Movies like Lucky Dragon No. 5 (1959)
The best movies like Lucky Dragon No. 5 (1959) are On the Beach (2000), Testament (1983) and The Quiet Earth (1985). If Lucky Dragon No. 5 hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.

Quick picks
- Highest ratedOppenheimer (2023)8.0/10 from 12,894 votes
- NewestOppenheimer (2023)Released 2023
On the Beach (2000)
The world has finally managed to blow itself up and only Australia has been spared from nuclear destruction and a gigantic wave of radiation is floating in on the breezes. One American sub located in the Pacific has survived and is met with disdain by the Australians. The calculations of Australia's most renowned scientist says the country is doomed. However, one of his rivals says that he is wrong. He believes that 1000 people can be relocated to the northern hemisphere, where his assumptions indicate the radiation levels may be lower. The American Captain is asked to take a mission to the north to determine which scientist is right.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTestament (1983)
It's just another day in the small town of Hamlin until something disastrous happens. Suddenly, news breaks that a series of nuclear warheads has been dropped along the Eastern Seaboard and, more locally, in California. As people begin coping with the devastating aftermath of the attacks — many suffer radiation poisoning — the Wetherly family tries to survive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Quiet Earth (1985)
After a top-secret experiment misfires, a scientist may be the only man left alive in the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPanic in Year Zero! (1962)
While on a fishing trip, Harry Baldwin and his family hear an explosion and realize that Los Angeles has been leveled by a nuclear attack. Looters and killers are everywhere. Escaping to the hills with his family, he sets about the business of surviving in a world where, he knows, the old ideals of humanity will be the first casualties.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeepwater Horizon (2016)
A story set on the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, which exploded during April 2010 and created the worst oil spill in U.S. history.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisK-19: The Widowmaker (2002)
When Russia's first nuclear submarine malfunctions on its maiden voyage, the crew must race to save the ship and prevent a nuclear disaster.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOppenheimer (2023)
The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer's role in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Andromeda Strain (1971)
When virtually all of the residents of Piedmont, New Mexico are found dead after the return to Earth of a space satellite, the head of the US Air Force's Project Scoop declares an emergency. A group of eminent scientists led by Dr. Jeremy Stone scrambles to a secure laboratory and tries first to isolate the life form while determining why two people from Piedmont - an old alcoholic and a six-month-old baby - survived. The scientists methodically study the alien life form, unaware that it has already mutated and presents a far greater danger in the lab, which is equipped with a nuclear self-destruct device designed to prevent the escape of dangerous biological agents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWarning Sign (1985)
An accident occurs in an ultra-secret government biological weapons laboratory spreading a sinister bacteria.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAwake (2021)
After a sudden global event wipes out all electronics and takes away humankind’s ability to sleep, chaos quickly begins to consume the world. Only Jill, an ex-soldier with a troubled past, may hold the key to a cure in the form of her own daughter. The question is, can Jill safely deliver her daughter and save the world before she herself loses her mind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisGray Lady Down (1978)
The USS Neptune, a nuclear submarine, is sunk off the coast of Connecticut after a collision with a Norwegian cargo ship. The navy must attempt a potentially dangerous rescue in the hope of saving the lives of the crew.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFive (1951)
The film's storyline involves five survivors, one woman and four men, of an atomic bomb disaster. The five come together at a remote, isolated hillside house, where they try to figure out how to survive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRight at Your Door (2006)
A dirty bomb goes off in Los Angeles, jamming freeways and spreading a toxic cloud.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisOctober Sky (1999)
The true story of Homer Hickam, a coal miner's son who was inspired by the first Sputnik launch to take up rocketry against his father's wishes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisErin Brockovich (2000)
A twice-divorced mother of three who sees an injustice, takes on the bad guy and wins -- with a little help from her push-up bra. Erin goes to work for an attorney and comes across medical records describing illnesses clustered in one nearby town. She starts investigating and soon exposes a monumental cover-up.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCape Fear (1962)
Sam Bowden witnesses a rape committed by Max Cady and testifies against him. When released after 8 years in prison, Cady begins stalking Bowden and his family but is always clever enough not to violate the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMusic Box (1989)
A lawyer defends her father accused of war crimes, but there is more to the case than she suspects.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStillwater (2021)
Bill Baker, an American oil-rig roughneck from Oklahoma, travels to Marseille to visit his estranged daughter, Allison, who is in prison for a murder she claims she did not commit. Confronted with language barriers, cultural differences, and a complicated legal system, Bill builds a new life for himself in France as he makes it his personal mission to exonerate his daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFat Man and Little Boy (1989)
