List of computer-related movies, documentaries, and shows
Updated: 05/06/2024 by Computer Hope
There is a wide variety of movies, documentaries, and TV shows centered around computers. Below is a list are our favorite computer-related movies and documentaries, sorted by the year they were released with links to their respective IMDb (Internet Movie Database) pages.
Note
We've tried to make this list only feature shows with a heavy emphasis on computers and related topics. For example, while Jurassic Park has a scene that references hacking, it's not about computers. Also, shows with an IMDb rating of five or less are not listed.
- BlackBerry (2023) - A story about the BlackBerry company and devices.
- Tetris (2023) - About the world's most popular video game.
- Bitcoin: Digital Gold (2022) - A documentary by Torsten Hoffmann that updates his previous two installments about bitcoin.
- COIN (2022) - A documentary covering the story of Brian Armstrong, the founder of Coinbase.
- Land of the Giants: Titans of Tech (2022-) - A CNN original TV series about the history of the rise of big companies like Meta (formerly Facebook), Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google.
- The Artifice Girl (2022) - A movie about an AI (Artificial Intelligence) program designed to trap online predators that goes beyond its original purpose.
- The YouTube Effect (2022) - A documentary about YouTube.
- WeCrashed (2022) - An Apple TV mini series about the rise and fall of WeWork.
- A Glitch in the Matrix (2021) - A documentary film that tackles the question, "Are we living in a simulation?"
- Silk Road (2021) - A movie about the story of Ross Ulbricht and his creation of the Silk Road.
- Feels Good Man (2020) - A documentary documenting Matt Furie's attempts at regaining control over Pepe the Frog.
- Cryptopia: Bitcoin, Blockchains and the Future of the Internet (2020) - A documentary where Torsten Hoffmann revisits the bitcoin and blockchain industry and its new promise.
- Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates (2019) - A mini series about Bill Gates released on Netflix.
- The Great Hack (2019) - A documentary covering the Cambridge Analytica and Facebook scandal.
- Valley of the Boom (2019-) - A docudrama about the 1990s tech boom in Silicon Valley.
- Ready Player One (2018) - A movie about a VR (Virtual Reality) environment called the OASIS and its creator who makes a posthumous challenge to find his Easter eggs in his world. The first person to find all Easter eggs gets control of his world and his fortune.
- AlphaGo (2017) - A documentary about developing Google's DeepMind to play the 3,000 year old game Go and challenge the top player, Lee Sedol.
- Crash Course: Computer Science (2017-) - A TV series covering computer science and technology elements.
- Kim Dotcom: Caught in the Web (2017) - A story of Kim Dotcom, the founder of Megaupload and the most wanted man online.
- Silk Road: Drugs, Death and the Dark Web (2017) - A documentary about the Silk Road.
- 8 Bit Generation: The Commodore Wars (2016) - A documentary about Jack Tramiel and his invention of the Commodore.
- Dark Net (2016) - A documentary TV series that explores the furthest reaches of the Internet and the people who frequently use it with a look inside the vast cyber netherworld.
- Gringo: The Dangerous Life of John McAfee (2016) - A documentary about John McAfee, who made millions from his antivirus software and his scandalous lifestyle.
- Hacker (2016) - A movie about a computer hacker who turns to a life of crime and identity theft.
- Hidden Figures (2016) - A movie about the true story of a team of female African-American mathematicians (human computers) who helped NASA during the early years.
- Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World (2016) - Werner Herzog's exploration of the Internet and the connected world.
- Silicon Cowboys (2016) - A documentary about three friends who created the Compaq portable computer in 1981 and their battle against IBM.
- Snowden (2016) - A movie about the story of Edward Snowden's disclosure of NSA's (National Security Agency) illegal surveillance techniques.
- Traceroute (2016) - A documentary directed by Johannes Grenzfurthner, covering nerd culture, history, politics, and impact.
- Zero Days (2016) - A documentary focusing on Stuxnet.
