Movies about Nuclear War

The threat of global nuclear conflict has inspired countless films and series, from chillingly realistic dramas to science fiction. If you're trying to recall a specific movie or show about nuclear war, describe the scene or plot detail you remember, or browse the titles listed below.

37 titles.

World War Z
7.0

World War Z

2013

Life for former United Nations investigator Gerry Lane and his family seems content. Suddenly, the world is plagued by a mysterious infection turning whole human populations into rampaging mindless zombies. After barely escaping the chaos, Lane is persuaded to go on a mission to investigate this disease. What follows is a perilous trek around the world where Lane must brave horrific dangers and long odds to find answers before human civilization falls.

ActionHorrorScience FictionThriller Movie
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Terminator 2: Judgment Day
8.0

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

1991

Set ten years after the events of the original, James Cameron’s classic sci-fi action flick tells the story of a second attempt to get rid of rebellion leader John Connor, this time targeting the boy himself. However, the rebellion has sent a reprogrammed terminator to protect Connor.

ActionThrillerScience Fiction Movie
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X-Men: First Class
7.0

X-Men: First Class

2011

Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were arch-enemies, they were closest of friends, working together with other mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known.

ActionScience FictionAdventure Movie
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Tenet
7.0

Tenet

2020

Armed with only one word - Tenet - and fighting for the survival of the entire world, the Protagonist journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time.

ActionThrillerScience Fiction Movie
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Oppenheimer
8.0

Oppenheimer

2023

The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer's role in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.

DramaHistory Movie
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Top Gun: Maverick
8.0

Top Gun: Maverick

2022

After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell finds himself training a detachment of TOP GUN graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen.

ActionDrama Movie
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Watchmen
7.0

Watchmen

2009

In a gritty and alternate 1985, the glory days of costumed vigilantes have been brought to a close by a government crackdown. But after one of the masked veterans is brutally murdered, an investigation into the killer is initiated. The reunited heroes set out to prevent their own destruction, but in doing so they uncover a sinister plot that puts all of humanity in grave danger.

MysteryActionScience Fiction Movie
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Mission: Impossible - Fallout
7.0

Mission: Impossible - Fallout

2018

When an IMF mission ends badly, the world is faced with dire consequences. As Ethan Hunt takes it upon himself to fulfill his original briefing, the CIA begin to question his loyalty and his motives. The IMF team find themselves in a race against time, hunted by assassins while trying to prevent a global catastrophe.

ActionAdventure Movie
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A Good Day to Die Hard
5.0

A Good Day to Die Hard

2013

Iconoclastic, take-no-prisoners cop John McClane, finds himself for the first time on foreign soil after traveling to Moscow to help his wayward son Jack - unaware that Jack is really a highly-trained CIA operative out to stop a nuclear weapons heist. With the Russian underworld in pursuit, and battling a countdown to war, the two McClanes discover that their opposing methods make them unstoppable heroes.

ActionThriller Movie
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Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
8.0

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

1964

After the insane General Jack D. Ripper initiates a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, a war room full of politicians, generals and a Russian diplomat all frantically try to stop the nuclear strike.

ComedyWar Movie
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Stargate
7.0

Stargate

1994

An interstellar teleportation device, found in Egypt, leads to a planet with humans resembling ancient Egyptians who worship the god Ra.

ActionAdventureScience Fiction Movie
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Fallout
8.0

Fallout

2024

The story of haves and have-nots in a world in which there’s almost nothing left to have. 200 years after the apocalypse, the gentle denizens of luxury fallout shelters are forced to return to the irradiated hellscape their ancestors left behind — and are shocked to discover an incredibly complex, gleefully weird, and highly violent universe waiting for them.

Sci-Fi & FantasyAction & AdventureDrama Show
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Superman IV: The Quest for Peace
5.0

Superman IV: The Quest for Peace

1987

With global superpowers engaged in an increasingly hostile arms race, Superman leads a crusade to rid the world of nuclear weapons. But Lex Luthor, recently sprung from jail, is declaring war on the Man of Steel and his quest to save the planet. Using a strand of Superman's hair, Luthor synthesizes a powerful ally known as Nuclear Man and ignites an epic battle spanning Earth and space.

