Movies like Summer (2023)
The best movies like Summer (2023) are Embattled (2020), Sky High (2020) and WWE WrestleMania X-Seven (2001). If Summer hooked you with its drama and action, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBeast (2026)7.5/10 from 226 votes
- NewestBeast (2026)Released 2026
- In SpanishSky High (2020)Also in Spanish
Embattled (2020)
The eldest son of a ruthlessly tough MMA champion must fight his way out of the abusive cycle his father has continued.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSky High (2020)
A commentary on Spanish society dressed as a thriller about the misadventures of a gang of young petty criminals after the real estate crash.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWWE WrestleMania X-Seven (2001)
WrestleMania X-Seven was the seventeenth annual WrestleMania PPV and was presented by Snickers Cruncher. It took place on April 1, 2001 at the Reliant Astrodome in Houston, Texas. The event was the first WrestleMania held in the state of Texas. A record-breaking attendance for the Reliant Astrodome of 67,925 grossed US$3.5 million. The main event was a No Disqualification match between Steve Austin and The Rock for the WWF Championship. The main matches on the undercard featured Triple H versus The Undertaker, the second Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match for the WWF Tag Team Championship, and Vince McMahon versus Shane McMahon in a Street Fight. With WWE's acquisition of long-time competitor WCW and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin joining forces with storied rival Mr. McMahon.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDirt (2018)
In search of a lifeline for his struggling off road racing team, a man takes on a young car thief looking for a second chance, but as their worlds collide, they must struggle to forge a successful alliance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWWE WrestleMania 23 (2007)
WrestleMania 23 was the twenty-third annual WrestleMania PPV. It took place on April 1, 2007 at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan. The event was a joint-brand pay-per-view, featuring performers from the Raw, SmackDown!, and ECW brands. The main match on the Raw brand was John Cena versus Shawn Michaels for the WWE Championship. The predominant match on the SmackDown! brand was Batista versus The Undertaker for the World Heavyweight Championship. The primary match on the ECW brand was an Eight Man Tag Team match between The ECW Originals and The New Breed. The featured matches on the undercard included Bobby Lashley versus Umaga and an interpromotional Money in the Bank ladder match. It set an all-time Ford Field attendance record of 80,103. WrestleMania 23 grossed US$5.38 million in ticket sales, breaking the previous record of $3.9 million held at WrestleMania X8. With about 1.25 million buys, the event is the highest WWE pay-per-view buyrate in history.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisNight of the Twisters (1996)
A teenager boy bonds with his stepfather while battling a series of killer twisters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMexicali (2026)
A former special forces contractor is forced out of retirement as an avocado farmer in Mexico when local gangsters try to force him and his family off their farm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeast (2026)
MMA legend Patton James, now a commercial fisherman, is pulled back into the cage when his brother is in danger. Reuniting with his old coach Sammy, he commits to one final fight in one championship against the brutal champion Xavier Grau.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHunting Season (2025)
When a reclusive survivalist and his daughter rescue a mysterious, wounded woman from a river, they become entangled in a deadly web of violence and revenge, forcing them to confront a brutal criminal to survive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEl Polaquito (2003)
At age 13, a street kid known as "El Polaquito" makes his living mostly by singing tangos on Buenos Aires commuter trains. He falls in love with a 16 year old prostitute, also working for the Mafia controlling child exploitation in one of Argentina's busiest train stations. He tries to rescue her from this cruel life with no future. But to do so, he must confront the ruthless adult gang leaders, as well as the young kids who protect them, believing that this Mafia is truly their only option.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like this44 Minutes: The North Hollywood Shoot-Out (2003)
After a failed bank robbery, two heavily armed men hold the Los Angeles Police Department at bay for 44 minutes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn the Blood (2014)
When her husband goes missing during their Caribbean vacation, a woman sets off on her own to take down the men she thinks are responsible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
SnoozefestMovies like this7 Boxes (2012)
It’s Friday night in Asunción and the temperature is 40ºC. Víctor, a 17-year-old wheelbarrow-boy, dreams of becoming famous and covets a cell phone in Mercado 4. He is offered the chance to deliver seven boxes with unknown contents in exchange for $100. This sounds like an easy job but it soon gets complicated. Something in the boxes is highly coveted. Víctor and his persecutors find themselves caught up in a crime they know nothing about.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hit List (2011)
A disgruntled man creates a hit list with a stranger during a drunken night out and must then race to try to save those he marked for extermination as the bodies begin to pile up and all fingers point to him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBorder Hunters (2025)
