Best movies like Close Encounters of the Third Kind

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A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like Close Encounters of the Third Kind Starring Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon, and more. If you liked Close Encounters of the Third Kind then you may also like: The X Files, UFO, The Wild Blue Yonder, Night Skies, K-PAX and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.

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The X Files

Mulder and Scully, now taken off the FBI's X Files cases, must find a way to fight the shadowy elements of the government to find out the truth about a conspiracy that might mean the alien colonization of Earth.

UFO

A college student, who sees a UFO, uses his exceptional math skills to investigate the sighting with his friends while the FBI follows closely behind.

The Wild Blue Yonder

An alien narrates the story of his dying planet, his and his people's visitations to Earth and Earth's self-made demise, while human astronauts in space are attempting to find an alternate planet for surviving humans to live on.

Night Skies

On March 13th, 1997 one of the largest UFO sightings ever recorded took place across the southwestern United States...

K-PAX

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.

The Abyss

A civilian oil rig crew is recruited to conduct a search and rescue effort when a nuclear submarine mysteriously sinks. One diver soon finds himself on a spectacular odyssey 25,000 feet below the ocean's surface where he confronts a mysterious force that has the power to change the world or destroy it.

Prometheus

A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.

Alien Abduction

A vacationing family encounters an alien threat in this pulse-pounding thriller based on the real-life Brown Mountain Lights phenomenon in North Carolina.

Area 51

Three young conspiracy theorists attempt to uncover the mysteries of Area 51, the government's secret location rumored to have hosted encounters with alien beings. What they find at this hidden facility exposes unimaginable secrets.

Arrival

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.

The Astronaut's Wife

When astronaut Spencer Armacost returns to Earth after a mission that nearly cost him his life, he decides to take a desk job in order to see his beautiful wife, Jillian, more often. Gradually, Jillian notices that Spencer's personality seems to have changed, but her concerns fade when she discovers that she's pregnant. As Jillian grows closer to becoming a mother, her suspicions about Spencer return. Why does it seem as if he's a different person?

Babylon 5: Thirdspace

Susan Ivanova discovers a derelict spaceship in hyperspace. They tow it back to Babylon 5, then strange things start happening. People are being telepathically taken over by aliens from another (third)space.

*batteries not included

In a soon to be demolished block of apartments, the residents resist the criminal methods used to force them to leave so a greedy tycoon can build his new skyscraper. When tiny mechanical aliens land for a recharge, they decide to stay and help out.

The Cat from Outer Space

A UFO is stranded on earth and impounded by the US government. Its pilot, a cat with a collar that gives it special powers, including the ability to communicate with humans, has eluded the authorities and seeks the help of a scientist in order to reclaim and repair his ship and get back home.

Flight of the Navigator

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.

Communion

A novelist's wife and son see him changed by an apparent encounter with aliens in the mountains.

Contact

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 difficult decisions between her beliefs, the truth, and reality.

Interstellar

The adventures of a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage.

Fire in the Sky

A group of men who were clearing brush for the government arrive back in town, claiming that their friend was abducted by aliens. Nobody believes them, and despite a lack of motive and no evidence of foul play, their friends' disappearance is treated as murder.

Mac and Me

A Mysterious Alien Creature (MAC) escaping from nefarious NASA agents, is befriended by a young boy in a wheelchair. Together, they try to find MAC's family from whom he has been separated.

Invasion: Planet Earth

On the same day that Tom Dunn finds out that he is to become a father again, the people of Earth become plagued with terrifying visions of the end of the world. When a gigantic, all-consuming alien mothership launches a ruthless attack, chaos and destruction follow. The ultimate war for Planet Earth is about to begin...

The Darkest Hour

In Moscow, five young people lead the charge against an alien race which has attacked Earth via our power supply.

Sphere

A spacecraft is discovered on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, presumed to be at least 300 years old and of alien origin. A crack team of scientists and experts is assembled and taken to the Habitat, a state-of-the-art underwater living environment, to investigate.

Alien Outpost

A documentary crew follows an elite unit of soldiers in the wake of an alien invasion.

The Arrival

Zane Ziminski is an astrophysicist who receives a message that seems to have extraterrestrial origins. Eerily soon after his discovery, Zane is fired. He then embarks on a search to determine the origins of the transmission that leads him into a Hitchcockian labyrinth of paranoia and intrigue.

This Island Earth

Aliens have landed and are hiding on Earth, but need Earth’s scientists to help them fight an inter-planetary war.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

An alien is left behind on Earth and saved by the 10-year-old Elliot who decides to keep him hidden in his home. While a task force hunts for the extra-terrestrial, Elliot, his brother, and his little sister Gertie form an emotional bond with their new friend, and try to help him find his way home.

Signs

A family living on a farm finds mysterious crop circles in their fields which suggests something more frightening to come.

The Day the Earth Stood Still

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.

Paul

For the past 60 years, a space-traveling smart-ass named Paul has been locked up in a top-secret military base, advising world leaders about his kind. But when he worries he’s outlived his usefulness and the dissection table is drawing uncomfortably close, Paul escapes on the first RV that passes by his compound in Area 51. Fortunately, it contains the two earthlings who are most likely to rescue and harbor an alien on the run.

