In Hollywood and beyond, great movies directly inspired by true stories are plentiful. They’re weird, and shocking, and romantic, and downright too wild to be true – and here are the best.
30 Bergen
A biopic about the famous Turkish singer Bergen, who faces many difficulties and tribulations, and tries to be strong against all odds.
Directors: Caner Alper, Mehmet Binay
Writers: Yildiz Bayazit, Sema Kaygusuz
Starring: Farah Zeynep Abdullah, Erdal Besikçioglu, Tilbe Saran
Box office: $11 325 000
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29 Rise
Follow three Nigerian-Greek brothers, who are raised out of anonymity and thrust into the fame of professional basketball. Parents Vera and Charles Antetokounmpo move to Greece from Nigeria for a chance at a better life for their family. The couple work hard to provide for their five children, while the reality of deportation from a difficult citizenship system threatens the dreams for their children. In order to earn enough money to pay the bills, the family works together to sell souvenirs to tourists in Athens. When opportunity arises, the Antetokounmpo brothers take their frustrations to the public basketball courts. Individually, they quickly realize that although they have no experience in the sport, they are naturally gifted ball players. With the help of a talent agent, the trio decide to pursue careers in the NBA.
Director: Akin Omotoso
Writer: Arash Amel
Starring: Dayo Okeniyi, Yetide Badaki, Uche Agada
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28 Home Team
New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton coaches his son’s 6th-grade football team while he is being suspended for the entire 2012 season as a result of his role in the Saints’ Bountygate scandal.
Directors: Charles Kinnane, Daniel Kinnane
Writers: Chris Titone, Keith Blum
Starring: Kevin James, Taylor Lautner, Rob Schneider
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27 Ted K
Ted K lives a life of almost complete seclusion in a simple wooden cabin in the mountains of Montana. But then this former university professor, who despises modern society and its faith in technology, becomes radicalized. What begins with local acts of sabotage, ends with deadly bomb attacks. To the outside world, Ted K becomes known as the Unabomber. Based on Ted Kaczynski’s diaries and writings, Tony Stone’s film is a kaleidoscopic true crime journey into the life of one of America’s most complex and eccentric killers. It features a tour-de-force performance from Sharlto Copley who portrays the complexity of this unique outsider, raging at the forces of both the inescapable technological society that plagues him and his own inner demons.
Director: Tony Stone
Writers: Gaddy Davis, John Rosenthal, Tony Stone
Starring: Sharlto Copley, Drew Powell, Christian Calloway
Box office: $45 000
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26 My Best Friend Anne Frank (Mijn beste vriendin Anne Frank)
Hannah is imprisoned at camp Bergen Belzen days before being liberated, where she thinks back of her time in Amsterdam with her best friend Anne the first few years of the war. Hannah finds out Anne is also in the camp, separated by a wall, the night before Hannah and her family are being exchanged for German captives.
Director: Ben Sombogaart
Writers: Marian Batavier, Paul Ruven
Starring: Aiko Beemsterboer, Josephine Arendsen, Roeland Fernhout
Box office: $1 837 000
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25 She Said
Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan star as New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, who together broke one of the most important stories in a generation – a story that shattered decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault in Hollywood and impelled a shift in American culture that continues to this day.
Director: Maria Schrader
Writers: Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Jodi Kantor, Megan Twohey
Starring: Carey Mulligan, Zoe Kazan, Patricia Clarkson
Box office: $13 931 000
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24 Till
Till is a profoundly emotional and cinematic film about the true story of Mamie Till Mobley’s relentless pursuit of justice for her 14 year old son, Emmett Till, who, in 1955, was lynched while visiting his cousins in Mississippi. In Mamie’s poignant journey of grief turned to action, we see the universal power of a mother’s ability to change the world.
Director: Chinonye Chukwu
Writers: Michael Reilly, Keith Beauchamp, Chinonye Chukwu
Starring: Danielle Deadwyler, Jalyn Hall, Jamie Renell
Box office: $11 318 000
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23 Blonde
From her volatile childhood as Norma Jeane, through her rise to stardom and romantic entanglements, ‘Blonde’ blurs the lines of fact and fiction to explore the widening split between her public and private selves.
Director: Andrew Dominik
Writers: Andrew Dominik, Joyce Carol Oates
Starring: Ana de Armas, Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale
Budget: $20 000 000
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22 Corsage
A fictional account of one year in the life of Empress Elisabeth of Austria. On Christmas Eve 1877, Elisabeth, once idolized for her beauty, turns 40 and is officially deemed an old woman; she starts trying to maintain her public image.
Director: Marie Kreutzer
Writer: Marie Kreutzer
Starring: Vicky Krieps, Florian Teichtmeister, Katharina Lorenz
Box office: $3 116 000
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21 Medieval
The story of fifteenth century Czech icon and warlord Jan Zizka, who defeated armies of the Teutonic Order and the Holy Roman Empire.
