Top 250 Movies Like Australian Idol

Backup singers live in a world that lies just beyond the spotlight. Their voices bring harmony to the biggest bands in popular music, but we've had no idea who these singers are or what lives they lead, until now.

In a country where bella figura is a national pastime, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is the maestro of media manipulation. Having risen to political primacy with the aid of his Mediaset empire, he now controls 90% of the bel paese’s television channels including the state-run RAI network. Quantity, it seems, does not equal quality. Fed on a diet of semi-naked dancing girls, inane competitions and rickety reality shows built around the most ridiculous of premises, is it any wonder that Italians are becoming a nation of fame-hungry wannabes?

As the president of a trashy TV channel, Max Renn is desperate for new programming to attract viewers. When he happens upon "Videodrome," a TV show dedicated to gratuitous torture and punishment, Max sees a potential hit and broadcasts the show on his channel. However, after his girlfriend auditions for the show and never returns, Max investigates the truth behind Videodrome and discovers that the graphic violence may not be as fake as he thought.

Advertising executive Dale Hunter (Michael Muheny) works at the agency Arora. But after a car accident, his life changed abruptly. He has nightmares at night and by day he suffers from hallucinations. The world looks like from a computer. Numbers and names adhere to the objects. A doctor can not help him and the hallucinations are getting worse. Librarian Wendy seems to be the only person he can trust. Together they try to find out the truth.

Satire on radio, built around the supposed feud between bandleader Ben Bernie and journalist Walter Winchell.

A strong-willed young woman hires a student to impersonate a boorish French count and brings him home to meet her parents.

J. P. Courtney wants to update the music on the radio program he sponsors, but his wife, Agatha Courtney, is the final authority and addicted to the classics and won't allow him to replace Professor Bistell and his symphonic orchestra. Conspiring with his daughter Sue and her friends, Marvo the Great, the Andrews Sisters, Anne Payne and bandleader Woody Herman, they devise a sabotage plot that gets rid of Professor Bistell, and a new sound is soon heard on the program.

A program for radio KUKU set in the woods, mostly starring birds as caricatures of celebrities of the day. The MC is bandleader Ben Birdie, heckled by Walter Finchell. Wendell Howell prepares to lead a singalong; he gives several different page numbers in the songbook, then says, "Never mind, we won't use the books." The audience, responding "Oh yes we will" pelts him. Billy Goat and Ernie Bear introduce and sing the title song. Everyone sings along, except a fox, who informed he's singing the wrong song, responds, "Why don't somebody tell me these things?" We pan across a series of celebrity guests, like W.C. Field-mouse, Dick Fowl, Deanna Terrapin, Bing Crowsby, and the high-note competing duo of Grace Moose and Lily Swans. Tizzie Fish has a cooking segment. Finally, Louella Possums introduces a company performing a scene from The Prodigal's Return.

Record store clerk Nick Brady begins to experience strange visions from an entity he calls VALIS that cause him to uproot his family and move to Los Angeles where he becomes a successful music company executive. Nick finds himself drawn into a dangerous political-mystical conspiracy of cosmic proportions.

Rebecca's Uncle Harry leaves her with Aunt Miranda who forbids her to associate with show people. But neighbor Anthony Kent is a talent scout who secretly set it up for her to broadcast.

A radio announcer gets caught up with a fake clairvoyant and his gang of thieves.

When the singer of a popular rock band disappears under mysterious circumstances, a contest to find a replacement soon turns from dream-come-true to waking nightmare for the young singer who hopes to take the job.

A trio of competing bands vie for a spot on a rural radio program.

A young songwriter struggles to make good in New York.

The kiddie radio host, Uncle Dudley, reminds his listeners that it is "Be Kind to Animals" week. Tom resolves to be kind to his mouse-nemesis, Jerry, but the cat changes his mind after sneaking a look at Jerry's diary.

The Ritz Brothers pretend to be Kentucky hillbillies in order to get a booking on a radio show.

A radio DJ in pursuit of an exclusive interview follows ABBA during their mega-successful tour of Australia.

The top brass at a radio station believe their popular new star singer is paying more attention to his love life than to his career.

Promoter "Smoothie" King helps a pair of phonies con their way into a movie company. As Wanda heads toward stardom, she turns more and more from King toward the matinée idol. King must decide between his plans and her happiness.

Biopic detailing the tumultuous story of pop icon Britney Spears' rise to fame, fall from grace and eventual triumphant resurrection, firmly securing her position as one of the world's greatest entertainers.

A look at Brittany Murphy's rise to Hollywood fame in the 1990s, her struggles with celebrity and self-esteem, and her mysterious death in 2009 at the age of 32.

