Belmonte Castle has also left its mark on the history of cinema. Since 1961, when it served as the setting for the international blockbuster film El Cid, starring Charlton Heston and Sofia Loren, the fortress has been an incomparable setting for several films from very different periods.

In El Cid, directed by Anthony Mann in 1961, the castle appears as a backdrop during the tournament sequence. Years later, in 1985, Paul Verhoeven chose Belmonte to shoot almost in its entirety The Lords of Steel, a filming that even left its mark on the building itself, as part of the keep was burned during the filming.

Spanish cinema has also taken notice of Belmonte. In Juana la Loca, by Vicente Aranda (2001), the castle stars in the first frame, although the subtitle mistakenly identifies it as the castle of Tordesillas. Shortly afterwards, in 2002, Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón used its rooms again in El caballero Don Quijote, even painting many of its interior walls in maroon for the setting.

Even animation turned it into a stage: in 1978, Ralph Bakshi took it as a reference to recreate the fortress of Helm in his animated version of The Lord of the Rings, where it is attacked by the orcs of Isengard in the famous battle of Helm's Deep.