Movies like The Little Match Girl (1928)
The best movies like The Little Match Girl (1928) are The Little Matchgirl (2006), The Promised Land (2023) and Clueless (1995). If The Little Match Girl hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Promised Land (2023)7.7/10 from 675 votes
- NewestWicker (2026)Released 2026
The Little Matchgirl (2006)
An animated short based on Hans Christian Andersen's tale about a poor young girl with a burning desire to find comfort and happiness in her life. Desperate to keep warm, the girl lights the matches she sells, and envisions a very different life for herself in the fiery flames filled with images of loving relatives, bountiful food, and a place to call home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Promised Land (2023)
Denmark, 1755. Captain Ludvig Kahlen sets out to conquer a Danish heath reputed to be uncultivable, with an impossible goal: to establish a colony in the name of the king, in exchange for a royal title. A single-minded ambition that the ruthless lord of the region will relentlessly seek to put down. Kahlen's fate hangs in the balance: will his endevours bring him wealth and honour, or cost him his life...?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisClueless (1995)
Shallow, rich and socially successful Cher is at the top of her Beverly Hills high school's pecking scale. Seeing herself as a matchmaker, Cher first coaxes two teachers into dating each other. Emboldened by her success, she decides to give hopelessly klutzy new student Tai a makeover. When Tai becomes more popular than she is, Cher realizes that her disapproving ex-stepbrother was right about how misguided she was -- and falls for him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHans Christian Andersen (1952)
A small-town shoemaker with a knack for spinning yarns, Hans encounters happiness and heartbreak on his road to becoming a full-fledged writer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPenelope (2006)
Forlorn heiress Penelope Wilhern is cursed, and the only way out is to fall in love with someone of suitable stock. But how can she find her soulmate when she's sequestered inside her family's estate with only her parents to keep her company? This untraditional fairy tale is about a girl who bucks convention to create her own happy ending.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies 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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPrincess Nicotine (1909)
A smoker falls asleep, and two mischievious fairies play with his pipe. He discovers this, and imprisons them in a cigar box. He removes a flower from the box, which contains a fairy smoking a cigarette. Next, he leaves briefly while his smoking paraphenalia clears itself from the table and the flower reassembles itself into a cigar. He lights the cigar, then breaks a bottle containing the fairy, who interacts with him in various ways reeling from his cigar smoke, building a bonfire that he extinguishes, etc.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisSarah's Oil (2025)
Sarah Rector, a Black girl born in early 20th-century Oklahoma Indian Territory, believes there is oil beneath the barren land she’s allotted, and her faith proves right. As greedy oil sharks close in, Sarah turns to family, friends, and some Texas wildcatters to maintain control of her oil-rich land, eventually becoming among the nation's first Black female millionaires—at eleven years old.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCinderella (2015)
When her father unexpectedly passes away, young Ella finds herself at the mercy of her cruel stepmother and her daughters. Never one to give up hope, Ella's fortunes begin to change after meeting a dashing stranger in the woods.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCinderella (1965)
After the success of the live 1957 Cinderella on CBS (with Julie Andrews), the network decided to produce another television version. The new script hewed closer to the traditional tale, although nearly all of the original songs were retained and performed in their original settings. Added to the Rodgers and Hammerstein score was "Loneliness of Evening", which had been composed for South Pacific but not used.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Godwink Christmas: Meant For Love (2019)
Multiple coincidences and a chance meeting bring together Alice and Jack, two strangers from very different family backgrounds, for an unexpected Christmastime courtship filled with personal revelations, misread signals, and a very real health scare that will either destroy or strengthen the budding romance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAbout Fate (2022)
Two strangers believe in love but never seem to be able to find its true meaning. In a wild twist of events, fate puts each in the other's path on one stormy New Year's Eve.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMaleficent (2014)
A beautiful, pure-hearted young woman, Maleficent has an idyllic life growing up in a peaceable forest kingdom, until one day when an invading army threatens the harmony of the land. She rises to be the land's fiercest protector, but she ultimately suffers a ruthless betrayal – an act that begins to turn her heart into stone. Bent on revenge, Maleficent faces an epic battle with the invading King's successor and, as a result, places a curse upon his newborn infant Aurora. As the child grows, Maleficent realizes that Aurora holds the key to peace in the kingdom – and to Maleficent's true happiness as well.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWicker (2026)
On the outskirts of a village by the sea, lives a Fisherwoman; smelly, single and perpetually ridiculed. One day, fed up with her stuffy, small-minded neighbours, she commissions herself a husband to be made from wicker. In an otherwise conservative town, this unconventional romance sparks outrage, jealousy and chaos.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRoyal Matchmaker (2018)
A struggling NYC matchmaker is hired by a king to find his son a suitable wife in time for a national celebration. As the clock ticks towards her deadline, the matchmaker finds him the perfect wife -- only to realize that she’s fallen in love with him!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Midsummer Night's Dream (1999)
Mistaken identity, unrequited love, and the supernatural are combined in Shakespeare's classic set in the woods of Greece on a moonlit night.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeethoven's Christmas Adventure (2011)
A Christmas elf accidentally takes off in Santa's sleigh, crash lands in a small town, and loses the magic toy bag. Beethoven must rescue the elf, recover the bag from greedy crooks, and return the sleigh to Santa in time to save Christmas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOnce Upon a Snowman (2020)
The previously untold origins of Olaf, the innocent and insightful, summer-loving snowman are revealed as we follow Olaf’s first steps as he comes to life and searches for his identity in the snowy mountains outside Arendelle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAngela's Christmas (2017)
A trip to church with her family on Christmas Eve gives young Angela an extraordinary idea. A heartwarming tale based on a story by Frank McCourt.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLet It Snow (2019)
In a small town on Christmas Eve, a snowstorm brings together a group of young people. They soon find their friendships and love lives colliding, and come Christmas morning, nothing will be the same.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Little Match Girl?
The closest matches to The Little Match Girl are The Little Matchgirl (2006), The Promised Land (2023) and Clueless (1995). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Little Match Girl?
Start with The Little Matchgirl (2006), the closest match to The Little Match Girl.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Little Match Girl?
The Promised Land (2023), rated 7.7/10 by 675 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Little Match Girl?
Wicker (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Little Match Girl chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Little Match Girl, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.