After his police officer brother is killed by a drug dealer who flees to the protection of his cartel-connected uncle in Mexico, an American man with a diverse law enforcement/military background goes south of the border to get revenge
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Days of American Crime (2020)
In the not-too-distant future, as a final response to crime and terrorism, the U.S. government plans to broadcast a signal that will make it impossible for anyone to knowingly break the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRogue Agent (2022)
Conman Robert Freegard poses as an undercover MI5 agent and kidnaps countless victims amidst a high-stakes manhunt, until the woman who fell for him brings him to justice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRise of the Footsoldier (2007)
Carlton Leach rises from one of the most feared generals of the football terraces to becoming a member of a notorious gang of criminals who rampaged their way through London and Essex in the late '80s and early '90s.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrue Believer (1989)
Eddie Dodd is a burnt out former civil rights lawyer who now specializes in defending drug dealers. Roger Baron, newly graduated from law school, has followed Eddie's great cases and now wants to learn at his feet. With Roger's idealistic prodding, Eddie reluctantly takes on a case of a young Korean man who, according to his mother, has been in jail for eight years for a murder he didn't commit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe System (2022)
When a young soldier, newly returned from war, gets caught up in a drug bust, he is recruited by the authorities to go undercover in a notoriously dangerous prison in order to figure out what is really going on.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Color of Milk (2004)
Selma's mother died giving birth to her, and Selma's step aunt is living proof that men only cause trouble. So the 11 year old girl makes a deal with her best friends that they will stay away from boys and dedicate their lives to science. And by the way, Selma was probably born on another planet and not meant to fall in love with anyone. But what happens when her friends break the pact, and she actually meets a boy who's not like the rest?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Bad Santa (2003)
You'd better watch out - Willie T. Soke is coming to town, and he doesn't care if you've been naughty or nice. Willie's favorite holiday tradition is to fill his sacks with loot lifted from shopping malls across the country. But this year his plot gets derailed by a wisecracking store detective, a sexy bartender, and a kid who's convinced Willie is the real Santa Claus.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSwingers (1996)
After 6 years together, Mike's girlfriend leaves him, so he travels to LA to be a star. Six months on, he's still not doing very well— so a few of his friends try to reconnect him to the social scene and hopefully help him forget his failed relationship.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · 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: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSin piedad (2025)
Under the relentless sun, a killer stalks through the mountains, where the innocence of a young couple becomes prey. With no shadows to hide their fate, the hunt is a macabre game in broad daylight, where fear is not hidden in the darkness, but burns with the rawness of the unperturbed noon.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Summer of Sam (1999)
Spike Lee's take on the "Son of Sam" murders in New York City during the summer of 1977 centering on the residents of an Italian-American Northeast Bronx neighborhood who live in fear and distrust of one another.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMiddle of Nowhere (2008)
The film follows Grace, a young woman whose irresponsible mother blows her college fund on her younger sister's beauty pageant campaign.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like this(500) Days of Summer (2009)
Tom, greeting-card writer and hopeless romantic, is caught completely off-guard when his girlfriend, Summer, suddenly dumps him. He reflects on their 500 days together to try to figure out where their love affair went sour, and in doing so, Tom rediscovers his true passions in life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFierce People (2006)
A massage therapist looking to overcome her addictions and reconnect with her son, whose father is an anthropologist in South America studying the Yanomani people, moves in with a wealthy ex-client in New Jersey.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRemember the Daze (2008)
During the summer of 1999, a group of teenagers, through interconnected narratives, live through their last day of high school and prepare for the future. Holly, once the new girl in school, does whatever it takes to remain popular. Dawn, who is secretly a lesbian, battles drugs. Tori is the valedictorian of her class, but, on the eve of graduation, she decides to experiment with drugs for the first time.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like this
Like Summer and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Summer?
The closest matches to Summer are Embattled (2020), Sky High (2020) and WWE WrestleMania X-Seven (2001). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Summer?
Start with Embattled (2020), the closest match to Summer.
What is the highest-rated movie like Summer?
Beast (2026), rated 7.5/10 by 226 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Summer?
Beast (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like Summer?
Yes: Sky High (2020), El Polaquito (2003) and 7 Boxes (2012).
How are movies similar to Summer chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Summer, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.