Assigned to oversee the development of the atomic bomb, Gen. Leslie Groves is a stern military man determined to have the project go according to plan. He selects J. Robert Oppenheimer as the key scientist on the top-secret operation, but the two men clash fiercely on a number of issues. Despite their frequent conflicts, Groves and Oppenheimer ultimately push ahead with two bomb designs — the bigger "Fat Man" and the more streamlined "Little Boy."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLifeboat (1944)
During World War II, a small group of survivors is stranded in a lifeboat together after the ship they were traveling on is destroyed by a German U-boat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlow (2001)
The story of how George Jung, together with the Medellín Cartel led by Pablo Escobar, established the billion-dollar cocaine empire in the United States in the 1970s.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBreach (2007)
Eric O'Neill, a low-level surveillance expert with the FBI, believes he is accomplishing his dream of becoming a full-fledged agent, with his unexpected promotion and assignment to clerk for Robert Hanssen, a renowned senior agent with 25 years in the FBI. However, he soon learns the reason for his promotion is to gain Hanssen's trust and find proof that he is a traitor to the country. Determined to draw the suspected double-agent out of deep cover, O'Neill finds himself in a lethal game of spy vs. spy, where nothing is as it seems.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShe Walks by Night (1959)
Based on an actual murder case in Frankfurt after the war, the film tells the story of the murder of Rosemarie, a prostitute, and how she ended up strangled in her apartment.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Bluebeard (1963)
Paris, France, during the First World War. While thousands of soldiers die every day on the battlefields, Henri Landru, a seemingly respectable furniture dealer, married and father of four children, relentlessly feeds his own sinister factory of death.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSeabiscuit (2003)
True story of the undersized Depression-era racehorse whose victories lifted not only the spirits of the team behind it but also those of their nation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Return of Martin Guerre (1982)
Village of Artigat, southern France, summer 1542, during the reign of Francis I. Martin Guerre and Bertrande de Rols marry. A few years later, accused of having committed a robbery, Martin suddenly disappears. When, almost a decade later, a man arrives in Artigat claiming to be Martin, the Guerre family recognizes him as such; but doubts soon arise about his true identity.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sum of All Fears (2002)
When the president of Russia suddenly dies, a man whose politics are virtually unknown succeeds him. The change in political leaders sparks paranoia among American CIA officials, so CIA director Bill Cabot recruits a young analyst to supply insight and advice on the situation. Then the unthinkable happens: a nuclear bomb explodes in a U.S. city, and America is quick to blame the Russians.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdventure of a Blind Kid (1967)
The blind Yip Man-chiu was abandoned at birth. Following the death of his foster parents, the boy is sold by his uncle Ah Sam to a blind Taoist priest, an abusive man. Running away from home, Yip is hit by a car and sent to a school for the blind by the social security workers. His talents impress the musician Siu Kwong and wins him a place in a music school for the blind. There he is joined by fellow students Lung Kwok-kei, a runaway child with an abusive stepmother, Chow Kuen, an abandoned child found on a train, and Cheung Kin-ching, an avid music lover sent to the school by her loving well-to-do father. The four children blossom into accomplished musicians under the tutelage of Siu and his wife and together with the less fortunate others, form an orchestra which earns a reputation for excellence.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Sugarland Express (1974)
Married small-time crooks Lou-Jean and Clovis Poplin lose their baby to the state of Texas and resolve to do whatever it takes to get him back. Lou-Jean gets Clovis out of jail, and the two steal their son from his foster home, in addition to taking a highway patrolman hostage. As a massive dragnet starts to pursue them across Texas, the couple become unlikely folk heroes and even start to bond with the captive policeman.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisVillaflor (TBA)
A high-ranking officer infiltrates groups peacefully organizing to demand the release of detained relatives. Argentina was under military rule from 1976 to 1983, a period in which tens of thousands of people disappeared. The abovementioned groups were giving rise to a form of civil resistance at the heart of the dictatorship that was running the country.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Lucky Dragon No. 5 and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Lucky Dragon No. 5?
The closest matches to Lucky Dragon No. 5 are On the Beach (2000), Testament (1983) and The Quiet Earth (1985). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Lucky Dragon No. 5?
Start with On the Beach (2000), the closest match to Lucky Dragon No. 5.
What is the highest-rated movie like Lucky Dragon No. 5?
Oppenheimer (2023), rated 8.0/10 by 12,894 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Lucky Dragon No. 5?
Oppenheimer (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Lucky Dragon No. 5?
The closest matches are in other languages.
How are movies similar to Lucky Dragon No. 5 chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Lucky Dragon No. 5, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.



























