Movies like 2012 (2009)
The best movies like 2012 (2009) are Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005), Armageddon (1998) and Underwater (2020). If 2012 hooked you with its action and adventure, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Matrix (1999)8.3/10 from 29,194 votes
- NewestSelf Custody (2026)Released 2026
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
When the sinister Sith unveil a thousand-year-old plot to rule the galaxy, the Republic crumbles and from its ashes rises the evil Galactic Empire. Jedi hero Anakin Skywalker must choose a side.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisArmageddon (1998)
When an asteroid threatens to collide with Earth, NASA honcho Dan Truman determines the only way to stop it is to drill into its surface and detonate a nuclear bomb. This leads him to renowned driller Harry Stamper, who agrees to helm the dangerous space mission provided he can bring along his own hotshot crew. Among them is the cocksure A.J. who Harry thinks isn't good enough for his daughter, until the mission proves otherwise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnderwater (2020)
After an earthquake destroys their underwater station, six researchers must navigate two miles along the dangerous, unknown depths of the ocean floor to make it to safety in a race against time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMaze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)
Thomas leads his group of escaped Gladers on their final and most dangerous mission yet. To save their friends, they must break into the legendary Last City, a WCKD-controlled labyrinth that may turn out to be the deadliest maze of all. Anyone who makes it out alive will get answers to the questions the Gladers have been asking since they first arrived in the maze.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
The surviving Resistance faces the First Order once again as the journey of Rey, Finn and Poe Dameron continues. With the power and knowledge of generations behind them, the final battle begins.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAvatar (2009)
In the 22nd century, a paraplegic Marine is dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission, but becomes torn between following orders and protecting an alien civilization.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIndependence Day (1996)
Strange phenomena surface around the globe. The skies ignite. Terror races through the world's major cities. As these extraordinary events unfold, it becomes increasingly clear that a force of incredible magnitude has arrived. Its mission: total annihilation over the Fourth of July weekend. The last hope to stop the destruction is an unlikely group of people united by fate and unimaginable circumstances.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Host (2013)
A parasitic alien soul is injected into the body of Melanie Stryder. Instead of carrying out her race's mission of taking over the Earth, "Wanda" (as she comes to be called) forms a bond with her host and sets out to aid other free humans.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)
Several generations following Caesar's reign, apes – now the dominant species – live harmoniously while humans have been reduced to living in the shadows. As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all he's known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Core (2003)
Geophysicist Dr. Josh Keyes discovers that an unknown force has caused the earth's inner core to stop rotating. With the planet's magnetic field rapidly deteriorating, our atmosphere literally starts to come apart at the seams with catastrophic consequences. To resolve the crisis, Keyes, along with a team of the world's most gifted scientists, travel into the earth's core. Their mission: detonate a device that will reactivate the core.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisGeostorm (2017)
After an unprecedented series of natural disasters threatened the planet, the world's leaders came together to create an intricate network of satellites to control the global climate and keep everyone safe. But now, something has gone wrong: the system built to protect Earth is attacking it, and it becomes a race against the clock to uncover the real threat before a worldwide geostorm wipes out everything and everyone along with it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMeltdown: Days of Destruction (2006)
Despite scientist Nathan's warnings, his boss continues an experiment meant as publicity for his satellite firm: exploding an asteroid. Instead it splits, and the major piece, the size of Iceland, changes course to earth. It is deflected but so close that it shift our course closer to the sun, causing rapid extreme heating, hopefully only mid-term. Nathan warns his sister, TV journalist Carly, and she her lover, police detective Tom. He brings his unruly daughter Kim, her ex-con lover C.J. and her mother, nurse Bonnie, when Nathan offers a flight to a friend's Arctic weather station. Tom takes charge of a dangerous trip to the airport, as everywhere on earth things catch fire and people fight for water, transport and sheer looting.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMoonfall (2022)
A mysterious force knocks the moon from its orbit around Earth and sends it hurtling on a collision course with life as we know it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMeg 2: The Trench (2023)
An exploratory dive into the deepest depths of the ocean of a daring research team spirals into chaos when a malevolent mining operation threatens their mission and forces them into a high-stakes battle for survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)
A group of scientists in San Francisco struggle to stay alive in the aftermath of a plague that is wiping out humanity, while Caesar tries to maintain dominance over his community of intelligent apes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisVolcano (1997)