- Bitcoin: The End of Money as We Know It (2015) - A documentary where Torsten Hoffmann learns more about bitcoin, money, and cryptocurrencies.
- Blackhat (2015) - A movie about a hacker who hunts down a cybercrime network.
- Chappie (2015) - A movie about a police robot that is stolen and given new programming and becomes the first robot with the ability to think for himself.
- Code: Debugging the Gender Gap (2015) - A documentary about women and girls in the computer science industry and discussing the lack of diversity and gender equality.
- Deep Web (2015) - A documentary about the deep web, Tor, and the Silk Road.
- Mr. Robot (2015-2019) - TV series about a brilliant but unstable cyber-security engineer and vigilante hacker.
- Rise of the Centaur (2015) A documentary covers the Centaur Technology company.
- Steve Jobs (2015) - A biography movie about Steve Jobs.
- The Secret Rules of Modern Living: Algorithms (2015) - A documentary by Marcus du Sautoy that demystifies the hidden world of algorithms.
- Automata (2014) - A movie about human race being on the edge of the end while the robot race is at its beginning.
- Citizenfour (2014) - A documentary about the first of many meetings between reporters and Edward Snowden.
- Ex Machina (2014) - A movie of a programmer selected to participate in evaluating the human qualities of a highly advanced humanoid AI (Artificial Intelligence).
- From Bedrooms to Billions (2014) - A documentary about the British video games industry from 1979 to 2014.
- The Hacker Wars (2014) - A documentary that takes you to the front lines of the high-stakes battle over the fate of the Internet, freedom, and privacy.
- Halt and Catch Fire (2014-2017) - A TV series that follows people in the 1980s during the technological revolution that helped lead to our current information society.
- Print the Legend (2014) - A documentary that follows people racing to bring 3D printing to your home.
- RoboCop (2014) - A modern take on the 1987 RoboCop, where a 2028 cop is injured in the line of duty and is remade into a part-man, part-robot police officer.
- Silicon Valley (2014-2019) - A comedy TV series that follows the struggle of Richard Hendricks, a Silicon Valley engineer trying to build a company called Pied Piper.
- Softwaring Hard (2014) - A documentary about the world of software makers.
- The Imitation Game (2014) - A biography movie about Alan Turing and his struggles to crack the German Enigma Code.
- The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz (2014) - A documentary biography on Aaron Swartz, who took his own life at the age of 26.
- The Signal (2014) - A movie about a computer genius who draws in two friends on a road trip.
- Transcendence (2014) - A movie of a computer scientist who is driven to create an artificial intelligence system and ends up uploading his own consciousness into his own system.
- Who Am I (2014) - A movie about a German computer whiz who joins a subversive hacker group hoping to be noticed on the world stage.
- Computer Chess (2013) - A story about a man vs. machine in a 1980s chess tournament.
- DEFCON: The Documentary (2013) - A documentary covering the first day of DEF CON 21.
- Downloaded (2013) - A documentary exploring the downloading revolution.
- DSKNECTD (2013) - A documentary about how mobile devices, virtual worlds, social media, and the Internet are reshaping face-to-face human interactions.
- Her (2013) - A movie about a lonely writer who develops a relationship with an operating system.
- Jobs (2013) - A biography movie about Steve Jobs.
- Terms and Conditions May Apply (2013) - A documentary exposing what corporations and governments learn about people through Internet and cell phone usage.
- The Fifth Estate (2013) - A biography movie about Julian Assange.
- The Internship (2013) - A comedy movie about two salesmen who find their way into an internship at Google.
- The Machine (2013) - A movie about the UK attempting to develop machines to fight against China that end up creating a sentient robot.
- TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay Away from Keyboard (2013) - A documentary on intellectual freedoms.
- We Steal Secrets (2013) - A documentary on the creation of Julian Assange's controversial website that facilitated the largest security breach in US history.
- Web (2013) - A documentary following Peruvian families introduced to the Internet for the first time through the One Laptop per Child program.
