Movies like The Pit (1914)
The best movies like The Pit (1914) are Won't Back Down (2012), Gigi & Nate (2022) and The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972). If The Pit hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
The Pit
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWhat Maisie Knew (2013)7.1/10 from 466 votes
- NewestEleanor the Great (2025)Released 2025
Won'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 thisGigi & Nate (2022)
A young man with a bright future suffers a near-fatal accident and recreates his new life with the help of an unlikely animal friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972)
Middle-aged widow Beatrice Hunsdorfer and her daughters Ruth and Matilda are struggling to survive in a society they barely understand. Beatrice dreams of opening an elegant tea room but does not have the wherewithal to achieve her lofty goal. Epileptic Ruth is a rebellious adolescent, while shy but highly intelligent and idealistic Matilda seeks solace in her pets and school projects, including one designed to show how small amounts of radium affect marigolds.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGirl in the Box (2016)
The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlashbacks of a Fool (2008)
An aging Hollywood star, Joe Scott, lives a life of narcissistic hedonism, observed by his laconic personal assistant, Ophelia. The death of his childhood best friend, Boots, takes our protagonist, and the movie, into an extended flashback to a sea-side town in 1970s Britain.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWonderstruck (2017)
The story of a young boy in the Midwest is told simultaneously with a tale about a young girl in New York from fifty years ago as they both seek the same mysterious connection.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Sound of Silence (2019)
A successful "house tuner" in New York City, who calibrates the sound in people's homes in order to adjust their moods, meets a client with a problem he can't solve.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisImperial Dreams (2014)
A 21-year-old reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat Maisie Knew (2013)
In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new partners to strengthen their legal standing, Maisie is shuttled back and forth in an endless game of emotional point-scoring. Yet amid the chaos and upheaval, Maisie begins to find true comfort and affection in her new step-parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEleanor the Great (2025)
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHead Full of Honey (2018)
A young girl tries to help her grandfather, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, navigate his increasing forgetfulness, and ends up going on a remarkable adventure with him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisXiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998)
Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even more remote spot with a Tibetan saddle tramp Lao Jin to learn horse herding.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHurry Sundown (1967)
A ruthless Southern opportunist tries to buy his cousin's land, and when thwarted, brings several tragedies to the lives of his loved ones.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Safety of Objects (2002)
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSkin (2009)
Based on the true story of a black girl who was born to two white Afrikaner parents in South Africa during the apartheid era.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHands of Stone (2016)
The legendary Roberto Duran and his equally legendary trainer Ray Arcel change each other's lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHardball (2001)
An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlex of Venice (2015)
After her stay-at-home husband leaves her, a workaholic lawyer finds that she is not completely up to the tasks of caring for her young son, ailing father and household all by herself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisSalomé (2013)
After the lewd and frenetic Dance of the Seven Veils, and with the solemn pledge from the very lips of Herod himself that she could have whatever her heart desires up to half his kingdom, wanton and proud young Salomé comes before her king with an unreasonable demand. Beguiled by John the Baptist, and then scorned for the sake of his god, lascivious Salomé—encouraged by her mother, the vindictive, Herodias—commands that John be executed and his head delivered on a silver platter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAn Adventure in Hearts (1919)
American agent Captain Dieppe gets involved in the affairs of lonely Count Fieramondi in Northern Italy. Dieppe, hired to help the count reconcile with his wife who has gone to Rome to pay off gambling debts mistakenly falls in love with her cousin, Lucia, who is impersonating her. After Dieppe retrieves evidence of the debts and the real identities are revealed, he makes a final sacrifice to ensure the count and countess can reunite.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Street of Sin (1928)
