40 Movies Like Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) You Need to Watch Next
After an encounter with UFOs, an electricity linesman feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen.
Updated June 2026
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If you loved Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) by Steven Spielberg, here are 40 movies that share its content DNA. iRankMovies measures real similarity using cosine similarity across eight weighted dimensions — genre (50%), tone (12%), pace (10%), structure (8%), era (7%), theme (6%), audience (4%) and narrative perspective (3%) — not just the rating. The closest matches according to our analysis are Spaceman, Under the Skin, The Day the Earth Stood Still. Every title is ranked by how closely it matches and backed by the iRank Score, a composite of IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDb across 12,000+ analysed titles.
40 Movies Similar to Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Spaceman
2024 · Johan Renck
Six months into a solo mission, a lonely astronaut confronts the cracks in his marriage with help from a mysterious creature he discovers on his ship.
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
Under the Skin
2014 · Jonathan Glazer
A seductive stranger prowls the streets of Glasgow in search of prey: unsuspecting men who fall under her spell.
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
The Day the Earth Stood Still
2008 · Scott Derrickson
A representative of an alien race that went through drastic evolution to survive its own climate change, Klaatu comes to Earth to assess whether humanity can prevent the environmental damage they have
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
K-PAX
2001 · Iain Softley
Prot is a patient at a mental hospital who claims to be from a far away planet. His psychiatrist tries to help him, only to begin to doubt his own explanations.
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
Arrival
2016 · Denis Villeneuve
Taking place after alien crafts land around the world, an expert linguist is recruited by the military to determine whether they come in peace or are a threat.
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
Stalker
1979 · Andrei Tarkovsky
Near a gray and unnamed city is the Zone, a place guarded by barbed wire and soldiers, and where the normal laws of physics are victim to frequent anomalies. A stalker guides two men into the Zone, sp
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
PK
2014 · Rajkumar Hirani
A stranger in the city asks questions no one has asked before. Known only by his initials, the man's innocent questions and childlike curiosity take him on a journey of love, laughter and letting go.
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
The Man from Earth
2007 · Richard Schenkman
A departing professor gathers his closest colleagues for an intimate farewell, but the night takes an unexpected turn when he shares a stunning secret about his past. As the conversation unfolds, skep
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
The Iron Giant
1999 · Brad Bird
In the small town of Rockwell, Maine in October 1957, a giant metal machine befriends a nine-year-old boy and ultimately finds its humanity by unselfishly saving people from their own fears and prejud
In common: Drama
CJ7
2008 · Stephen Chow
A poor construction worker, who struggles to keep his son in private school, mistakes an orb he finds in a junkjard for a toy which proves to be much, much more once the young boy starts to play with
In common: Drama
Fire in the Sky
1993 · Rob Lieberman
After clearing brush for the government, a group of men return to town claiming their friend was abducted. Despite no apparent motive or evidence of foul play, no-one believes their story and his disa
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo
2012 · Hideaki Anno
Fourteen years after Third Impact, Shinji Ikari awakens to a world he does not remember. He hasn't aged. Much of Earth is laid in ruins, NERV has been dismantled, and people who he once protected have
In common: Drama
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
1982 · Steven Spielberg
An alien is left behind on Earth and saved by the 10-year-old Elliott who decides to keep him hidden in his home. While a task force hunts for the extra-terrestrial, Elliott, his brother, and his litt
In common: Science Fiction
Battle: Los Angeles
2011 · Jonathan Liebesman
When once distant UFOs become a terrifying threat and an alien invasion force begins attacking Earths major costal and riverside cities, a U.S Marine staff sergeant and his team are sent into battle o
In common: Science Fiction
Outlander
2008 · Howard McCain
During the reign of the Vikings, a man from another world crash-lands on Earth, bringing with him an alien predator. The man must fuse his advanced technology with the weaponry of the vikings to fight
In common: Science Fiction
Lilo & Stitch
2025 · Dean Fleischer Camp
The wildly funny and touching story of a lonely Hawaiian girl and the fugitive alien who helps to mend her broken family.
In common: Science Fiction
Ex Machina
2015 · Alex Garland
Caleb, a coder at the world's largest internet company, wins a competition to spend a week at a private mountain retreat belonging to Nathan, the reclusive CEO of the company. But when Caleb arrives a
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
Okja
2017 · Bong Joon Ho
A young girl named Mija risks everything to prevent a powerful, multi-national company from kidnapping her best friend - a massive animal named Okja.