Director: Petr Jákl
Writers: Petr Jákl, Marek Dobes, Michal Petrus
Starring: Ben Foster, Sophie Lowe, Michael Caine
Budget: $23 000 000
Box office: $4 418 000
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20 Devotion
Ensign Jesse Brown and Lt(jg) Tom Hudner join Navy Fighter Squadron VF-32 at roughly the same time and Brown is assigned as Hudner’s wingman. They are quickly the best of friends and always look out for each other. Later that year war breaks out in Korea and VF-32, onboard the carrier USS Leyte, provides air support. Their missions are vital to the war effort and extremely dangerous.
Director: Justin Dillard
Writers: Jake Crane, Jonathan Stewart, Adam Makos
Starring: Jonathan Majors, Glen Powell, Christina Jackson
Box office: $21 768 000
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19 November (Novembre)
5 days into the heart of the French anti-terrorism services during the hunt for suspects after the 13/11/2015 attacks in Paris.
Director: Cédric Jimenez
Writers: Olivier Demangel, Cédric Jimenez
Starring: Jean Dujardin, Anaïs Demoustier, Sandrine Kiberlain
Box office: $18 114 000
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18 Father Stu
Follows the life of Father Stuart Long, a boxer-turned-priest who inspired countless people during his journey from self-destruction to redemption.
Director: Rosalind Ross
Writer: Rosalind Ross
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Mel Gibson, Jacki Weaver
Box office: $21 592 000
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17 The Good Nurse
Amy, a compassionate nurse and single mother struggling with a life-threatening heart condition, is stretched to her physical and emotional limits by the hard and demanding night shifts at the ICU. But help arrives when Charlie, a thoughtful and empathetic fellow nurse, starts at her unit. While sharing long nights at the hospital, the two develop a strong and devoted friendship, and for the first time in years, Amy truly has faith in her and her young daughters’ future. But after a series of mysterious patient deaths sets off an investigation that points to Charlie as the prime suspect, Amy is forced to risk her life and the safety of her children to uncover the truth.
Director: Tobias Lindholm
Writers: Krysty Wilson-Cairns, Charles Graeber
Starring: Eddie Redmayne, Jessica Chastain, Nnamdi Asomugha
Box office: $14 000
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16 Against the Ice
In 1909, Denmark’s Alabama Expedition led by Captain Ejnar Mikkelsen was attempting to disprove the United States’ claim to North Eastern Greenland, a claim that was rooted in the idea that Greenland was broken up into two different pieces of land. Leaving their crew behind with the ship, Mikkelsen sleds across the ice with his inexperienced crew member, Iver Iversen. The two men succeed in finding the proof that Greenland is one island, but returning to the ship takes longer and is much harder than expected. Battling extreme hunger, fatigue and a polar bear attack, they finally arrive to find their ship crushed in the ice and the camp abandoned.
Director: Peter Flinth
Writers: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Joe Derrick, Ejnar Mikkelsen
Starring: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Joe Cole, Charles Dance
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15 The Survivor
Post World War II, Harry Haft is a boxer who fought fellow prisoners in the concentration camps to survive. Haunted by memories and guilt, he attempts to use high-profile fights against boxing legends like Rocky Marciano as a way to find his first love again.
Director: Barry Levinson
Writers: Justine Gilmer, Alan Scott Haft
Starring: Ben Foster, Billy Magnussen, Danny DeVito
Box office: $177 000
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14 Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
Explores every facet of Yankovic’s life, from his meteoric rise to fame with early hits like ‘Eat It’ and ‘Like a Surgeon’ to his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle.
Director: Eric Appel
Writers: ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic, Eric Appel
Starring: Daniel Radcliffe, Diedrich Bader, Rainn Wilson
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13 Jerry & Marge Go Large
Based on the true story about long-married couple Jerry and Marge Selbee, who win the lottery and use the money to revive their small town.
Director: David Frankel
Writers: Brad Copeland, Jason Fagone
Starring: Bryan Cranston, Annette Bening, Rainn Wilson
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12 Operation Mincemeat
In the context of WW2 narratives, the story of Operation Mincemeat is unique a bizarre and seductive cinematic blend of high-level espionage and ingenious fiction, where the stakes could hardly be higher. Michelle Ashford’s script fuses multiple strands and moods: tense, romantic, thrilling, unexpectedly funny, and endlessly surprising. It tells a richly human story of the soldiers we seldom see, who fight a different kind of war in shadows and deception, haunted by the knowledge that certainty and guarantee of success are nowhere to be found.