Starman

When an alien takes the form of a young widow's husband and asks her to drive him from Wisconsin to Arizona, the government tries to stop them.

Hangar 18

During a Space Shuttle mission a satellite rams a unidentified flying object. The UFO afterwards performs an emergency landing in the deserts of Arizona. However the White House denies its existence because of the near presidential elections. The UFO is brought to the secret Hangar 18 and the accident is blamed on the incompetence of the astronauts Bancroff and Price. But the two fight against this and try to hunt down the UFO.

The Sender

A psychic father and daughter band together with an "angel" in an attempt to save Earth from an extraterrestrial Armageddon. This suspenseful thriller ties together strange occurrences from 1965 in the Bermuda Triangle (where an American fighter pilot supposedly encountered a spaceship) and government hush-up conspiracies.

The Invader

A good alien from a dying race must impregnate an Earth woman to avoid extinction of his race. A bad alien whose race helped wipe out good alien's race doesn't want to see this happen.

Extraterrestrial

Five friends set out to a cabin in the woods for a fun weekend getaway that is, until extraterrestrial visitors turn it into a fight for their lives. The group is pulled from their reverie when a flickering object crashes deep in the woods. As they investigate, the friends stumble across an alien spacecraft, and its inhabitants have not arrived in peace.

Strange Invaders

Charlie's ex-wife disappears, and he goes to where she grew up--a rural town in the midwest--to look for her. But, surprisingly, nobody knows about her or any of her many relatives, the Newmans. He meets aliens; but when he contacts the FBI, they don't believe him. He tells his story to a tabloid; and suddenly, he is chased by the aliens.

Mission to Mars

When contact is lost with the crew of the first Mars expedition, a rescue mission is launched to discover their fate.

The Puppet Masters

The Earth is invaded by alien parasites—AKA 'slugs'—that ride on people's backs and control their minds.

Gray Matter

Since the 1940's alien beings known as "GRAYS" have been sighted around the globe with the thought that they visit our planet to study our species and civilization before they eventually invade...but what if we're wrong? What if they are only here to protect us? After a meteorite crashes to earth awakening the extraterrestrial creature within, a young woman is abducted by an alien "GRAY" to aide in hunting down and destroying the creature before it can reach a second meteorite that fell to earth decades earlier unleashing its deadly infestation of earth.

Monolith

Two cops investigating the murder of a young boy become invloved in a very secret project involving alien life. Needless to say, the authorities don't want them to stick their noses into this

Invasion of the Star Creatures

Beautiful alien Amazonian women plan to conquer the world using an army of vegetable monsters. Dim-witted privates Philbrick and Penn bumble into a cave in search of atomic activity but collide instead with fierce carrot-topped tree mutants and their leaders, the 7-foot space sirens Prof. Tanga and Dr. Puna. This lavishly low-budget sci-fi romp has the bodacious aliens planning to overrun Earth with their vege-men army, but first they want the G.I.s to explain the meaning of love.

Dominion

Earth's position in the universe has become of vital strategic importance to those who have, until now, only studied us from the far reaches of space. Knowing our weaknesses, they have planned their attack, and now, in just 5 days, life on Earth will change forever. Robert Casey, a retired US Intelligence agent turned UFO investigator, races to discover the truth about the Dominion and what it has in store for the human race. Time is running out...

Cosmos

Three astronomers accidentally intercept what they believe to be a signal from a distant alien civilization, but the truth is even more incredible than any of them could have imagined.

Top of the Food Chain

An isolated Canadian town (populated by the weirdest group of people this side of Saturn) has seen its share of problems. First the nut factory closed, then the CATV antenna stopped broadcasting, and now something is gruesomely devouring the townsfolk! Can visiting atomic scientist (and expert on "cool fusion") Dr. Karel Lamonte solve the mystery before everyone disappears?

Independence Daysaster

When Earth is attacked by a hostile alien force, a small town firefighter and a rogue SETI scientist team up to activate the only technology capable of defeating the invaders.

Invasion Roswell

After the American Army shot down a UFO in 1947, generations of elite commandos were secretly trained to deal with the aliens' feared return. However, the extra-terrestrials never came back and the elite force was disbanded. Sixty-six years after the Roswell crash, the aliens are invading Earth and only the over-the-hill retired commandos can stop them.

Tellur Aliens

Three teenaged best friends on the planet Telluria begin an incredible journey of adventure as they fight against the most evil being in the universe.

Alien Outbreak

In a small rural community, local police officers Zoe and Patrick begin their shift as normal but soon, strange events unfold. Residents begin behaving erratically, and suicidal panic spreads amongst the township they are trying to protect. Zoe and Patrick realise alien machines are taking hold, cutting their small group of survivors off from the outside world. Can the determined humans band together to save their community, and all mankind, from extinction?

Ejecta

Two men witness an unexplainable event in the sky as a historic solar storm approaches, and they try to survive as a terrifying life form hunts them.

Area 51 Confidential

People from various walks of life find themselves held captive in a desolate area surrounding a secret government installation rumored to contain extraterrestrial life

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