing discovery in the house where he breaks in. Later, when he returns to the same house with his partner in crime, things are no longer how he expected.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHail, Caesar! (2016)
When a Hollywood star mysteriously disappears in the middle of filming, the studio sends their fixer to get him back.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisWolf Man (2025)
With his marriage fraying, Blake persuades his wife Charlotte to take a break from the city and visit his remote childhood home in rural Oregon. As they arrive at the farmhouse in the dead of night, they're attacked by an unseen animal and barricade themselves inside the home as the creature prowls the perimeter. But as the night stretches on, Blake begins to behave strangely, transforming into something unrecognizable.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNight of the Living Dead (1990)
A ragtag group barricade themselves in an old Pennsylvania farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls ravaging the Northeast.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wrath of Becky (2023)
Two years after she escaped a violent attack on her family, 16-year-old Becky attempts to rebuild her life in the care of an older woman -- a kindred spirit named Elena. However, when a violent group known as the Noble Men break into their home, attack them and take their beloved dog, Becky must return to her old ways to protect herself and her loved ones.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Bill and the Lions?
The closest matches to Bill and the Lions are The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), The Petrified Forest (1936) and Restraint (2008). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Bill and the Lions?
Start with The Ghost and the Darkness (1996), the closest match to Bill and the Lions.
What is the highest-rated movie like Bill and the Lions?
Secondhand Lions (2003), rated 7.2/10 by 873 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Bill and the Lions?
Wolf Man (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Bill and the Lions chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Bill and the Lions, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.