"Basher Bill," a retired prizefighter turned criminal, pretends to reform by joining a Salvation Army shelter in London run by a pious wraith named Elizabeth. Attracted to Elizabeth (although he is engaged to a street girl named Annie), Bill confesses to a bank robbery, has a spiritual revelation, and decides to go straight. His cast-off sweetheart reports him to the police; then, contrite, she warns Bill of the impending danger. Bill is captured immediately, but he escapes and sacrifices his life to save Elizabeth and the Salvation Army nursery when the rest of the gang use them as a human barricade against the police.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Heart in Pawn (1919)
Toyama wants to go to college in America but his alcoholic father won't supply the funds. He gets the money to go, however, from Sada, whom he has married in secret. But Sada has a secret of her own -- she told Toyama that she got the money from a relative, but the truth is that she has signed up to do a four-year stint as a Geisha girl.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Double Speed (1920)
Auto racer Speed Carr enters a marathon race across the United States, from New York to Los Angeles. He encounters numerous obstacles not related to the race and must switch identities and vehicles before he can finish.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Snob (1924)
Two schoolteachers, married for love, are parted by the husband's obsessive desire for wealth and social position.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Mystery of the Black Domino (1931)
"The Mystery of the Black Domino" was the first film directed in Brazil by a woman, the pioneer Cleo de Verberena. Marcos and Virgílio are medical students and share the same room. At the end of the first night of carnaval, Marcos finds the corpse of a woman, dressed as a black domino, inside the closet and accuses Virgílio of murder. Virgílio defends himself by saying that that was Cleo, wife of Commander Fernando Almeida, and that he found her in the corso asking for help, but Marcos questions Virgílio about the veracity of the story. Lost Film.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Franchise (1916)
When Gilbert Warren discovers his law partner Arthur Fenton making crooked deals, he severs their relationship and opens an office of his own. Louise Talcott, daughter of Colonel Talcott, is loved by both. She favors Warren. Out of jealousy, when Warren leaves town, Fenton schemes to blacken his name. Warren is appointed to vet the street railway franchise. When Fenton hears of this, he reports to Colonel Talcott and the Mayor that Warren is a grafter. The Colonel floats a deal to test Warren and finds him honest. Later, the Colonel and the Mayor apologize to Warren as he embraces Louise.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Citizens All (1916)
Estranged after an argument, music teacher Johann Wagner and fencing master Henri Dupin attempt to separate their engaged children, Karl and Elsie. Seeking new quarters, they come to the same boarding house unbeknownst to each other. Thus reunited, Karl and Elsie determine to marry. Following the advice of their landlady Mrs. Flannigan they elope and are wed. The two old fathers remain at odds with each other and the couple until one day Mrs. Flannigan comes with the good news, a child has been born to the young house of Wagner. All is forgiven and reunited Grandfather Wagner and Grandfather Dupin leave arm in arm for the clerk's office to become US citizens.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Trail of the Thief (1916)
Detective Martin Gale, tough with criminals but awkward with women, secretly loves Dorothy Baird, a clever operative at the agency he manages. He gives her a small revolver engraved with his name as a token. Dorothy is assigned to cover a party for a society debutante, where she meets James Vallon, a popular and wealthy young man, and they are attracted to each other. While he flirts with her a valuable necklace goes missing and as Dorothy digs deeper into the incident she begins to suspect Vallon is involved.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Come Again Smith (1919)
Joe Smith Jr., the son of a millionaire, is challenged by his father to earn his own living instead of depending on his father's money. One year later Joe is broke, dirty, homeless and hanging out with other derelicts on a New York City park bench. A chance meeting with businessman Ned Stervens results in Joe being invited to stay in Stevens' house for a week, to make Stevens' point to his acquaintance Frank Overton---a shady stockbroker--that given a chance, even a tramp like Joe can better himself. Joe finds himself in love with Stevens' sister Lucy and unwittingly becomes party to a scheme by Overton to swindle Lucy out of her money.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like The Pit and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Pit?
The closest matches to The Pit are Won't Back Down (2012), Gigi & Nate (2022) and The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Pit?
Start with Won't Back Down (2012), the closest match to The Pit.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Pit?
What Maisie Knew (2013), rated 7.1/10 by 466 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Pit?
Eleanor the Great (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Pit?
Yes: Won't Back Down (2012), Gigi & Nate (2022) and The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972).
How are movies similar to The Pit chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Pit, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.