# The 51 Best Movies Based on Nonfiction Books

> Every film here started life as somebody's reporting, memoir or history before a screenwriter got hold of it, so mob sagas share the field with quiet survival stories.

*By YPB Team · Published October 30, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-51-best-movies-based-on-nonfiction-books*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Apollo 13** — score 1000/1000
   Ron Howard's 1995 space-rescue drama based on Jim Lovell's book Lost Moon.
2. **Into the Wild** — score 856/1000
   Sean Penn's 2007 film of Jon Krakauer's book about Christopher McCandless.
3. **Awakenings** — score 828/1000
   The 1990 drama adapted from Oliver Sacks's account of reviving catatonic patients.
4. **Killers of the Flower Moon** — score 828/1000
   Martin Scorsese's 2023 film from David Grann's account of the Osage murders.
5. **Moneyball** — score 810/1000
   The 2011 baseball drama based on Michael Lewis's book about the Oakland A's.
6. **The Big Short** — score 785/1000
   Adam McKay's 2015 financial-crisis satire adapted from Michael Lewis's book.
7. **BlacKkKlansman** — score 785/1000
   Spike Lee's 2018 film based on Ron Stallworth's memoir of infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan.
8. **Goodfellas** — score 759/1000
   Martin Scorsese's 1990 mob classic adapted from Nicholas Pileggi's book Wiseguy.
9. **The Imitation Game** — score 738/1000
   The 2014 Alan Turing drama adapted from Andrew Hodges's biography.
10. **Argo** — score 738/1000
   Ben Affleck's 2012 Best Picture winner drawn from CIA officer Tony Mendez's memoir.
11. **The Perfect Storm** — score 738/1000
   The 2000 disaster film from Sebastian Junger's book about the lost Andrea Gail.
12. **The Lost City of Z** — score 738/1000
   James Gray's 2016 exploration drama based on David Grann's book about Percy Fawcett.
13. **The Wolf of Wall Street** — score 701/1000
   Martin Scorsese's 2013 excess-fuelled film of Jordan Belfort's memoir.
14. **A Bridge Too Far** — score 686/1000
   The 1977 war epic of Operation Market Garden from Cornelius Ryan's book.
15. **Wild** — score 685/1000
   The 2014 film of Cheryl Strayed's memoir of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail alone.
16. **Captain Phillips** — score 685/1000
   Paul Greengrass's 2013 piracy thriller based on Richard Phillips's book A Captain's Duty.
17. **American Sniper** — score 685/1000
   Clint Eastwood's 2014 war drama based on Chris Kyle's autobiography.
18. **Zodiac** — score 685/1000
   David Fincher's 2007 serial-killer procedural based on Robert Graysmith's books.
19. **Seabiscuit** — score 561/1000
   The 2003 racehorse drama adapted from Laura Hillenbrand's bestselling history.
20. **127 Hours** — score 561/1000
   Danny Boyle's 2010 survival film based on Aron Ralston's memoir.
21. **The Diving Bell and the Butterfly** — score 561/1000
   Julian Schnabel's 2007 film of Jean-Dominique Bauby's memoir dictated by blinking.
22. **Out of Africa** — score 561/1000
   The 1985 Best Picture winner adapted from Karen Blixen's memoir of Kenya.
23. **Donnie Brasco** — score 561/1000
   The 1997 undercover thriller based on FBI agent Joseph Pistone's memoir.
24. **Molly's Game** — score 561/1000
   Aaron Sorkin's 2017 directing debut based on Molly Bloom's memoir of running poker games.
25. **A Beautiful Mind** — score 486/1000
   Ron Howard's 2001 Best Picture winner based on Sylvia Nasar's biography of John Nash.
26. **Steve Jobs** — score 486/1000
   Danny Boyle's 2015 biopic drawn from Walter Isaacson's authorized biography.
27. **The Theory of Everything** — score 486/1000
   The 2014 Stephen Hawking biopic adapted from Jane Hawking's memoir.
28. **Born on the Fourth of July** — score 486/1000
   Oliver Stone's 1989 film of Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic's memoir.
29. **In Cold Blood** — score 486/1000
   The 1967 crime film adapted from Truman Capote's landmark nonfiction novel.
30. **Alive** — score 486/1000
   The 1993 survival drama based on Piers Paul Read's account of the Andes plane crash.
31. **The Social Network** — score 486/1000
   David Fincher's 2010 Facebook origin story drawn from Ben Mezrich's The Accidental Billionaires.
32. **The Blind Side** — score 486/1000
   The 2009 football drama based on Michael Lewis's book about Michael Oher.
33. **The Pianist** — score 401/1000
   Roman Polański's 2002 film of Władysław Szpilman's Holocaust memoir.
34. **The Great Escape** — score 401/1000
   The 1963 POW classic based on Paul Brickhill's account of the Stalag Luft III breakout.
35. **The Longest Day** — score 401/1000
   The 1962 D-Day epic adapted from Cornelius Ryan's history of the Normandy landings.
36. **Nomadland** — score 401/1000
   Chloé Zhao's 2020 Best Picture winner adapted from Jessica Bruder's book on van-dwelling workers.
37. **The Right Stuff** — score 401/1000
   The 1983 astronaut epic adapted from Tom Wolfe's book on the Mercury Seven.
38. **Girl, Interrupted** — score 401/1000
   The 1999 psychiatric-ward drama based on Susanna Kaysen's memoir.
39. **Midnight Express** — score 401/1000
   Alan Parker's 1978 prison drama based on Billy Hayes's memoir.
40. **Lone Survivor** — score 401/1000
   The 2013 war film based on Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell's account of Operation Red Wings.
41. **12 Years a Slave** — score 401/1000
   Steve McQueen's Best Picture winner adapted from Solomon Northup's 1853 memoir.
42. **Catch Me If You Can** — score 302/1000
   Steven Spielberg's 2002 caper drawn from Frank Abagnale's memoir.
43. **Raging Bull** — score 302/1000
   Martin Scorsese's 1980 boxing drama adapted from Jake LaMotta's memoir.
44. **Casino** — score 302/1000
   Martin Scorsese's 1995 Las Vegas epic based on Nicholas Pileggi's book.
45. **Black Hawk Down** — score 302/1000
   Ridley Scott's 2001 war film based on Mark Bowden's account of the Battle of Mogadishu.
46. **Unbroken** — score 302/1000
   Angelina Jolie's 2014 film of Laura Hillenbrand's biography of Louis Zamperini.
47. **All the President's Men** — score 187/1000
   The 1976 Watergate thriller based on Woodward and Bernstein's account of their investigation.
48. **Hidden Figures** — score 187/1000
   The 2016 drama from Margot Lee Shetterly's book about Black women mathematicians at NASA.
49. **Sully** — score 187/1000
   Clint Eastwood's 2016 Hudson River landing drama based on Chesley Sullenberger's memoir.
50. **Oppenheimer** — score 0/1000
   Christopher Nolan's 2023 epic based on the biography American Prometheus.
51. **Friday Night Lights** — score 0/1000
   The 2004 high-school football film from H.G. Bissinger's book on Odessa, Texas.

Tags: movies, books, adaptations, nonfiction, true story