Movies like A Tale of Two Cities (2003)
The best movies like A Tale of Two Cities (2003) are The Deep End of the Ocean (1999), Hollywood Dirt (2017) and Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984). If A Tale of Two Cities hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMy Fault: London (2025)7.4/10 from 639 votes
- NewestBalhae Blurred in Rain (2026)Released 2026
- In JapaneseIt Feels So Good (2019)Also in Japanese
The Deep End of the Ocean (1999)
A three-year-old boy disappears during his mother's high school reunion. Nine years later, by chance, he turns up in the town in which the family has just relocated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHollywood Dirt (2017)
Hollywood arrives in force to Quincy, the small town where the secret Crown Cola billionaire's live. They want to film about the billionaire's and how they made their fortunes. Summer Jenkins, who was the town pariah, joins forces with the scout, Ben, and finds filming locations, extras, lessons with the town officials and house owners, etc. When Cole Masten arrives, they hate each other, but sparks fly. Cole is running from a nasty divorce, yet is captivated by Summer. Summer is dying to leave town to get away from the gossip. This is a great story about Southern customs, a Southern girl, and a Hollywood star who finds his lady.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGreystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984)
A shipping disaster in the 19th Century has stranded a man and woman in the wilds of Africa. The lady is pregnant, and gives birth to a son in their tree house. Soon after, a family of apes stumble across the house and in the ensuing panic, both parents are killed. A female ape takes the tiny boy as a replacement for her own dead infant, and raises him as her son. Twenty years later, Captain Phillippe D'Arnot discovers the man who thinks he is an ape. Evidence in the tree house leads him to believe that he is the direct descendant of the Earl of Greystoke, and thus takes it upon himself to return the man to civilization.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisScaramouche (1952)
In 18th-century France, a young man masquerades as an actor to avenge his friend's murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLondon (2005)
London is a drug laden adventure that centers on a party in a New York loft where a young man is trying to win back his ex-girlfriend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrange Cargo (1940)
Convicts escaping from Devil's Island come under the influence of a strange Christ-like figure.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWhisky Galore (2016)
The story of the inhabitants of the isolated Scottish island of Todday, in the Outer Hebrides, where gloom sets in as their wartime rationing of whisky runs out. When cargo ship the SS Cabinet Minister runs aground the shrewd islanders run rings around the buffoonish English Home Guard commander Captain Waggett and conspire to hide away cases of the precious amber nectar.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Girl from the Song (2017)
A young musician travels to Burning Man, a psychedelic festival in the middle of the Nevada desert, in an attempt to get the impetuous girl he has fallen in love with.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Fault: London (2025)
18-year-old Noah moves from America to London, with her mother who's recently fallen in love with William, a wealthy British businessman. Noah meets William’s son, bad-boy Nick, and soon discovers there is an attraction between them neither can avoid. As Noah spends the summer adjusting to her new life, her devastating past will catch up with her while falling in love for the first time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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
SnoozefestMovies like thisIt Feels So Good (2019)
When it rains it pours. Kenji divorced his wife, lost his job and his old squeeze Naoko is getting married back home in the north of Japan, specifically in Akita. He returns there in order to attend her wedding. Naoko surprises him by proposing that they have sex again. The one night stand is the new beginning.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAn Autumn Romance (2021)
When librarian Taylor Harris suddenly loses her job, she decides to visit her brother in a small town in Montana. There, she gets involved in the fight to help save her brother's hotel from tycoon Joel Sheenan, who wants to renovate it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies 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
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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe History of Love (2016)
The story of a long-lost book that mysteriously reappears and connects an old man searching for his son with a girl seeking a cure for her mother's loneliness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRoad to Paloma (2014)
While Native American Wolf is being pursued by the FBI for having taken the law into his own hands, when his mother was raped and killed on their reservation he crosses paths with Cash, a down and out musician who is coping with the end of his marriage. An unlikely friendship develops, as they ride together towards the Teton mountain range, where Wolf will spread his mothers ashes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies 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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTwo for the Seesaw (1962)
After leaving his wife, lawyer Jerry Ryan moves from Omaha, Nebraska to New York City to start a new life. While studying for the New York Bar Examination and working to finalize his divorce, Ryan meets dancer Gittel Mosca, and the two begin a cautious courtship. However, Ryan feels that he must come to terms with his failed marriage and overcome his lingering attachment to his ex-wife before he can redefine himself and embrace his budding romance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTarzan & Jane (2002)
With the first anniversary of her wedding to Tarzan beckoning, Jane ponders how to make it the perfect English celebration.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Blackout (1997)
A debauched Hollywood movie actor tries to piece together one wild night in Miami years earlier which remains a drug-induced blur, and soon finds out that some questions about his past are best left unanswered.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisPhoenix Wright 2 -The Truth Reborn, Again… (2009)
A continuation of Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, which ran from February to March of this year at Bow Hall and Nippon Seinenkan. Based on the game "Phoenix Wright" which is highly popular with women — the story of a passionate lawyer who solves difficult cases, set in America. Phoenix Wright has proved the innocence of his lover, who was suspected of murdering a senator, and won back her love. As he must wait for her return, he goes back to his hometown in California. One day, a young girl comes to see him. She wants him to represent her mother, who is suspected of being involved in a certain incident. In California, a new turnabout drama for Phoenix Wright begins...