Three friends get together and bury a box making a pact to open it at midnight at their high school graduation. In the little town in Georgia that they live in, things soon change. One is little miss perfect, one is an engaged prom queen, and the other is a pregnant outcast. The night of graduation, they open the box and they strike up a conversation. All of a sudden, one brings up the topic of her going to Los Angeles for a record contract audition. They all decide to go together and they leave. With a little money, they set out on the road with a guy named Ben. When one of them tells the other a rumor that he might be a homicidal maniac they are all scared of him. When they reach LA, Lucy falls in love with Ben and against her father's wishes, she stays and she goes to the audition.

A rude, contemptuous talk show host becomes overwhelmed by the hatred that surrounds his program just before it goes national.

A young boy wins a tour through the most magnificent chocolate factory in the world, led by the world's most unusual candy maker.

A collection of subversive comedy sketches and routines relating to the peace movement.

World famous pop group the Spice Girls zip around London in their luxurious double decker tour bus having various adventures and performing for their fans.

A fabulous Malibu beach house is the setting for sin in sun, as a trio of lovely ladies find love in Los Angeles over one sizzling summer.

Mohammed Assaf, an aspiring musician living in Gaza, sets a seemingly impossible goal: to compete on the program "Arab Idol."

Australian Diana Spencer wins a competition in a women's magazine, and as a prize gets a trip for two to London, where she wants to meet her idol and namesake, Princess Diana. She goes there with her fiance, Mark, but during the garden party the Princess plans to attend, things get mixed up and Aussie Diana gets arrested with Paparazzi photographer Rob. Diana really wants to meet the Princess and follows Rob as he searches for Princess Di to take some photos.

This documentary on the effect the talent competition "Afghan Star" has on the incredibly diverse inhabitants of Afghanistan affords a glimpse into a country rarely seen. Contestants risk their lives to appear on the television show that is a raging success with the public and also monitored closely by the government.

Rival advertising firms compete for a radio show's pickle manufacturing account.

Complications ensue after a radio producer insults a sponsor.

A trumpet player in a radio orchestra falls asleep during a commercial and dreams he's Athanael, an angel deputized to blow the Last Trumpet at exactly midnight on Earth, thus marking the end of the world.

I Love to Singa depicts the story of a young owl who wants to sing jazz, instead of the classical music that his German parents wish him to perform. The plot is a lighthearted tribute to Al Jolson's film The Jazz Singer.

If they missed Beatles' first appearance in the U.S.A. they would hate themselves for the rest of their lives! So four young girls from New Jersey set off even though they don't have tickets for the show! The journey is full of surprises and misfortunes but the young ladies are determined to reach their idols.

The daughter of a formerly wealthy man tries to get a job singing on a radio show, but gets involved in a feud and murder.

Popular crooner Russ Raymond abandons his career at its peak and joins the Navy using an alias, Tommy Halstead. However, Dorothy Roberts, a reporter, discovers his identity and follows him in the hopes of photographing him and revealing his identity to the world. Aboard the Alabama, Tommy meets up with Smoky and Pomeroy, who help hide him from Dorothy, who hatches numerous schemes in an attempt to photograph Tommy/Russ being a sailor.

A compilation of interviews, rehearsals and backstage footage of Michael Jackson as he prepared for his series of sold-out shows in London.

When disc jockey Grant Mazzy reports to his basement radio station in the Canadian town of Pontypool, he thinks it's just another day at work. But when he hears reports of a virus that turns people into zombies, Mazzy barricades himself in the radio booth and tries to figure out a way to warn his listeners about the virus and its unlikely mode of transmission.

This is a film about the life of Gus Edwards, a well known vaudeville composer, entertainer, and producer.

As a writer named Mike struggles to shepherd his semi-autobiographical sitcom into development, his vision is slowly eroded by a domineering network executive named Lenny who favors trashy reality programming. The irony, of course, is that every crass suggestion Lenny makes improves the show's response from test audiences and brings the show a step closer to getting on the air.

An out-of-work band singer gets a job at a jukebox company and makes a hit.

Music manager Janey Edwards poses as a co-ed to get the rights to a song from one of the professors.

Elmer Whippet inherits the Whippet Pickles company and sets out to meet the two stars, Mary Reynolds and John Stowe, of the radio program sponsored by his company, as he thinks their on-air quarreling is real. Two former associates, Jules Kinsey and J.M. Snow cross him up by substituting Susan Blair, an office secretary, for Mary and Elmer thinks the show's writer Paul Stevens is John.