An earthquake shatters a peaceful Los Angeles morning and opens a fissure deep into the earth, causing lava to start bubbling up. As a volcano begins forming in the La Brea Tar Pits, the director of the city's emergency management service, working with a geologist, must then use every resource in the city to try and stop the volcano from consuming LA.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGodzilla (2014)
Ford Brody, a Navy bomb expert, has just reunited with his family in San Francisco when he is forced to go to Japan to help his estranged father, Joe. Soon, both men are swept up in an escalating crisis when an ancient alpha predator arises from the sea to combat malevolent adversaries that threaten the survival of humanity. The creatures leave colossal destruction in their wake, as they make their way toward their final battleground: San Francisco.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Matrix (1999)
Set in the 22nd century, The Matrix tells the story of a computer hacker who joins a group of underground insurgents fighting the vast and powerful computers who now rule the earth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisGreenland 2: Migration (2026)
Having found the safety of the Greenland bunker after the comet Clarke decimated the Earth, the Garrity family must now risk everything to embark on a perilous journey across the wasteland of Europe to find a new home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhen Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth (1970)
An ancient tribe attempts to sacrifice Sanna as an offering to the Sun god to save their tribe from dinosaurs. Tara, a young man from another tribe, saves Sanna and takes her along with him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSuperman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987)
With global superpowers engaged in an increasingly hostile arms race, Superman leads a crusade to rid the world of nuclear weapons. But Lex Luthor, recently sprung from jail, is declaring war on the Man of Steel and his quest to save the planet. Using a strand of Superman's hair, Luthor synthesizes a powerful ally known as Nuclear Man and ignites an epic battle spanning Earth and space.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisMeatball Machine (2006)
Capable of making bio-mechanical weapons out of human flesh, alien parasites grotesquely invade the Earth, turning their hosts into maniacal killers who seek and destroy each other to the bloody death! And yes, it s also a human love story, even though the budding romantics are infested with slimy, tumor-like globules.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisA44 (2025)
A college student is driven to find the source of a mysterious illness that appears to originate in the meat and dairy supply, which has begun to render the local community into mindless killers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & science fiction
Archangel Thunderbird (1998)
A bizarre live-action/stop motion hybrid television film following Dr. Churchill and his resistance force's last desperate attempt to stop an invading army of ancient extra-terrestrial demons.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & action
Geo-Disaster (2017)
A chunk of dark matter shoots right through earth, causing various worldwide disasters. A family in Los Angeles struggles to survive the ordeal.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisDaylight (1996)
A group of armed robbers fleeing the police head for the New Jersey Tunnel and run right into trucks transporting toxic waste. The spectacular explosion that follows results in both ends of the tunnel collapsing and the handful of people who survived the explosion are now in peril. Kit Latura is the only man with the skill and knowledge to lead the band of survivors out of the tunnel before the structure collapses.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSelf Custody (2026)
When a struggling father discovers he unknowingly received a Bitcoin bonus back in 2014--now worth millions--his desperate attempt to reclaim the lost fortune sends him spiraling into a high-stakes world of encrypted wallets, forgotten passwords, and dark web danger. With time running out and his family on the line, he must outsmart hackers, trace digital breadcrumbs, and confront secrets buried in his past.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
On the Silver Globe (1989)
A small group of cosmic explorers, including a woman, leaves Earth to start a new civilization. They do not realize that within themselves they carry the end of their own dream. They die one by one, while their children revert to a primitive native culture, creating new myths and a new god.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBigbug (2022)
Set in the world of 2045, where communities have robotic helpers, a group of suburbanites are locked in for their protection by their household robots, while a rogue, self-aware AI android revolt uprising takes place outside.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Vault (2019)
A seasoned detective (Max Lamont) is hired to track down the only surviving thief of a robbery gone wrong.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Like 2012 and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like 2012?
The closest matches to 2012 are Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005), Armageddon (1998) and Underwater (2020). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after 2012?
Start with Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005), the closest match to 2012.
What is the highest-rated movie like 2012?
The Matrix (1999), rated 8.3/10 by 29,194 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like 2012?
Self Custody (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like 2012?
Yes: Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005), Armageddon (1998) and Underwater (2020).
How are movies similar to 2012 chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside 2012, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.