feelsalike.comSign in
Gravity poster

Movies that feel likeGravity (2013)

Dr Ryan Stone, an engineer on her first space mission, and Matt Kowalski, an astronaut on his final expedition, have to survive in space after they are hit by debris while spacewalking.

If you loved Gravity, the closest films we have are Europa Report (2013), Sunshine (2007) and Upstream Color (2013). All three share Gravity's cerebral feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Salyut-7 (2017).

🍅 96% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.7 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Alfonso Cuaróncerebraltensecontemplativeawehopeful
6 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · Paramount Plus Premium

Can't choose? Answer three questions and get one movie for tonight.

Stream it:Paramount+ ↗
See it on the Mood Map

When is Gravity streaming? →

If Gravity hit the spot, these will too

Europa Report poster
Europa Report
2013 · dir. Sebastián Cordero
🍅 81%★ 6.4science fiction · thriller · dramaNetflix

Cold procedural realism about how space missions go wrong

The difference: Found-footage remove — you watch logs, not live terror

A crew travels to Europa, Jupiter’s icy moon, to investigate signs of life in its subsurface ocean, but disaster cuts them off from Earth, leading to a tense and dangerous exploration.

Sunshine poster
Sunshine
2007 · dir. Danny Boyle
🍅 77%★ 7.2science fiction · thriller

The overwhelming beauty and lethality of space in one frame

The difference: Crew-driven and mystical, chasing existential dread

Fifty years into the future, the sun is dying, and Earth is threatened by arctic temperatures. A team of astronauts is sent to revive the Sun — but the mission fails. Seven years later, a new team is sent to finish the mission as mankind’s last hope.

Upstream Color poster
Upstream Color
2013 · dir. Shane Carruth
🍅 87%★ 6.5drama · science fiction

Loss and rebuilding rendered as pure sensory experience

The difference: Willfully cryptic — you assemble the story yourself

A man and woman are drawn together, entangled in the lifecycle of an ageless organism. Identity becomes an illusion as they struggle to assemble the loose fragments of wrecked lives.

Elysium poster
Elysium
2013 · dir. Neill Blomkamp
🍅 64%★ 6.6science fiction · action · dramaNetflix

Weightless orbital vistas set against a fight to simply survive

The difference: Angry and violent, trading wonder for class-war grit

In the year 2159, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Rhodes, a hard line government official, will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium. That doesn’t stop the people of Earth from trying to get in, by any means they can. When unlucky Max is backed into a corner, he agrees to take on a daunting mission that, if successful, will not only save his life, but could bring equality to these polarized worlds.

The Day the Earth Stood Still poster
The Day the Earth Stood Still
1951 · dir. Robert Wise
🍅 92%★ 7.7science fiction · thriller · drama

Cerebral and tense in the same breath

The difference: Easier on the hope than Gravity

An alien and a robot land on Earth after World War II and tell mankind to be peaceful or face destruction.

Departures poster
Departures
2008 · dir. Yojiro Takita
🍅 80%★ 8drama

Grief handled with grace until living feels possible again

The difference: No space, no peril — a gentle Japanese drama about death rites

Daigo, a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and moves with his wife back to his small hometown where the living is cheaper. Thinking he’s applying for a job at a travel agency he finds he’s being interviewed for work with departures of a more permanent nature – as an undertaker’s assistant.

The Day the Earth Stood Still poster
The Day the Earth Stood Still
2008 · dir. Scott Derrickson
🍅 21%★ 5.5drama · science fiction · thrillerPrime Video

Humans dwarfed by something vast and indifferent to them

The difference: Talky message movie — no physical terror or breathlessness

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 inflicted on their own planet. When barred from speaking to the United Nations, he decides humankind shall be exterminated so the planet can survive.

Deep Impact poster
Deep Impact
1998 · dir. Mimi Leder
🍅 45%★ 6.3action · drama · science fictionParamount+

Disaster met with sorrow and sacrifice rather than swagger

The difference: Earthbound ensemble weepie — the space scenes are a slice

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 astronaut to lead a joint American-Russian crew into space to destroy the comet before impact. Meanwhile, an enterprising reporter uses her smarts to uncover the scoop of the century.

Salyut-7 poster
Salyut-7
2017 · dir. Klim Shipenko
🍅 100%★ 7.2action · drama · adventure

A crippled station, a repair mission and quiet cosmonaut heroism

The difference: Fact-based and steady — engineering suspense over spectacle

USSR, June 1985. After contact with the Salyut 7 space station is lost, cosmonauts Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Viktor Savinykh dock with the empty, frozen craft, and bring her back to life. Based on actual events.

Like Stars on Earth poster
Like Stars on Earth
2007 · dir. Aamir Khan
🍅 93%★ 8.3drama

Both are built on the same subject: hopeful

Ishaan Awasthi is an eight-year-old whose world is filled with wonders that no one else seems to appreciate. Colours, fish, dogs, and kites don't seem important to the adults, who are much more interested in things like homework, marks, and neatness. Ishaan cannot seem to get anything right in class; he is then sent to boarding school, where his life changes forever.

The Wandering Earth poster
The Wandering Earth
2019 · dir. Frant Gwo
🍅 70%★ 5.9science fiction · action · dramaRent or buy

The same preoccupation in both: space station

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

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 Solar System using gigantic engines, moving it to a new home located four light years away, an epic journey that will last thousands of years.

Arrival poster
Arrival
2016 · dir. Denis Villeneuve
🍅 94%★ 7.9drama · science fiction · mysteryParamount+Peacock

A woman carrying private loss into an encounter with the immense

The difference: Cerebral and slow-burning — the danger is never physical

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 the mood for more cerebral?

all cerebral movies →

The best-reviewed films that share Gravity’s defining feeling.