A cream-of-the-crop gathering of 1930's radio stars, who lend themselves to a storyline about a failing radio station which needs to put on a huge ratings winner to have any chance of continued operation. An interesting mixture of the stars whose fame continued to grow, those who became bit players in show business history, and those who have been forgotten entirely, except at the Internet Movie Database of course!

An all-girl band hits paydirt—and mud—when they sign a male crooner and then sell five 25% shares of his contract.

Unscrupulous agent Rush Blake makes singing waiter Buddy Clayton a big radio star while Peggy Cornell, who has lost her own radio show, helps Buddy.

Unable to complete the deal by telephone, advertising executive Roberts sends his assistant Ann to Cuba to lure a Cuban band, led by Desi Arnaz, on to an American radio program. Attracted to Ann, Arnaz and his band come to New York but complications arise when the squeaky-voiced, addle-brained sponsor of the program decides she wants to be the vocalist on the program.

Down-on-his-luck film director Jimmie Dale takes a job at a fly-by-night acting school. He is drawn into the plans of the school's owner to bilk a wealthy young man out of the funds he has supplied to shoot a movie starring pretty student Alice Perkins. But Jimmie hopes to bilk the bilkers by actually completing the movie as ostensibly planned.

A famous singer and matinée idol helps a pretty young theater usher in her dreams of becoming a singer, but when her career begins to take off and she becomes engaged to a wealthy young man, he realizes he's fallen for her and plots to break up her impending marriage.

Honeymooners find a dead radio producer in their suite.

As part of their public feud, Bandleader Bernie pretends a girl singer is no good so columnist Winchell promotes her in his column.

Carol Corliss, a beautiful movie star so insecure about her celebrity that she goes around in disguise, meets a rugged outdoorsman who is unaffected by her star status.

Caroline Bird, the crotchety and stingy owner of Bird Milk Products, is not amused when her employees at the Dairyville factory, the oldest plant in the company, broadcast a special radio program in honor of her birthday. Employees Lulubelle, Scotty and Vera Vague, fed up with the terrible working conditions at Dairyville, cut into the broadcast, and Lulubelle asserts that Caroline is a "big hunk of cheese." Lane, the factory manager, cannot find the culprit, and so Caroline goes with her secretary, Dale Evans, to Dairyville.

Eve is a catastrophe—low on self-esteem but high on fantasy, especially when it comes to music. Over the course of one Glasgow summer, she meets two similarly rootless souls: posh Cass and fastidious James, and together they form a group.

The chance to shine in a singing competition offers much-needed hope for a Southern middle-schooler who's drowning in worries, from bullies in the halls to turmoil at home -- and the news that his reservist father has been called back to Afghanistan.

Poor Red Jones gets fired from every job he tries. His fiancée gives him one last chance to make good when he becomes a Fuller Brush man. His awkward attempts at sales are further complicated when one of his customers is murdered and he becomes the prime suspect.

A secretary catches the eye of her amorous boss while her regular boyfriend keeps trying to propose marriage to her.

A young rock singer is not appreciated by her band, and gets a postcard from Japan saying "wish you were here". She takes what little money she has including ex-boyfriend's rent money and goes to Tokyo. She has numerous cross-cultural adventures and ends up singing with a Japanese rock group looking for a gaijin gimmick.

Hammersmith Odeon, London, July 3, 1973. British singer David Bowie performs his alter ego Ziggy Stardust for the very last time. A decadent show, a hallucinogenic collage of kitsch, pop irony and flamboyant excess: a musical symbiosis of feminine passion and masculine dominance that defines Bowie's art and the glam rock genre.

When the ancient continent of Mu sank beneath the ocean, some of its inhabitant survived in caverns beneath the sea. Cowboy singer Gene Autry stumbles upon the civilization, now buried beneath his own Radio Ranch. The Muranians have developed technology and weaponry such as television and ray guns. Their rich supply of radium draws unscrupulous speculators from the surface. The peaceful civilization of the Muranians is corrupted by the greed from above, and it becomes Autry's task to prevent all-out war, ideally without disrupting his regular radio show.

Edd Byrnes tries to get an ethnic-music-studies grant to buy instruments for his rock and roll group.

Gracie Allen assumes the "management" of the shop owned by her papa Horatio Allen, turning it into a radio station and then an aviary---with the usual Gracie Allen logic---while distracted Papa is trying to get younger daughter, beauty contest winner Florence, married before she can head to Hollywood and get into the movies.

A shy teenager living on the Isle of Wight dreams of pop stardom. With the help of an unlikely mentor, she enters a singing competition that will test her integrity, talent, and ambition.

