10 Movies Like The Martian

The Martian is the feel-good survival movie: one brilliant nerd, one impossible problem, and a plan made of math and potatoes. The matches share its engine — competence as entertainment — with varying amounts of sarcasm.

The matches

• Apollo 13 (1995) — The original "work the problem" space movie, based on truth. Try it if: you want the real version of the rescue plot.
• Hidden Figures (2016) — The math that won the space race, and the people erased from it. Try it if: the "smart people solving" montage is your favorite genre.
• Cast Away (2000) — The desert-island edition of competence under pressure. Try it if: you'd watch Wilson the volleyball's origin story again.
• Moon (2009) — A lonely lunar worker, one robot friend, and a mystery. Try it if: you want the melancholy version of solo survival.
• Solo→ Interstellar (2014) — (yes, again) — the crying version. Skip to the next if you've seen it.
• Deepwater Horizon (2016) — Engineering under catastrophe, loud and gripping. Try it if: you want the oil-rig edition of systems problem-solving.
• Sully (2016) — 208 seconds of decision, then the aftermath done fairly. Try it if: competence-in-crisis is your comfort genre.
• Robinson Crusoe on Mars (1964) — The retro blueprint The Martian openly loves. Try it if: you collect the originals.

Where they differ: Apollo 13 and Sully are true stories (the tension is history); Moon trades optimism for mystery. The Martian's actual closest sibling in tone is Apollo 13 — optimism, engineering, and a rescue everyone works toward together.