ActionAdventureScience Fiction Movie
More details Found in 38 other searches
Z for Zachariah
6.0

Z for Zachariah

2015

In the wake of a nuclear war, a young woman survives on her own, fearing she may actually be the proverbial last woman on earth, until she discovers the most astonishing sight of her life: another human being. A distraught scientist, he’s nearly been driven mad by radiation exposure and his desperate search for others. A fragile, imperative strand of trust connects them. But when a stranger enters the valley, their precarious bond begins to unravel.

DramaRomanceScience Fiction Movie
More details Found in 39 other searches
La Jetée
8.0

La Jetée

1962

A man is sent back and forth and in and out of time in an experiment that attempts to unravel the fate and the solution to the problems of a post-apocalyptic world during the aftermath of WW3. The experiment results in him getting caught up in a perpetual reminiscence of past events that are recreated on an airport’s viewing pier.

RomanceScience Fiction Movie
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The Sacrifice
8.0

The Sacrifice

1986

Alexander, a journalist, philosopher and retired actor, celebrates a birthday with friends and family when it is announced that nuclear war has begun.

Drama Movie
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The Day After
7.0

The Day After

1983

In the mid-1980s, the U.S. is poised on the brink of nuclear war. This shadow looms over the residents of a small town in Kansas as they continue their daily lives. Dr. Russell Oakes maintains his busy schedule at the hospital, Denise Dahlberg prepares for her upcoming wedding, and Stephen Klein is deep in his graduate studies. When the unthinkable happens and the bombs come down, the town's residents are thrust into the horrors of nuclear winter.

Science FictionDramaTV Movie Movie
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Cosmos: A Personal Voyage
9.0

Cosmos: A Personal Voyage

1980

Carl Sagan covers a wide range of scientific subjects, including the origin of life and a perspective of our place in the universe.

Documentary Show
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When the Wind Blows
7.0

When the Wind Blows

1986

With the help of government-issued pamphlets, an elderly British couple build a shelter and prepare for an impending nuclear attack, unaware that times and the nature of war have changed from their romantic memories of World War II.

AnimationWarScience Fiction Movie
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Miracle Mile
7.0

Miracle Mile

1989

After 30 years of searching, Harry has finally met the girl of his dreams. Unfortunately, before they even have a chance to go on their first date, Harry intercepts some chilling news: WWIII has begun and nuclear missiles will destroy Los Angeles in less than an hour!

RomanceDramaScience FictionThrillerComedyAction Movie
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To End All War: Oppenheimer & the Atomic Bomb
8.0

To End All War: Oppenheimer & the Atomic Bomb

2023

Explore how one man's relentless drive and invention of the atomic bomb changed the nature of war forever, led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and unleashed mass hysteria.

DocumentaryHistory Movie
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On the Beach
7.0

On the Beach

1959

In 1964, atomic war wipes out humanity in the northern hemisphere; one American submarine finds temporary safe haven in Australia, where life-as-usual covers growing despair. In denial about the loss of his wife and children in the holocaust, American Captain Towers meets careworn but gorgeous Moira Davidson, who begins to fall for him. The sub returns after reconnaissance a month (or less) before the end; will Towers and Moira find comfort with each other?

Science FictionDramaRomance Movie
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Seven Days in May
7.0

Seven Days in May

1964

A U.S. Army colonel alerts the president of a planned military coup against him.

DramaThriller Movie
More details Found in 5 other searches
The War Game
8.0

The War Game

1966

A docudrama depicting a hypothetical nuclear attack on Britain. After backing the film's development, the BBC refused to air it, publicly stating "the effect of the film has been judged by the BBC to be too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting." It debuted in theaters in 1966 and went on to great acclaim, but remained unseen on British television until 1985.

WarTV Movie Movie
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Watchmen: Chapter I
8.0

Watchmen: Chapter I

2024

In 1985, the murder of a government-sponsored superhero draws his outlawed colleagues out of retirement and into a mystery that threatens to upend their personal lives and the world itself.

AnimationDramaScience Fiction Movie
More details Found in 37 other searches
Testament
6.0

Testament

1983

It is just another day in the small town of Hamlin until something disastrous happens. Suddenly, news breaks that a series of nuclear warheads has been dropped along the Eastern Seaboard and, more locally, in California. As people begin coping with the devastating aftermath of the attacks — many suffer radiation poisoning — the Wetherly family tries to survive.

