Dynamic Watchlist Hub: Jan 19, 2026

10 Best Movies Like 12 Years a Slave

If you loved 12 Years a Slave, we've curated the perfect watchlist for you based on shared genres, themes, and directorial style.

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Expert Review & Ratings

See our full critical analysis and audience score for 12 Years a Slave.

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#1
Dallas Buyers Club

Dallas Buyers Club

2013★ 7.9

Why watch this? A perfect follow-up to 12 Years a Slave for fans of Drama & History. It captures a similar emotionally gripping atmosphere.

Loosely based on the true-life tale of Ron Woodroof, a drug-taking, women-loving, homophobic man who in 1986 was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and given thirty days to live....

#2
127 Hours

127 Hours

2010★ 7.1

Why watch this? A perfect follow-up to 12 Years a Slave for fans of Drama. It captures a similar emotionally gripping atmosphere.

The true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston's remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah....

#3
The Intouchables

The Intouchables

2011★ 8.3

Why watch this? A perfect follow-up to 12 Years a Slave for fans of Drama. It captures a similar light-hearted atmosphere.

A true story of two men who should never have met – a quadriplegic aristocrat who was injured in a paragliding accident and a young man from the projects....

#4
The Butler

The Butler

2013★ 7.3

Why watch this? A perfect follow-up to 12 Years a Slave for fans of Drama. It captures a similar emotionally gripping atmosphere.

Cecil Gaines was a sharecropper's son who grew up in the 1920s as a domestic servant for the white family who casually destroyed his. Eventually striking out on his own, Cecil beco...

#5
Captain Phillips

Captain Phillips

2013★ 7.5

Why watch this? A perfect follow-up to 12 Years a Slave for fans of Drama. It captures a similar adrenaline-pumping atmosphere.

The true story of Captain Richard Phillips and the 2009 hijacking by Somali pirates of the US-flagged MV Maersk Alabama, the first American cargo ship to be hijacked in two hundred...

#6
The Book Thief

The Book Thief

2013★ 7.5

Why watch this? A perfect follow-up to 12 Years a Slave for fans of Drama. It captures a similar emotionally gripping atmosphere.

While subjected to the horrors of WWII Germany, young Liesel finds solace by stealing books and sharing them with others. Under the stairs in her home, a Jewish refugee is being sh...