Avatar is a movie that holds you by the hand, takes you from this cold and miserable world, and lets you roam around a majestic one where only your imagination is your barrier. James Cameron let himself go when he created a brand new world out of scratch: a new language, a new planet, a new species. Saying Avatar changed the way movies are made around the world would be an understatement. In the December of 2009, you received a big blue gift for Christmas. In the year 2017, we bring this article as a Christmas gift for our beloved readers.
With the closest installment in the Avatar series set to come in 2020, we thought you might need other blockbuster movies just like Avatar that can help you quench your longing. Here is the list of movies similar to ‘Avatar’ that are our recommendations. You can watch some of these movies like Avatar on Netflix or Hulu or Amazon Prime.
15. Battleship (2012)
Stone Hopper (Alexander Skarsgard) is a commander in the U.S. Navy. His irresponsible brother Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch) has just joined the fleet with him. However, as usual, his focus is not on the enemy but his love life and the Admiral’s hot daughter. When an army of extraterrestrials strike and kill Stone Hopper, the responsibility to command the troops of a destroyer shifts to Alex. Can he rise up to the occasion to prove once and for all that he is not just an irresponsible idiot? Or will he succumb to the pressure?
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14. Clash of Titans (2010)
Humans have depended on the gods since primitive times. We need assurance every now and then that a benevolent god is looking over us, making sure we are being taken care of. But what if those gods were just like us? A group of all-powerful, angry and squabbling kids who just want to keep their seat of power. This is the baseline of the Greek Mythology and by consequence ‘Clash of Titans’, which is based on the great gods of Ancient Greek. Zeus, the lord of Olympus, has decreed that humans worship him or else they’ll have to suffer drastic consequences. To initiate them, he’s sent Hades and his pet monster Kraken. However, in the city of Argos, Zeus’s son Perseus (Sam Worthington) rebels against this injustice and vows to save princess Andromeda. He must go to the underworld and come back with the Gorgon Medusa’s head so that humans can prove their mettle to the gods. And Zeus can finally realize who in actuality is the rebel plotting against him.
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13. Prometheus (2012)
A continuation of the famous Alien series and outcome of Ridley Scott’s genius, Prometheus takes you to a whole new world just like Avatar. In the year 2089, archaeologists Elizabeth Shaw and her team are aboard the spaceship Prometheus, searching for the clues laid out by the makers of human species millennia ago. Or the ‘Engineers’ as Elizabeth likes to call them. In the hunt for human kind’s origin, they find a forgotten lie which threatens to wipe out the entire Earth. In a reboot of the Alien franchise, watch as the crew bumps upon a species which has nothing but hunger on their primeval mind. One thing is for sure. Everybody ultimately meets their maker, one way or another.
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12. The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
Welcome to an alien world on Earth. After climatologist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) predicts an aggressive storm system heading towards North America, a chain of events follow that make up for an excellent plot. The impending doomsday has arrived before expectations. The drastic effects of global warming become apparent when due to the melting icecaps, the sea levels rise and form a megastorm. The giant hurricane is moving towards the entire Northern Hemisphere, with New York lying in the dead center. Many people are stuck in their homes as the temperature continues to drop drastically threatening the beginning of a new Ice Age. When Jack comes to know that his son Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal) is trapped with his friends in New York, he makes a daring attempt to save them. Will they and the half of world’s population survive in this world ending event?
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11. The Fifth Element (1997)
We are in the year 2263, and the Great Evil has reached Earth. Several years ago an alien race called Mondoshawans had trusted the humans with four elemental stones. Along with the mysterious fifth element, they were capable of defeating the Great Evil. Now that the Great Evil is approaching Earth in the form of a great ball of black fire, the humans begin their search for the power that can help them preserve their home. However, Evil also has some recruits who destroy the ship containing the stones. From the ship’s remains, a humanoid woman called Leeloo is created, who for some reason is the key to finding the five elements. By forces bent on destroying Earth she is chased into the arms of taxi-driver Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis). From there, her journey towards her salvation begins. Can Korben and Leeloo, two individuals who gain nothing by saving earth, be its ultimate redeemers? And where is the fifth element hidden?
