Entertainment
The Best Adventure Movies That Take Place in the Jungle
The jungle is a dangerous place to go looking for an adventure. The best jungle action movies feature characters out of their element as they struggle to survive in a world filled with giant plants, deadly quicksand, and predators with razor-sharp fangs. This is a list of the greatest movies that take place in the jungle including everything from King Kong to Romancing the Stone to Six Days Seven Nights.
What films will you find on this list of the top jungle adventure movies and films set in the forest? Apocalypse Now puts an especially grim twist on the genre by setting the film in Cambodia during the Vietnam War. In one of the movie's many memorable moments, Captain Benjamin Willard (Martin Sheen) laments the fate of Colonel Walter Kurtz (Marlon Brando), saying, “Even the jungle wanted him dead, and that's who he really took his orders from anyway.” On the sci-fi end of the spectrum, Predator pitted an alien menace against Arnold Schwarzenegger in the wilds of Central America. Other notable titles on this list of jungle movies include Jumanji, The Blue Lagoon, and The African Queen.
Do you have a favorite film set in the jungle? Give the best movies a thumbs up and share some of your favorite scenes in the comments section.
Ranked by
- 1
Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum- Released: 1993
- Directed by: Steven Spielberg
In Steven Spielberg's massive blockbuster, paleontologists Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) are among a select group chosen to tour ...more - 2Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Jesse Ventura
- Released: 1987
- Directed by: John McTiernan
Dutch (Arnold Schwarzenegger), a soldier of fortune, is hired by the U.S. government to secretly rescue a group of politicians trapped in Guatemala. But when Dutch and his team, which includes ...more - 3Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody
- Released: 2005
- Directed by: Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson's expansive remake of the 1933 classic follows director Carl Denham (Jack Black) and his crew on a journey from New York City to the ominous Skull Island to film a new movie. ...more - 4Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, John Goodman
- Released: 2017
- Directed by: Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Kong: Skull Island is a 2017 American monster film directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts. The film is a reboot of the King Kong franchise and will serve as the second film in Legendary's GodzillaKong film ...more - 5Robin Williams, Bonnie Hunt, Kirsten Dunst
- Released: 1995
- Directed by: Joe Johnston
A magical board game unleashes a world of adventure on siblings Peter (Bradley Pierce) and Judy Shepherd (Kirsten Dunst). While exploring an old mansion, the youngsters find a curious, jungle-themed ...more - 6Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, Danny DeVito
- Released: 1984
- Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
A dowdy romantic-adventure writer is hurled into a real-life adventure in the Colombian jungle in order to save her sister, who will be killed if a treasure map is not delivered to her captors. She ...more - 7Rudy Youngblood, Raoul Max Trujillo, Dalia Hernandez
- Released: 2006
- Directed by: Mel Gibson
The Mayan kingdom is at the height of its opulence and power but the foundations of the empire are beginning to crumble. The leaders believe they must build more temples and sacrifice more people or ...more - 8Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black
- Released: 2017
- Directed by: Jake Kasdan
Four high school kids discover an old video game console and are drawn into the game's jungle setting, literally becoming the adult avatars they chose. What they discover is that you don't just play ...more - 9Sam Neill, William H. Macy, Téa Leoni
- Released: 2001
- Directed by: Joe Johnston
After being persuaded by a wealthy businessman to conduct an aerial tour of Isla Sorna, InGen's second site for a failed Jurassic Park experiment, Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) discovers the true reason ...more - 10Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, Pete Postlethwaite
- Released: 1997
- Directed by: Steven Spielberg
John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) summons chaos theorist Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) to his home with some startling information -- while nearly everything at his Jurassic Park had been destroyed, ...more - 11Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Morley
- Released: 1951
- Directed by: John Huston