- Disconnect (2012) - A movie about a group of people searching for human connection in today's wired world.
- Indie Game: The Movie (2012) - A documentary following the journeys of indie game developers as they create games.
- Panopticon (2012) - A documentary about how our privacy is disappearing and how it affects all our lives.
- We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists (2012) - A documentary on the workings and beliefs of the self-described "hacktivist" collective, Anonymous.
- Code 2600 (2011) - A movie containing several interviews with people who help build and maintain information technology.
- Codebreaker (2011) - A documentary biography on the highs and lows of Alan Turing's life.
- All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace (2011) - A TV mini series about how humans are colonized by the machines we have built.
- Catfish (2010) - A docudrama about young filmmakers documenting their colleague's budding online friendship with a young woman that leads to an unexpected discovery.
- Get Lamp (2010) - A Jason Scott documentary about computer adventure games.
- The Social Network (2010) - A biography movie about Mark Zuckerberg and his creation of the social networking site Facebook.
- The Virtual Revolution (2010-) - A BBC TV series covering the profound changes since the invention of the World Wide Web.
- TRON: Legacy (2010) - A modern take on the 1982 Tron movie where the son of a virtual world designer goes looking for his father inside a digital world his father designed.
- Truth in Numbers? Everything, According to Wikipedia (2010) - A documentary about Wikipedia.
- Decoding Alan Turing (2009) - A documentary covering the life of Alan Turing.
- Hackers Wanted (2009) - A documentary following the exploits of famous hacker Adrian Lamo.
- Middle Men (2009) - A comedy movie about the chronicles of Jack Harris, one of the pioneers of Internet commerce.
- RiP: A Remix Manifesto (2009) - A documentary starring Cory Doctorow examining Copyright issues in the information age.
- We Live in Public (2009) - A documentary focusing on the life of dot-com entrepreneur Josh Harris.
- Download: The True Story of the Internet (2008) - A TV series about the story of the Internet.
- Hackers Are People Too (2008) - A documentary and portrait of the hacking community.
- Welcome to Macintosh (2008) - A documentary that takes an entertaining look into the world and history of Apple.
- Hacking Democracy (2006) - A documentary covering how America's voting machines could be hacked.
- Steal This Film (2006) - A documentary documenting the movement against intellectual property from BitTorrent.
- Technocalyps (2006) - A documentary examining transhumanism and discussing whether humans can use discoveries in genetics, robotics, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence to enhance their bodies and minds.
- The IT Crowd (2006-2013) - A comedy TV series covering the misadventures of Roy, Moss, and Jen, a rag-tag team of IT support workers.
- BBS: The Documentary (2005) - A documentary from Jason Scott covering the 25-year history of the dial-up BBS (Bulletin Board System).
- In the Realm of the Hackers (2003) - A documentary about two Melbourne teenage hackers who stole a restricted computer security list called "Zardoz" in the 1980s that helped them break into classified systems.
- The Matrix Reloaded (2003) - A continuation of the Matrix movie series where freedom fighters Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus revolt against the machine army.
- The Matrix Revolutions (2003) - The conclusion of the Matrix series where the human city of Zion defends itself against the machines.
- S1m0ne (2002) - A movie where a producer decides to use a digitally created actress as a substitute for the star of a movie. The digital substitute becomes an overnight sensation everyone thinks is real.
- 2001: HAL's Legacy (2001) - A documentary about how close we are to building a real HAL 9000 computer.
- Antitrust (2001) - A movie about a computer programmer's dream job that becomes a nightmare.
- E-Dreams (2001) - A documentary following the founders of Kozmo.com as they raised money and filed for an IPO but were not expecting the market crash in April 2000.
- Freedom Downtime (2001) - A documentary about the Free Kevin movement for Kevin Mitnick and the hacker world.
- Revolution OS (2001) - A documentary about Richard Stallman and his open-source movement that helped to the creation of Linux.
- Startup.com (2001) - A documentary that follows the birth and failure of a new media company called govworks.com.