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10. Passengers (2016)
What will you do if you are left alone in the depths of space? Will you destroy someone else’s life to make your life livable? Or would you prefer ending your miserable and desolate life? Jim Preston (Chris Pratt) is aboard the Avalon, a ship en route with 5000 passengers in cryo-sleep to a planet where they will start their new life. Due to a malfunction, Jim awakes well before the 120-year journey comes to an end which makes him a sitting duck in space. The lonely days where the closest he comes to human contact is an android, start taking their toll on him. His only companion in solitude is Aurora Lane (Jennifer Lawrence), a girl sleeping in a random cryo-pad. When living on his own gets too much for him, Jim opens up Aurora’s pod in hopes of some company. However what he gets is a broken heart and few bruises on the face. What will two passengers together on a journey towards a lonely death do to be free of their misery?
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9. Jurassic Park (1993)
There is a reason why dinosaurs and humans are separated by several million years. It’s because we couldn’t have survived with such giant beasts roaming around the planet. However, some scientists don’t understand this most basic common sense. They try to challenge the fundamental question of life: Should imparting life be in the hands of human or left in the able hands of nature? In a Costa Rican island, John Hammond and his team are able to extract a dinosaur’s DNA from a fossilized mosquito. They are successful in regenerating the colossal beasts and then cloning them. The mad scientists get so busy in doing what they can do, that they don’t think whether they should do it. They try to domesticate the wild animals in hopes of opening up a one-of-a-kind amusement park. However, their dream turns into a nightmare when the creatures get loose and trample everyone in their path. A masterpiece by Steven Spielberg, this is one of the most iconic and legendary movies of all time.
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8. Arrival (2016)
Can language be the key to unlocking the secrets of time travel? How can we communicate with a species that doesn’t even speak? With these mind-boggling questions and much more, this Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner starrer gets into your mind and heart at the same time. Portraying the arrival of extraterrestrial beings on Earth, Arrival tells the story of a language specialist Dr. Louise Banks (Amy Adams). She is helping the U.S. Government in deciphering the motives of the aliens, who they have no way to establish contact w
ith. However, while doing so, she starts speaking and even thinking in their strange language. She realizes that it might be the key to a lot of unanswered questions in science. At the precipice of a metamorphosis for our planet, she has to deal not only with things she doesn’t understand but the ego of human species as a whole.
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7. The Martian (2015)
You might have seen people getting stuck in the Grand Canyon and dying with dehydration. You might have seen divers lost in the depths of the oceans with whales and sharks and no way to communicate with the external world. Matt Damon being a Bourne Alumnus takes it up a notch and gets himself stranded on the red planet. Yes, you read that right. Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is an astronaut and botanist who gets grounded on Mars, after a spaceship disaster and failed extraction. With no way to go back and the nearest rescue coming after two years, Mark has to stay alive on a ration that can go out anytime and in an environment that gets more hostile by the minute. Most of all, he must keep his cool and make sure he doesn’t lose his mind due to the solitude. Perhaps he could call Chris Pratt for a cup of tea. I hear he’s free.
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6. Titanic (1997)
If you haven’t seen this movie yet, I don’t know what rock you’ve been living under. An epic saga of love, Titanic is a legend in the history of movie-making. Containing brilliant performances from young actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, this film made the couple’s career as well as of James Cameron. And if you’re a fan of Cameron’s work this movie is a must-see for you. Jack Dawson (Leonardo) is a vagabond who himself doesn’t know where he might spend his next night. He is a poor artist, who wins the ticket to Titanic’s maiden voyage in a lucky hand of poker. On the other extreme is Rose (Kate), an heiress to a high-class family. Her mother is forcing her to marry a wealthy businessman due to their deteriorating financial health. As fate will have it Rose not happy with her engagement tries to commit suicide by jumping off the ship, and our humble hero saves her. The star-crossed lovers slowly fall in love with each other, awed by the contrast between their lives. Their faith is tested when the ship hits an iceberg and starts sinking. Watch as two young and inexperienced actors alongwith a brilliant director create history, that has been etched on the streets of the tinsel town.