After religious spinster's (Katharine Hepburn) missionary brother is killed in WWI Africa, dissolute steamer captain (Humphrey Bogart) offers her safe passage. She's not satisfied so she persuades ...more - 12Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter
- Released: 1968
- Directed by: Franklin J. Schaffner
Complex sociological themes run through this science-fiction classic about three astronauts marooned on a futuristic planet where apes rule and humans are slaves. The stunned trio discovers that ...more - 13Alicia Vikander, Dominic West, Walton Goggins
- Released: 2018
- Directed by: Roar Uthaug
Lara Croft is the fiercely independent daughter of an eccentric adventurer who vanished years earlier. Hoping to solve the mystery of her father's disappearance, Croft embarks on a perilous journey ...more - 14Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Edgar Ramírez
- Released: 2021
- Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra
Dr. Lily Houghton enlists the aid of wisecracking skipper Frank Wolff to take her down the Amazon in his ramshackle boat. Together, they search for an ancient tree that holds the power to heal -- a ...more - 15Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black
- Released: 2019
- Directed by: Jake Kasdan
When Spencer goes back into the fantastical world of Jumanji, pals Martha, Fridge and Bethany re-enter the game to bring him home. But the game is now broken -- and fighting back. Everything the ...more - 16Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Shia LaBeouf
- Released: 2008
- Directed by: Steven Spielberg
It's the height of the Cold War, and famous archaeologist Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford), returning from his latest adventure, finds out his job at Marshall College is in jeopardy. He meets Mutt (Shia ...more - 17Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall
- Released: 1979
- Directed by: Francis Ford Coppola
In Vietnam in 1970, Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) takes a perilous and increasingly hallucinatory journey upriver to find and terminate Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando), a once-promising officer who ...more - 18Jeff Bridges, Jessica Lange, Charles Grodin
- Released: 1976
- Directed by: John Guillermin
When a research ship is sent to explore an island thought to be rich in oil, paleontologist Jack Prescott (Jeff Bridges) sneaks aboard, having heard strange rumors about the island. En route, the ...more - 19Alexander Skarsgård, Rory J. Saper, Christian Stevens
- Released: 2016
- Directed by: David Yates
The Legend of Tarzan is a 2016 American adventure film directed by David Yates, based on the fictional character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan (Alexander Skarsgard), having acclimated to ...more - 20Adrien Brody, Topher Grace, Alice Braga
- Released: 2010
- Directed by: Nimród Antal
Brought together on a mysterious planet, a mercenary (Adrien Brody) and a group of coldblooded killers now become the prey. A new breed of aliens pursues the ragtag humans through dense jungle. The ...more - 21Harrison Ford, Anne Heche, David Schwimmer
- Released: 1998
- Directed by: Ivan Reitman
Six Days Seven Nights is a 1998 adventure-comedy film, directed by Ivan Reitman and starring Harrison Ford and Anne Heche. The screenplay was written by Michael Browning. It was filmed on location in ...more - 22Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Julia Nickson
- Released: 1985
- Directed by: George P. Cosmatos
John Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) is doing hard time in jail when his former boss, Col. Troutman (Richard Crenna), offers him a deal. If Rambo travels to Vietnam to try to find the American prisoners ...more - 23Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Rohan Chand
- Released: 2018
- Directed by: Andy Serkis
Human child Mowgli is raised by a wolf pack in the jungles of India. As he learns the often harsh rules of the jungle, under the tutelage of a bear named Baloo and a panther named Bagheera, Mowgli ...more - 24Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight
- Released: 1997
- Directed by: Luis Llosa
Filmmaker Terri Flores (Jennifer Lopez) is traveling deep in the Amazon jungle looking for a forgotten tribe. Terri and her crew, which includes an anthropologist (Eric Stoltz) and a cameraman (Ice ...more - 25Dwayne Johnson, Seann William Scott, Rosario Dawson
- Released: 2003
- Directed by: Peter Berg
Beck (The Rock) is a tight-lipped bounty hunter who doesn't like to use a gun and accepts any job without asking questions. When Beck's employer, Walker (William Lucking), sends him to the Amazon to ...more