In the Lifetime® movie, THE FANTASIA BARRINO STORY: LIFE IS NOT A FAIRYTALE, a single teenage mother overcomes all odds - sexual abuse, poverty and illiteracy - by relying on her spectacular singing voice. She ultimately gains national prominence as the winner of a hit talent show. Fantasia Barrino plays herself in this modern true Cinderella story. Also starring Loretta Devine, Kadeem Hardison and Viola Davis.

After WWI two men go into radio. Failure leads the wife of one to borrow money from another; she goes on, after separation, to stardom. A coast-to-coast radio program is set up to bring everyone back together.

A pretty Chicago teenager (Gale Storm), who's being courted by an older man, is sent by her worried parents to live with her uncle on his Iowa farm.

Blind Mrs. Lind comes to American to visit her three children whom she thinks are successful.

When sponsor Nottingham cancels King Russell's radio program, The Hot Shots try to change his mind. They not only fail but Nottingham's son forces them to take him back to Russell's ranch. Once there he starts playing practical jokes. With everyone disliking him and learning his father is coming, he has a plan to redeem himself.

A sister act finds itself stranded and broke, and teams up with a medicine man who is promoting a child talent contest.

A famous singer, bored with music and fans, goes to live in Mexico. His manager sends a woman to bring him back. They fall in love.

Promoters set up a radio contest to find the average American and use him to sell food, apparel and notions. All goes well until he falls in love with a girl who upsets things.

When a waiter makes a lucky hit and wins a benefit prizefight, gamblers rig some fights for him; but a reporter arranges for a real boxer to put him in his place.

This documentary covers the span of George Michael's entire career, concentrating on the formative period in the late Grammy® Award winner’s life and career, leading up to and following the making of his acclaimed, best-selling album “Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1” and his subsequent, infamous High Court battle with his record label that followed, while also becoming poignantly personal about the death of his late partner and first love, Anselmo Feleppa.

Ryan Banks's manager and old friend, Todd, comes up with the idea to have Ryan be the bachelor on a reality dating show in order to clean up his image. The only problem is, Todd falls in love with Charlie, the girl Ryan has chosen to propose to.

Winona Applegate is on the fast track to becoming a celebrity chef, already running a very successful bistro in Pittsburgh. With nerves building, she leaves for New York to audition for her own show in front of television executives. Unfortunately, her car breaks down near New Holland, a small, quirky town where Winona rents a room at a local inn run by Adam, a widower. With the local Spring Festival coming up and the resident cook unavailable to manage the menu, Winona agrees to get her car fixed in time for her audition in exchange for her much needed help in the Inn's kitchen. As she prepares for the festival with Adam, Winona begins to fall in love with New Holland and one of its residents as well.

Mega pop star, Fancy G, hosts a contest to find the next big solo artist. But the young contestants realize they are "better together" and secretly form a band called Honey Girls and become a huge hit cloaked in mystery.

When the members of S Club complain about how tough it is to stay on top, they find themselves replaced by lookalikes... or are they?

A female singing group from the '60s reunites for a TV special.

In this musical, the second entry in a five-film series, a thrift shop owner sells his business and buys a small time radio station. He begins looking for sponsors. He finds one with a department store owner who will only lend him the money if he will allow his daughter, an aspiring tap-dancer and singer, to perform on the air. This is unfortunate as she is tone-deaf. To compensate, the owner hires a real singer to dub the daughter's voice. The singer and the owner's nephew fall in love and mayhem ensues. Songs include: the Oscar nominated "Who Am I?," "Swing Low Sweet Rhythm," "In The Cool of the Evening," "Make Yourself at Home," "The Swap Shop Song," "The Trading Post," "Sally," "Ramona," "Sweet Sue," "Dinah," "Margie," and "Mary Lou."

A harried, overworked advertising executive is being pursued romantically by one of his clients, a successful perfume magnate ... and his former fiancée. The latest client of the agency is a psychiatrist and author of a new book. When the executive goes over to discuss the ad campaign, the psychiatrist turns out to be a woman. But what does he really need? Romance? Or analysis?

A girl from a show-business family seeks a backer for her boyfriend's musical.

The film is partly a parody of The Goodwill Court, a popular radio problem hosted by advice-dispenser "Mr. Anthony". The host of a "What's your problem?" radio hour tries to smooth the romantic path of singer Rich Cleveland (Haymes) and his socialite wife Penelope (Lynn Merrick). The fly in the ointment is Dena Marshall (Janis Carter), who has set her sights on the handsome Rich.