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
Nope
2022 · Jordan Peele
Residents in a lonely gulch of inland California bear witness to an uncanny, chilling discovery.
In common: Science Fiction
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
2001 · Steven Spielberg
David, a robotic boy—the first of his kind programmed to love—is adopted as a test case by a Cybertronics employee and his wife. Though he gradually becomes their child, a series of unexpected circums
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
The Great Flood
2025 · Kim Byung-woo
When a raging flood traps a researcher and her young son, a call to a crucial mission puts their escape — and the future of humanity — on the line.
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
Invasion
2020 · Fyodor Bondarchuk
Two years after the fall of the alien ship, the life of a young woman from Moscow has been changed forever. Her growing powers are now at the focus of both human and celestial investigation: an alien
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
Deep Impact
1998 · Mimi Leder
A seven-mile-wide space rock is hurtling toward Earth, threatening to obliterate the planet. Now, it's up to the president of the United States to save the world. He appoints a tough-as-nails veteran
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
The Platform
2019 · Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia
A slab of food descends down a vertical facility. The residents above eat heartily, leaving those below starving and desperate. A rebellion is imminent.
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
Downsizing
2017 · Alexander Payne
A kindly occupational therapist undergoes a new procedure to be shrunken to four inches tall so that he and his wife can help save the planet and afford a nice lifestyle at the same time.
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
The Circle
2017 · James Ponsoldt
A young tech worker takes a job at a powerful Internet corporation, quickly rises up the company's ranks, and soon finds herself in a perilous situation concerning privacy, surveillance and freedom. S
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
Replicas
2018 · Jeffrey Nachmanoff
A scientist becomes obsessed with returning his family to normalcy after a terrible accident.
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
2004 · Michel Gondry
Joel Barish, heartbroken that his girlfriend underwent a procedure to erase him from her memory, decides to do the same. However, as he watches his memories of her fade away, he realises that he still
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
The Prestige
2006 · Christopher Nolan
A mysterious story of two magicians whose intense rivalry leads them on a life-long battle for supremacy -- full of obsession, deceit and jealousy with dangerous and deadly consequences.
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
Godzilla
2014 · Gareth Edwards
Ford Brody, a Navy bomb expert, has just reunited with his family in San Francisco when he is forced to go to Japan to help his estranged father, Joe. Soon, both men are swept up in an escalating cris
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
Her
2013 · Spike Jonze
In the not so distant future, Theodore, a lonely writer, purchases a newly developed operating system designed to meet the user's every need. To Theodore's surprise, a romantic relationship develops b
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
The Wandering Earth
2019 · Frant Gwo
When the Sun begins to expand in such a way that it will inevitably engulf and destroy the Earth in a hundred years, united mankind finds a way to avoid extinction by propelling the planet out of the
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
Contact
1997 · Robert Zemeckis
A radio astronomer receives the first extraterrestrial radio signal ever picked up on Earth. As the world powers scramble to decipher the message and decide upon a course of action, she must make some
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
Contagion
2011 · Steven Soderbergh
As an epidemic of a lethal airborne virus - that kills within days - rapidly grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
Don't Look Up
2021 · Adam McKay
Two astronomers go on a media tour to warn humankind of a planet-killing comet hurtling toward Earth. The response from a distracted world: Meh.
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
Cloud Atlas
2012 · Lilly Wachowski
A set of six nested stories spanning time between the 19th century and a distant post-apocalyptic future. Cloud Atlas explores how the actions and consequences of individual lives impact one another t
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
The Giver
2014 · Phillip Noyce
In a seemingly perfect community, without war, pain, suffering, differences or choice, a young boy is chosen to learn from an elderly man about the true pain and pleasure of the "real" world.
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
A Quiet Place
2018 · John Krasinski
A family is forced to live in silence while hiding from creatures that hunt by sound.
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
The Host
2006 · Bong Joon Ho
A teenage girl is captured by a giant mutated squid-like creature that appears from Seoul's Han River after toxic waste was dumped in it, prompting her family into a frantic search for her.
In common: Drama · Science Fiction
District 9
2009 · Neill Blomkamp
Thirty years ago, aliens arrive on Earth. Not to conquer or give aid, but to find refuge from their dying planet. Separated from humans in a South African area called District 9, the aliens are manage
In common: Science Fiction