DramaScience Fiction Movie
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Panic in Year Zero!
6.0

Panic in Year Zero!

1962

While on a fishing trip, Harry Baldwin and his family hear an explosion and realize that Los Angeles has been leveled by a nuclear attack. Looters and killers are everywhere. Escaping to the hills with his family, he sets about the business of surviving in a world where, he knows, the old ideals of humanity will be the first casualties.

DramaScience FictionThriller Movie
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Watchmen: Chapter II
8.0

Watchmen: Chapter II

2024

Suspicious of the events ensnaring their former colleagues, Nite Owl and Silk Spectre are spurred out of retirement to investigate. As they grapple with personal ethics, inner demons and a society turned against them, they race the clock to uncover a deepening plot that might trigger global nuclear war.

AnimationMysteryScience FictionActionDrama Movie
More details Found in 38 other searches
Fail Safe
7.0

Fail Safe

2000

Cold War tensions climb to a fever pitch when a U.S. bomber is accidentally ordered to drop a nuclear warhead on Moscow.

DramaThrillerTV Movie Movie
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The World, the Flesh and the Devil
6.0

The World, the Flesh and the Devil

1959

Ralph Burton is a miner who is trapped for several days as a result of a cave-in. When he finally manages to dig himself out, he realizes that all of mankind seems to have been destroyed in a nuclear holocaust. He travels to New York City only to find it deserted. Making a life for himself there, he is flabbergasted to eventually find Sarah Crandall, who also managed to survive. Together, they form a close friendship until the arrival of Benson Thacker who has managed to pilot his small boat into the city's harbor. At this point, tensions rise between the three, particularly between Thacker, who is white, and Burton, who is black.

DramaScience FictionRomance Movie
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The Atomic Cafe
7.0

The Atomic Cafe

1982

A disturbing collection of 1940s and 1950s United States government-issued propaganda films designed to reassure Americans that the atomic bomb was not a threat to their safety.

DocumentaryHistory Movie
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Day the World Ended
5.0

Day the World Ended

1955

After a nuclear attack, an unlikely group of survivors, including a geologist, a crook and his moll, and a prospector, find temporary shelter in the remote-valley home of a survivalist and his beautiful daughter, but soon have to deal with the spread of radioactivity - and its effects on animal life, including humans.

HorrorScience Fiction Movie
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The Big Snit
7.0

The Big Snit

1985

A couple has a fight over a game of Scrabble unaware that a full-scale nuclear war has started.

AnimationComedy Movie
The Phenomenon
6.0

The Phenomenon

2020

This documentary examines unidentified aerial phenomenon. With testimony from high-ranking government officials, and NASA Astronauts, Senator Harry Reid says it "makes the incredible credible."

Documentary Movie
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Helios
5.0

Helios

2015

Wanted criminal "Helios" and his assistant stole a quantity of uranium and plan to produce weapons of mass destruction. They are planning to trade with a terrorist organization in Hong Kong. Chief Inspector Lee Yinming and Inspector Fan Kaming lead the Counter Terrorism Response Unit of the Hong Kong Police Force. Along with a Chinese senior official, a physics professor, and two South Korean weapon experts, they hope to defuse a crisis sufficient to destroy the world.

ActionMysteryAdventureThriller Movie
The Man Who Saved the World
7.0

The Man Who Saved the World

2014

The Man Who Saved the World is a feature documentary film about Stanislav Petrov, a former lieutenant colonel of the Soviet Air Defence Forces.

DocumentaryHistoryWar Movie
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Watchmen: Motion Comic
8.0

Watchmen: Motion Comic

2008

When one of his former colleagues is murdered, the outlawed but no less determined masked vigilante Rorschach sets out to uncover a plot to kill and discredit all past and present superheroes. As he reconnects with his former crime-fighting legion — a disbanded group of retired superheroes, only one of whom has true powers — Rorschach glimpses a wide-ranging and disturbing conspiracy with links to their shared past and catastrophic consequences for the future.

AnimationDramaSci-Fi & FantasyMystery Show
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