10 historical biopics to watch after Oppenheimer (2025)

So you've seen Oppenheimer and now you're itching for more history by way of Hollywood. Maybe you want something in a similar vein, like historical biopics of complicated icons who sometimes wear good tailoring, or maybe you want something more modern, like the future changing right before our eyes.

It's no secret that Hollywood loves a biopic – just look at every Oscars ceremony for the last couple of decades. We simply can't get enough of not having to open history books! With Oppenheimer still nuking the box office, we've put together a list of other films based on true stories to give you a roster of small talk anecdotes for the rest of time. Here are the biopics that will drag you in front of the TV and make you say: “Now I am become comfy, watcher of movies."

10. JFK (1991)

Since its release in cinemas, Oppenheimer's most consistent Hollywood comparison has been the 1991 Oliver Stone film JFK. Both films manage to make dry and stale courtroom dialogue some of the most gripping cinematic moments put to screen, and while Oppenheimer's political sparring centres around Oppy (Cillian Murphy) and Strauss (Robert Downey Jr) protecting their careers, JFK revolves around the investigation into the assassination of John F. Kennedy. With a cast that includes Kevin Costner, Kevin Bacon, Tommy Lee Jones and Gary Oldman (who also appears in Oppenheimer), JFK skirts some history in favour of sensationalism, leaning into conspiracies rather than holding down the fort of truth. Even so, its three-hour runtime whizzes by. You can watch JFK on Disney+.

9. Milk (2008)

With Milk, Sean Penn nabbed an acting Oscar for playing the iconic and revolutionary Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California. Directed by Gus Van Sant and written by Dustin Lance Black, this biopic delves into the early years of Milk, his rise to prominence in San Francisco's political circuit off the back of a campaign of queer inclusion and grassroots community building all the way to his untimely assassination at the hands of a colleague. Sure, this is a cookie-cutter biopic in terms of structure (there are no Oppenheimer cuts to black and white here), but Milk tells such a striking and devastating story that sadly still feels like it has resonance even today. You can watch Milk on Amazon.

8. The Imitation Game (2014)

At the same time Oppenheimer was slaving away over the A-bomb in New Mexico, in back rooms in England, codebreakers were needling away at trying to decipher German codes that could give them an advantage over our greatest enemy. Alan Turing, whose treatment post-war as a gay man is still one of history's greatest stains, was the cryptanalyst instrumental in cracking the Enigma machine that Nazis used to send messages. The film follows him and his team at Bletchley Park as they try and get ahead of time and help win the war. A classic war movie that Brits know and love, but the sensitive portrayal of Turing by Benedict Cumberbatch, as well as a supporting cast of Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode and Rory Kinnear, makes it more than worthy of a watch. You can watch The Imitation Game on Netflix.

7. Malcolm X (1992)

Malcolm X was a complicated figure in history. Controversial for his advocacy of violence and religious doctrine, he was also instrumental in the fight for civil rights for the Black community in America during the 50s and 60s. Directed by Spike Lee, this Denzel Washington-starring biopic leans heavily on the theatrics, mixing stylised and choppy filmmaking with a deft understanding of the weight of the figure at hand. Malcolm X isn't trying to recant history exactly as it was, instead, it was trying to re-educate a community in the 90s that may have forgotten what it was fighting for. You can watch Malcolm X on the BFI.

6. A Beautiful Mind (2001)

John Nash might not be a household name like Malcolm X, but the mathematician, who gained a Nobel Laurette in Economics, was instrumental in our understanding of game theory, the mathematical pattern of logical interactions. In A Beautiful Mind, Nash, played by Russell Crowe who was nominated for an Oscar, is tasked with finding patterns and codes in magazines as a way to intercept Soviet messaging, however, it's only when a diagnosis of schizophrenia is revealed that it's clear not everything has been as it seems. The film is directed by Ron Howard, which says a lot about how schmaltzy it can get, but there's really no one that can do schmaltz like Howard. You can watch A Beautiful Mind on Amazon.

5. The Wolf of Wall Street (2014)

The Wolf of Wall Street, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, centres around one of the grimmest business figures of the last fifty years – Jordan Belfort. Following the Wall Street crash, Belfort realises he can game the system to come out on top, not caring what casualties are left in his wake. Eventually, the law catches up with him, and his castle of excess and ego comes crashing down. DiCaprio is excellent as Belfort, as is Margot Robbie as his wife Naomi Lapaglia. It's extremely funny, too, for what it's worth. You can watch The Wolf of Wall Street on Netflix.

4. Capote (2005)

The world has never truly recovered from the loss of Philip Seymour Hoffman, an actor who was physically incapable of not making everything he appeared in just that little bit better. He didn't need to do that in Capote, however, as the film was already a solid winner. Still, he took home the Oscar for it, so maybe he did bring some extra magic! The film centres around Truman Capote, the eccentric novelist behind stories like In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany's. Capote is part history, part stranger than fiction, documenting the writer's journey to Kansas to write In Cold Blood, his last novel that made him the great American novelist, about a set of murders and the unlikely friendship he sparks with its lead suspect. You can watch Capote on Amazon.

3. Hidden Figures (2016)

Some biopics chisel away at the infamy of a person larger than life in the public consciousness, others tell stories that otherwise may have been lost to history forever. Hidden Figures is certainly the latter, exploring the lives of three Black female mathematicians who helped send John Glenn into space. The Space Race is often littered with the idea of men in half-rimmed glasses and rolled sleeves, but Hidden Figures, starring Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monae and Octavia Spencer, reminds us that not all is as it looks in history books. Naturally, this film is a tearjerker. You can watch Hidden Figures on Disney+.

2. The Social Network (2010)

Recent history is still history, ok, especially when it pertains to the dawn of social media, something that is making life move about 18 times quicker than it used to. At this point, everyone knows The Social Network, the David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin biopic about the advent of Facebook. Its stars Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and a newly-acting Justin Timberlake were launched into the stratosphere for their roles as the tech bros who made millions. While it's gone down in internet lore as the ultimate film about the internet, something remarkable about it is that it still holds up as a really great movie – even now as our social networks are crumbling around us thanks to the hubris of Silicon Valley culture that this film's plot explored. You can watch The Social Network on Amazon.

1. First Man (2018)

Neil Armstrong is a difficult figure to centre a movie around. Sure, he was the first person who walked on the moon, which is pretty notable stuff, but as a person, he was deeply private, quiet and reserved. Ryan Gosling lends his specific brand of introspectiveness to this depiction of Armstrong, positioning him as the silent workhorse amidst the mania of the Space Race. Damien Chazelle directs, teaming up with Gosling again after La La Land, which may feel off-brand for the king of theatrics, but he lends a kind of musical quality to the exploration of the unknown. We don't envy anyone tasked with trying to nail one of the most iconic moments in history, the moon landing, but Chazelle does it with an impact that almost makes you feel like you're witnessing it for the first time. You can watch First Man on the BFI.