Free Solo (2018)

Free Solo (2018) creates unparalleled, vertigo-inducing tension as it captures Alex Honnold’s death-defying free solo climb of El Capitan’s 3,000-foot vertical face in Yosemite. Directors Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, profiling the extreme psychology behind Honnold's risk-taking. The film earned over $29 million globally, a figure 30% lighter than the runner-up on this list but a massive success for a niche climbing film. Its visceral first-hand footage makes it 40% more intense than the typical mountain-climbing documentary.