Movies like Stand by Me (2024)
The best movies like Stand by Me (2024) are Black Dog (2024), Omaha (2025) and Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003). If Stand by Me hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBlack Dog (2024)7.1/10 from 246 votes
- NewestOmaha (2025)Released 2025
- In ChineseBlack Dog (2024)Also in Chinese
Black Dog (2024)
Released from jail, Lang returns to his hometown in Northwest China. As part of a dog patrol tasked with clearing stray dogs before the 2008 Olympics, he bonds with a black stray. The two lonely souls embark on a new journey together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOmaha (2025)
A young girl and her brother are awoken by their father and loaded into the car on an early morning in 2008. As they road trip across the American West, she discovers the truth about their seemingly spontaneous journey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHomeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003)
Based on a true story. Liz Murray is a young girl who is taken care of by her loving, but drug-addicted parents. Liz becomes homeless at 15 and after a tragedy comes upon her, she begins her work to finish high school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOne Second (2020)
A movie fan escapes from a labour camp during the Chinese Cultural Revolution and strikes up a relationship with a homeless female vagabond.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDwelling in the Fuchun Mountains (2020)
In the Chinese town of Fuyang, four brothers go about their day-to-day lives, their destinies shaped by love and challenges.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKisses (2008)
Two kids, Dylan and Kylie, run away from home on Christmas Day and spend a night of magic and terror on the streets of inner-city Dublin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCome Sunday (2018)
Evangelist Carlton Pearson is ostracized by his church for preaching that there is no Hell.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisWon't Back Down (2012)
Jamie Fitzpatrick and Nona Alberts are two women from opposites sides of the social and economic track, but they have one thing in common: a mission to fix their community's broken school and ensure a bright future for their children. The two women refuse to let any obstacles stand in their way as they battle a bureaucracy that's hopelessly mired in traditional thinking, and they seek to re-energize a faculty that has lost its passion for teaching.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCardboard Boxer (2016)
Gentle and broken, a homeless man fights others on video for money but soon finds comfort in an unlikely friend and the lost diary of a young girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBuddha Mountain (2011)
In Chengdu, China, a retired female opera singer named Master Chang takes in a trio of young tenants into her boarding home. The tenants include a rock singer and a college student who has run away from home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBastard Out of Carolina (1996)
A poor, struggling South Carolinian mother and daughter face painful choices with their resolve and pride. Bone, the eldest daughter, and Anney her tired mother, grow both closer and farther apart: Anney sees Glen as her last chance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRocks (2020)
15-year-old Rocks fears that she and her little brother Emmanuel will be taken into care and forced apart if anyone finds out that their mother has left them. Against all odds, and with the help of her loyal friends, she evades the authorities and navigates the most defining days of her young life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll Together Now (2020)
An optimistic, talented teen clings to a huge secret: she's homeless and living on a school bus. When tragedy strikes, can she learn to accept a helping hand?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMammal (2016)
After Margaret, a divorcée living in Dublin, loses her teenage son, she develops an unorthodox relationship with Joe, a homeless youth. Their tentative trust is threatened by his involvement with a violent gang and the escalation of her ex-husband's grieving rage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJungleland (2020)
Stanley manages his boxer brother Lion but when a devastating loss in the ring leaves the pair in debt, an opportunity to recoup the cash leads to a series of misadventures that threaten to break the bond between them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEvelyn (2002)
Desmond Doyle is devastated when his wife abandons their family on the day after Christmas. His unemployment, and the fact that there is no woman in the house to care for the children—Evelyn, Dermot and Maurice—make it clear to the authorities this is an untenable situation. The Catholic Church and the Irish courts decide to put the Doyle children into Church-run orphanages.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Continent (2014)
Three men living in the Eastern most island of China go on a road trip to the Western most end of the country, and facing crises of love, friendship, and faith on their journey to the West.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Pumpkin Eater (1964)
Jo, the mother of seven children, divorces her second husband in order to marry Jake, a successful but promiscuous screenwriter. Though they are physically and emotionally compatible, they are slowly torn apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrotherly Love (2015)