Director: John Madden
Writers: Michelle Ashford, Ben Macintyre
Starring: Colin Firth, Matthew Macfadyen, Kelly Macdonald
Box office: $15 710 000
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11 The Phantom of the Open
The heart-warming true story of Maurice Flitcroft, who entered the 1976 Open despite never playing a round of golf before. The extraordinary story of an ordinary man, The Phantom of the Open is an uplifting and moving comedy drama about pursuing your dreams and shooting for the stars, no matter what hand you’re dealt.
Director: Craig Roberts
Writers: Scott Murray, Simon Farnaby
Starring: Mark Rylance, Sally Hawkins, Rhys Ifans
Box office: $4 024 000
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10 Rescued by Ruby
Ruby had an awful lot of energy. Her original owner surrendered her to the Rhode Island Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals because of her generally “unmanageable” personality. The cute pup was quickly adopted and then returned – five times. Things were looking pretty grim for the border collie/Australian shepherd mix. Hours away from being euthanized, officer Daniel O’Neil was smitten with her. He thought she had potential and decided to pursue his dream of being a canine officer. Could this be his new partner? This is the true story of how these two underdogs found their dream together.
Director: Katt Shea
Writers: Karen Janszen, Squire D. Rushnell, Louise DuArt
Starring: Grant Gustin, Scott Wolf, Kaylah Zander
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9 Argentina, 1985
‘Argentina, 1985’ is inspired by the true story of Julio Strassera, Luis Moreno Ocampo and their young legal team of unlikely heroes in their David-vs-Goliath battle to prosecute Argentina’s bloodiest military dictatorship against all odds and in a race against time to bring justice to the victims of the Military Junta.
Director: Santiago Mitre
Writers: Mariano Llinás, Martín Mauregui, Santiago Mitre
Starring: Ricardo Darín, Gina Mastronicola, Francisco Bertín
Box office: $905 000
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8 Call Jane
Set in the late 1960s, a pregnant housewife finds out she has a potentially life threatening illness, and the only treatment is to have an abortion. Declined by the hospital board of directors, she sets out to find an alternative to hospital treatment. Upon finding a group who offer services to facilitate illegal abortions, she then gets more involved in the service, “Call Jane.”
Director: Phyllis Nagy
Writers: Hayley Schore, Roshan Sethi
Starring: Elizabeth Banks, Sigourney Weaver, Chris Messina
Box office: $694 000
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7 Emily
“Emily” imagines Emily Brontë’s own Gothic story that inspired her seminal novel, ‘Wuthering Heights.’ Haunted by her mother’s death, Emily struggles within the confines of her family life and yearns for artistic and personal freedom, and so begins a journey to channel her creative potential into one of the greatest novels of all time.
Director: Frances O’Connor
Writer: Frances O’Connor
Starring: Emma Mackey, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Fionn Whitehead
Box office: $4 147 000
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6 Rogue Agent
The extraordinary and chilling story of career conman Robert Freegard who masqueraded as an MI5 agent and fooled people into going into hiding, and the woman who fell for him, and then brought him down.
Director: Adam Patterson
Writers: Adam Patterson, Michael Bronner
Starring: James Norton, Gemma Arterton, Marisa Abela
Box office: $192 000
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5 Elvis
The life of American music icon Elvis Presley, from his childhood to becoming a rock and movie star in the 1950s while maintaining a complex relationship with his manager, Colonel Tom Parker.
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Writers: Sam Bromell, Craig Pearce, Baz Luhrmann
Starring: Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge
Budget: $85 000 000
Box office: $287 740 000
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4 Bandit
After escaping a Michigan prison, a charming career criminal assumes a new identity in Canada and goes on to rob a record 59 banks and jewellery stores while being hunted by a police task force. Based on the story of The Flying Bandit.
Director: Allan Ungar
Writers: Kraig Wenman, Robert Knuckle
Starring: Josh Duhamel, Elisha Cuthbert, Mel Gibson
Box office: $467 000
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3 Babylon
A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess, it traces the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood.
Director: Damien Chazelle
Writer: Damien Chazelle
Starring: Margot Robbie, Olivia Wilde, Brad Pitt
Budget: $78 000 000
Box office: $63 379 000
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2 The Greatest Beer Run Ever
A man’s story of leaving New York in 1967 to bring beer to his childhood buddies in the Army while they are fighting in Vietnam.
Director: Peter Farrelly
Writers: Peter Farrelly, Brian Hayes Currie, Pete Jones
Starring: Zac Efron, Russell Crowe, Jake Picking
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1 Thirteen Lives
A rescue mission is assembled in Thailand where a group of young boys and their soccer coach are trapped in a system of underground caves that are flooding.
Director: Ron Howard
Writers: William Nicholson, Don MacPherson
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, Joel Edgerton
Budget: $55 000 000
Trailer:
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