- Swordfish (2001) - A movie about a covert counter-terrorist unit called Black Cell that brings a convicted hacker Stanley Jobson to help them steal money to help finance their war.
- The Code (2001) - A Finnish-made documentary about GNU/Linux featuring influential people of the FOSS (Free and Open-Source Software) movement.
- The Secret History of Hacking (2001) - A documentary focusing on the history of hacking with interviews from Captain Crunch, Steve Wozniak, and Kevin Mitnick.
- Hackers in Wonderland (2000) - A documentary about hackers in the United Kingdom.
- Takedown (2000) - A biography movie based on the story of the capture of the computer hacker Kevin Mitnick.
- Office Space (1999) - A comedy movie about three company workers who hate their jobs and decide to rebel against their greedy boss.
- Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999) - A biography movie about the history of Apple and Microsoft.
- The Matrix (1999) - A movie about a hacker named Neo who goes into a forbidding underworld and discovers the shocking truth and about an evil cyber-intelligence.
- Enemy of the State (1998) - A movie about a lawyer targeted by a corrupt politician and his NSA (National Security Agency) goons.
- Home Page (1998) - A documentary about the Internet pioneer Justin Hall, one of the first bloggers.
- Nerds 2.0.1: A Brief History of the Internet (1998) - A TV mini series about developing Arpanet, the Internet, and the World Wide Web from 1969 to 1998.
- The Net (1998-1999) - A TV series about a computer programmer named Angela Bennett who discovers a shadowy group of cyber terrorists.
- Triumph of the Nerds (1996) - A three-part documentary series about the birth of the personal computer, featuring candid recollections of PC pioneers, like Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs, and Bill Gates.
- Hackers (1995) - A movie about teenage hackers who discover a criminal conspiracy with plans to use a computer virus that will capsize five oil tankers.
- Johnny Mnemonic (1995) - A movie about a data courier who carries data packages inside his head and must deliver it before he dies from the burden.
- The Net (1995) - A movie about a computer programmer named Angela Bennett who discovers government secrets and must run from an unknown enemy.
- Virtuosity (1995) - A movie about a virtual reality simulation created using the personalities of multiple serial killers that manages to escape into the real world.
- Sneakers (1992) - A movie about a security pro whose past returns to haunt him when he and his team are tasked with retrieving a particularly important item.
- The Lawnmower Man (1992) - A movie about a simple man who's turned into a genius through the application of computer science.
- Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) - A movie about a cyborg, identical to the one who failed to kill Sarah Connor in the first Terminator, who's now trying to protect her.
- Cyberpunk (1990) - A stylistic documentary about the cyberpunk movement.
- RoboCop (1987) - A movie about a cop injured in the line of duty and remade into a part-man, part-robot police officer.
- Hackers: Wizards of the Electronic Age (1985) - A documentary shot over a long weekend at a 1984 hacker conference.
- The Terminator (1984) - A movie about a human soldier sent from 2029 to 1984 to stop an almost indestructible cyborg killing machine sent from the same year.
- Computer Chronicles (1983-2002) - A TV show about consumer technology during the rise of the personal computer revolution.
- WarGames (1983) - A movie about a fictional high schooler who hacks into a military supercomputer using a wardialer.
- Blade Runner (1982) - A movie about a blade runner who must pursue and terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space and have returned to Earth to find their creator.
- Tron (1982) - A movie about a computer hacker that is abducted into a digital world and forced to participate in gladiatorial games.
- Farewell, Etaoin Shrdlu (1978) - A short documentary about the final day of Linotype pressing at the New York Times before the newspaper switched to computer typesetting. See our ETAOIN SHRDLU page for further information on this term.
- Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970) - A movie about an impenetrable supercomputer created by the US government that tries taking over humanity.
- 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) - A movie about uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface and introduction to the HAL 9000 computer.
Fun
Visit the Staring the Computer website for a complete list of computers that have appeared in film and television.