Famous by age 9, struggling by age 20 and dead at ripe age of 34, this documentary dives deep into the life of pop singer Aaron Carter. He became a mainstay of the early 2000s pop scene, touring the world as a child solo artist with chart-topping hits like “I Want Candy” and earning the title “The Little Prince of Pop” from Michael Jackson. Just a few years after his rise to fame, Carter began a cycle of mental health struggles, experienced family turmoil, and grappled with addiction ― culminating in his untimely death in November 2022.

Tells the story of Canadian music in the 1970s, a ground-breaking era of great sounds, from glam and progressive rock to punk and reggae.

A handsome radio singer has it all--fame, money, adoring fans--but what no one knows is that his accompanist, a hunchbacked piano player, is actually the voice behind the arrogant, abusive "singer"'s fame. The two men fall for the same girl, and when the singer turns up dead, suspicion falls upon his assistant and the girl.

When amateur songwriter Jill Wright moves from the Midwest to New York City, she is dismayed to discover that Rick Farrell, the owner of Miracle Publishing Co., has claimed as his own the song she submitted to his company. One of the many films made at Republic with a year attached to the "Hit Parade" title, which came from the "Hit Parade" radio program sponsored by Lucky Strike cigarettes.

A heartthrob singer, Tony Paige, also known as "America's Boyfriend" decides to wed a Swedish actress. His manager doesn't want this because he is afraid of Tony losing female fans so he takes up a 300 hundred thousand dollar insurance policy if Tony does in fact wed. Tony soon meets a girl name June Delaney on a bus who doesn't swoon over him like other girls. He falls for her but doesn't know her true identity.

Jack Haley plays Jack North, the nether end of a vaudeville horse act who inherits a western ranch. When he heads to the Great Outdoors to take possession, Jack winds up at the wrong place: a swanky dude ranch. He immediately begins running things, at it's quite a while before his error is discovered. By the time he shows up at his own ranch, he's up to his ears in unpaid debts-which naturally requires a fund-raising musical show as a bail-out. Harriet Hilliard handles the romantic portion of the proceedings, occasionally dueting with her real-life husband, bandleader Ozzie Nelson.

A young girl goes to New York to find a band leader who has stolen all the songs she wrote and is passing them off as his own.

Cameras from the Australian Channel 9 recorded the sixth and final show of the Melbourne leg of The Beatles' world tour on 17 June 1964. It was screened on 1 July 1964 as an hour-long special, The Beatles Sing For Shell, named after the oil company which sponsored the broadcast. Nine of The Beatles' Melbourne performances were included in the show (the others edited out and discarded at the insistence of Beatles manager Brian Epstein): I Saw Her Standing There, You Can't Do That, All My Loving, She Loves You, Till There Was You, Roll Over Beethoven, Can't Buy Me Love, Twist And Shout and Long Tall Sally. The complete unedited concert (from an alternate audio feed) was also aired on Australian radio.

Status Quo's album "Pictures" (released in November 2008) celebrated 40 years of Status Quo filling the UK charts with hit after hit. The album was an instant success, charting at No.8 and selling over a quarter of a million copies in the UK alone. In July 2009 the Pictures live tour landed at Montreux in Switzerland as part of the world famous festival.

Anti-war propaganda musical set on an ocean liner.

In this musical comedy, a pregnant disc jockey misses her husband who is fighting overseas. Stressed out by the situation and her job, she decides to take some time off and convinces her twin sister to trade places with her. The switcheroo causes the soldier her husband appointed as her unofficial guardian no end of confusion.

A radio-show mystery writer and her rival solve real murders.

The Beatles stormed through Europe's music scene in 1963, and, in 1964, they conquered America. Their groundbreaking world tours changed global youth culture forever and, arguably, invented mass entertainment as we know it today. All the while, the group were composing and recording a series of extraordinarily successful singles and albums. However the relentless pressure of such unprecedented fame, that in 1966 became uncontrollable turmoil, led to the decision to stop touring. In the ensuing years The Beatles were then free to focus on a series of albums that changed the face of recorded music.

Through archival interviews and footage, George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley relive the arc of their Wham! career, from 70s best buds to 80s pop icons.

This documentary offers a deeply intimate look at extraordinary teenager Billie Eilish. Award-winning filmmaker R.J. Cutler follows her journey on the road, onstage, and at home with her family as the writing and recording of her debut album changes her life.

Shrek, Fiona, Donkey, Puss in Boots, and the rest of the Far Far Away Kingdom battle it out in a singing competition.

A celebration of the legendary band that revolutionized pop music, and the iconic, harmonious sound they created that personified the California dream, captivating fans for generations and generations to come.