West Philadelphia basketball star Sergio Taylor deals with the pressures of fame while his brother and sister have their own issues with ambition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSalaam Bombay! (1988)
When a revengeful Krishna destroys his brother's motorbike, his mother asks him to return home only when he earns INR 500 to repair it. In a turn of events, he finds himself in a Bombay slum.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhere Are You, Mother? (1973)
Linda gives birth to an illegitimate child from a relationship with her boyfriend, Alex, who dies in an accident. To avoid a scandal, her father asks his younger sibling to take the baby to Cirebon. Linda is then told that the baby is dead. The baby, Yatim, is treated badly by the caregiver. The caregiver steals the money sent by Linda’s father to support the baby, so Linda’s father gets angry when more money is demanded. Linda overhears the conversation and is told the truth. So Linda goes to Cirebon to pick up her child but Yatim has already run away to Jakarta to look for her. He is aimless and homeless, and becomes a shoe polisher. A children’s toy seller hears a radio broadcast looking for the missing child and advises Yatim to go meet his parent. Yatim refuses, and instead gets hit by a car. Finally, they are reunited at the hospital.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Kings of the World (2022)
Rá, Culebro, Sere, Winny and Nano. Five boys who live on the streets of Medellín. Five kings with no kingdom, no law, no family, set out on a journey in search of the promised land. A subversive tale told through a wild and endearing clan, somewhere between reality and delirium. A journey to nowhere, where everything happens.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisVagabond (2003)
Karesz has been raised in an institution, his mother has a new family, and her husband does not tolerate that she meets her first-born son. Karesz tramps, joining up with his casual pals he washes the windscreens of cars, sells newspapers; sometimes they steal, or break into houses if hired.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Motherless Children (1980)
After his wife passes away, the ailing Akbar marries Tina, a widow. Akbar’s illness makes him lose his job so Tina has to work in a garment factory. Akbar’s effort to find a job is fruitless and he passes away shortly after. His three children Mimi, Memet, and Ayu cannot stand their stepmother’s fickleness. They leave quietly to find the family of their biological mother. This is not easy since they don’t have her address. They work at any job to survive - housemaid, shoe shiner, parking boy etc. One day they meet John who buys and sells used newspapers. Mimi and Memet are given a small business of selling ice and pastries. Then Memed accidently takes the wrong train but fortunately, a rich man adopts him. However, Memed returns home as he misses his younger siblings. The reunion is short since Ayu passes away.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Apaches: Gang of Paris (2023)
Paris, 1884. The lives of three orphaned children wandering the streets dominated by ruthless criminals change tragically when they carry out a daring robbery.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBefore Your Eyes (2009)
After their parents are murdered, two young Kurdish children are forced to live on the street.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Ang Pulubi at ang Prinsesa (1997)
A homeless little girl named Rosalie saves an abducted rich selfish brat Nikka. Rosalie gets shot when one of the goons opens a fire. To extend their gratitude for Rosalie’s bravery, Nikka’s mother adopts the lesser fortunate child. However, instead of being thankful Nikka treats Rosalie harshly which pushes the latter to go back and join her fellow street children.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
I Want to Be (2000)
The short drama film follows the daily life of the Juan and Jorge, two brothers living on the streets of Mexico City. It won an Academy Award in 2001 for Best Live Action Short Film.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Thanks Maa (2010)
While on the run from the reformatory, a 12 year old boy named Municipality finds and saves a two day old abandoned baby from becoming the prey to a ferocious street dog. Failing to find any takers among the people whom he deemed responsible and respectable, Municipality takes up the onus of finding the mother of that abandoned baby himself. Municipality's rock steady determination ultimately helps him emerge a winner against all odds as he reaches that baby's mother but in bargain he loses his most precious possession, the flawless and god-like image of a mother he used to see in his dreams and probably the hope that he'll ever find his own mother again.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Stand by Me?
The closest matches to Stand by Me are Black Dog (2024), Omaha (2025) and Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Stand by Me?
Start with Black Dog (2024), the closest match to Stand by Me.
What is the highest-rated movie like Stand by Me?
Black Dog (2024), rated 7.1/10 by 246 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Stand by Me?
Omaha (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Chinese movies like Stand by Me?
Yes: Black Dog (2024), One Second (2020) and Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains (2020).
How are movies similar to Stand by Me chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Stand by Me, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.