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Movies that feel like Zathura: A Space Adventure (2005)

If you loved Zathura: A Space Adventure, the closest films we have are Treasure Planet (2002), Lightyear (2022) and Explorers (1985). All three share Zathura: A Space Adventure's cerebral and epic feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 9 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on Amazon Prime Video, Paramount Plus Premium and Peacock Premium and others, checked against today's data.

After their father is called into work, two young boys, Walter and Danny, are left in the care of their teenage sister, Lisa, and told they must stay inside. Walter and Danny, who anticipate a boring day, are shocked when they begin playing Zathura, a space-themed board game, which they realize has mystical powers when their house is shot into space. With the help of an astronaut, the boys attempt to return home.

πŸ… 77% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 6.3 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Jon Favreaucerebralepicwarmcozyawe
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If Zathura: A Space Adventure hit the spot, these will too

Treasure Planet poster
Treasure Planet
2002 Β· dir. Ron Clements
πŸ… 68%β˜… 7.2science fiction Β· adventure Β· animation

The same two preoccupations: alien, and space

The difference: Played as animation first

When space galleon cabin boy Jim Hawkins discovers a map to an intergalactic "loot of a thousand worlds," a cyborg cook named John Silver teaches him to battle supernovas and space storms on their journey to find treasure.

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Lightyear poster
Lightyear
2022 Β· dir. Angus MacLane
πŸ… 74%β˜… 6.1animation Β· science fiction Β· family

Common ground: space travel

Legendary Space Ranger Buzz Lightyear embarks on an intergalactic adventure alongside a group of ambitious recruits and his robot companion Sox.

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Explorers poster
Explorers
1985 Β· dir. Joe Dante
β˜… 6.4science fiction Β· adventure Β· family

One thread runs through both: space travel

The difference: 20 years apart, and the 1980s show

Middle schooler Ben spends his free time watching sci-fi films, playing video games and reading comic books. Surprisingly, his affinity for all things fantastical yields a real result – when he has a vivid dream about technology, his prodigy best friend Wolfgang manages to create a working spacecraft. Joined by their buddy Darren, the boys take off into outer space and encounter some very odd extraterrestrial life.

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Monsters vs Aliens poster
Monsters vs Aliens
2009 Β· dir. Rob Letterman
πŸ… 73%β˜… 6.4animation Β· family Β· adventure

The same preoccupation in both: alien

The difference: Without the same awe

When Susan Murphy is unwittingly clobbered by a meteor full of outer space gunk on her wedding day, she mysteriously grows to 49-feet-11-inches. The military jumps into action and captures Susan, secreting her away to a covert government compound. She is renamed Ginormica and placed in confinement with a ragtag group of Monsters...

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The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy poster
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
2005 Β· dir. Garth Jennings
πŸ… 60%β˜… 6.7adventure Β· comedy Β· science fiction

The same mix in both: ideas, then scale

The difference: Lighter on warmth

Mere seconds before the Earth is to be demolished by an alien construction crew, Arthur Dent is swept off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher penning a new edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

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The Jungle Book poster
The Jungle Book
2016 Β· dir. Jon Favreau
πŸ… 94%β˜… 7.3adventure Β· family Β· fantasy

Jon Favreau directing both, with the same fingerprints on each

After a threat from the tiger Shere Khan, Mowgli, a man-cub fostered by wolves, is forced to flee the jungle, and he embarks on a journey of self-discovery with the help of the panther, Bagheera, and the free-spirited bear, Baloo.

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Flight of the Navigator poster
Flight of the Navigator
1986 Β· dir. Randal Kleiser
πŸ… 85%β˜… 6.9family Β· science fiction Β· adventure

Warm where it counts, cozy underneath

12-year-old David is accidentally knocked out in the forest near his home, but when he awakens eight years have passed. His family is overjoyed to have him back, but is just as perplexed as he is that he hasn't aged. When a NASA scientist discovers a UFO nearby, David gets the chance to unravel the mystery and recover the life he lost.

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Cowboys & Aliens poster
Cowboys & Aliens
2011 Β· dir. Jon Favreau
πŸ… 44%β˜… 6action Β· science fiction Β· thriller

Jon Favreau working the same nerve twice

The difference: Reviewed a good deal more coolly

A stranger stumbles into the desert town of Absolution with no memory of his past and a futuristic shackle around his wrist. With the help of mysterious beauty Ella and the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde, he finds himself leading an unlikely posse of cowboys, outlaws, and Apache warriors against a common enemy from beyond this world in an epic showdown for survival.

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Project Hail Mary poster
Project Hail Mary
2026 Β· dir. Phil Lord
πŸ… 95%β˜… 8.2science fiction Β· adventure

Both keep coming back to the same thing: space

Science teacher Ryland Grace wakes up on a spaceship light years from home with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory returns, he begins to uncover his mission: solve the riddle of the mysterious substance causing the sun to die out. He must call on his scientific knowledge and unorthodox ideas to save everything on Earth from extinction.

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Star Trek Into Darkness poster
Star Trek Into Darkness
2013 Β· dir. J.J. Abrams
πŸ… 84%β˜… 7.7action Β· adventure Β· science fiction

Science fiction with a pulse of awe, in both cases

When the crew of the Enterprise is called back home, they find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization has detonated the fleet and everything it stands for, leaving our world in a state of crisis. With a personal score to settle, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one man weapon of mass destruction. As our heroes are propelled into an epic chess game of life and death, love will be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for the only family Kirk has left: his crew.

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Atlantis: The Lost Empire poster
Atlantis: The Lost Empire
2001 Β· dir. Gary Trousdale
πŸ… 48%β˜… 6.9animation Β· family Β· adventure

Cerebral adventure in both cases

A young linguist named Milo Thatch joins an intrepid group of explorers to find the mysterious lost continent of Atlantis.

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John Carter poster
John Carter
2012 Β· dir. Andrew Stanton
πŸ… 52%β˜… 6.6action Β· adventure Β· science fiction

Family built on scale, twice over

John Carter is a war-weary, former military captain who's inexplicably transported to the mysterious and exotic planet of Barsoom (Mars) and reluctantly becomes embroiled in an epic conflict. It's a world on the brink of collapse, and Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands.

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