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Lupin the Third: Search for the Queen's Necklace! (2015)
Musical by the Takarazuka Revue. In modern day France, an exhibition is being held at the Palace of Versailles of the "Necklace of Marie Antoinette". The necklace had been used in a fraud case that marked a chapter in French history and later went missing. It has been reproduced using real diamonds. Fujiko has sneaked into Versailles, as has the gang of Lupin, Goemon, and Jigen - all with the intention of getting their hands on the necklace, which is valued at over 3 billion yen in today's money. But they bump into Inspector Zenigata. Lupin is the one who manages to foil Zenigata and grab the necklace. Yet the instant he lays hands on it, everyone is enveloped in a mysterious light. When they regain consciousness, they notice they have gone through a time slip to 1785, before the French Revolution when Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were around.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Balhae Blurred in Rain (2026)
Based on the life of Dae Inseon, the last king of Balhae.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Phantom (2004)
Takarazuka Revue's Phantom based on the play by Maury Yeston and Arthur Kopit.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Revue Starlight: Rondo Rondo Rondo (2020)
The franchise centers on "Starlight," a dance and dance troupe beloved the world over. Karen and Hikari promised each other when they were little that one day they would perform together on that stage. Time passes and now they are both 16 years old. Karen is very excited about the dance lessons she takes every day, keeping her promise close to her heart. Hikari changed schools and now lives far away from Karen. But the gears of fate bring them together again, destined to meet again. The two, along with other hopefuls, will compete in a mysterious audition to become part of this great company.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Yagyu Ninja Scrolls (2021)
Futaro Yamada’s novel “The Yagyu Ninja Scrolls” is a historical epic that masterfully weaves fiction into fact: Takarazuka will take on the challenge of adapting this work for the stage for the very first time.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Runway (2024)
Special stage performance by the former top stars of Takarazuka Revue.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Serika Toa Dinner Show 『The Royal Banquet』 (2025)
Serika Toa's dinner show.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Elisabeth: The Rondo of Love & Death (2014)
Takarazuka Revue Flower Troupe 2014 production of the Austrian musical 'Elisabeth'
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Ocean's 11 (2019)
Danny Ocean, a master swindler, is serving time, but on this day he is approved to be released on parole. On the same day, his wife's lawyer pays him a visit, divorce papers in hand. His wife Tess has been selected to star in a show at a hotel to be built by the Las Vegas magnate Terry Benedict.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Like A Tale of Two Cities and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like A Tale of Two Cities?
The closest matches to A Tale of Two Cities are The Deep End of the Ocean (1999), Hollywood Dirt (2017) and Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after A Tale of Two Cities?
Start with The Deep End of the Ocean (1999), the closest match to A Tale of Two Cities.
What is the highest-rated movie like A Tale of Two Cities?
My Fault: London (2025), rated 7.4/10 by 639 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like A Tale of Two Cities?
Balhae Blurred in Rain (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like A Tale of Two Cities?
Yes: It Feels So Good (2019), Phoenix Wright 2 -The Truth Reborn, Again… (2009) and Lupin the Third: Search for the Queen's Necklace! (2015).
How are movies similar to A Tale of Two Cities chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside A Tale of Two Cities, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.