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5. Interstellar (2014)
In Avatar, you see a whole new planet and species. The Interstellar is similar except that it backs up a bit and tells of the journey of humans to find a new home. After Earth is covered by seemingly unending dust and crops start perennially dying, scientists of NASA begin searching for a new planet that can support the vast population of Earth. To make an intergalactic trip which probably will be one-way, they invite some astronauts and civilians to go on a journey of exploration. Among them is ex-NASA pilot Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) and scientist Amelia (Anne Hathaway). On the way, they uncover many scientific theories and path to a new habitat. But that’s not it. A father’s promise to her daughter makes him go against all odds to return to his little angel. A tale of human emotions and science bending together in a package of entertainment and thrill.
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4. The Revenant (2015)
Can hate be so powerful that it can consume the entire mind and soul of a man? Apparently so. A story of ultimate revenge, the Revenant dives deep into the human mind and extracts something so dark but true, you can’t help but get lost in it. A classic tale of perseverance, it is a masterpiece made by the two-time Oscar winner director Alejandro González Iñárritu. Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a frontiersman in 1823, roaming around in the unorganized territory of South Dakota. In the bone-chilling cold, he is left to die by his companions after a vicious bear attack. John Fitzgerald (Tom hardy) one of them, not only leaves Glass for good but also kills his son. Unable to do anything in his injured state, Glass swears revenge and refuses to die. Even after getting almost killed three or four times he perseveres and finds Fitzgerald. The relentless man exacts his revenge in the most primeval manner in line with the spirit of the movie’s name – Revenant, the man who has come back from the dead. After four Oscar nominations, this is the one which got seemingly jinxed Leo his first Oscar. Surely you wouldn’t want to miss this one. Along with the film, the Oscar speech Leo gave after receiving the Academy award for this movie is also a must-see.
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3. The Prestige (2006)
What is magic? Is it the sparkle that comes on people’s faces when a magician makes a bird disappear or the weeks of effort and perspiration that goes into creating one trick? What is truly majestic? A roar of applaud from a raving audience or the smile of a nine-year-old? The Prestige is a brilliant movie directed by Christopher Nolan and one of the most important stepping stone of his career. It tells about the lengths to which people go to gain fame, and the limits they gladly ignore to make their name resound across the corridors of history. Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) is a magician famous for his tricks and charm. His arch-nemesis is Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) who is a mysterious performer known for his Transported Man illusion. Nobody including Angier is able to decipher how it’s done. In an effort to replicate the Borden’s show-stopping act, Angier with the help of Nikola Tesla builds a machine which blurs the boundaries between magic and science. Can somebody go so far to prove his worth as to die every day in order to complete a trick?
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2. Inception (2010)
I wonder why there are so many Leonardo DiCaprio movies on this list. Anyway, wanna get your mind blown up to four levels of insanity? You are at the right place. Based on a revolutionary concept of sleep hacking, the main idea behind this movie is that to cement an idea in someone’s mind you just need to go into his dreams and make him show that what you want is precisely what he wants. Cobb (Leonardo) is an expert in this technique but is forced to hide outside his country after he becomes a suspect for killing his wife. However, when he gets a contract to plant a seed in Fisher’s -heir to a giant conglomerate fortune- mind, he returns with some of the best. Amidst various obstacles in his dreams including his dead wife, Cobb ultimately is successful in planting the idea in his mind. But the most crucial question is not whether he survives or wins. It is whether he is dreaming or awake at the end? The question has boggled many people’s minds. Watch this movie and tell me in the comments. Perhaps you might have better luck in answering the ultimate Inception question.
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1. The Dark Knight (2008)
This is what happens when an unstoppable actor meets an immovable director. The prowess of the trio of Christopher Nolan, Christian Bale, and Heath Ledger is what has made this into a cult movie. Probably the best live action movie ever made on the characters of Batman and Joker, this film is sure to get unexpected responses from you. It is a must-see for the fans of superhero and thriller genre. Still, anybody who sees this movie can’t deny the sheer brilliance with which human emotions have been portrayed by the lead pair. And by the lead pair, I mean the protagonist and the antagonist. The beauty of this movie is that the difference between the two characters gets regularly obscured. The way in which Batman saves everyone while being grief-stricken from his parent’s death is something to be reckoned with. At the same time, the twisted logic that Joker applies to everything in this society is bitter but undeniable. You can’t help but agree with every word he says about the world, even if it is darker than ink. ‘The Dark Knight’ might be your worst nightmare, but it is also the best recipe for entertainment.
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