Movies like What's next? (2025)
The best movies like What's next? (2025) are Cranston Academy: Monster Zone (2020), Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (2013) and Justice League: Doom (2012). If What's next? hooked you with its animation and fantasy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedRegular Show: The Movie (2015)7.9/10 from 455 votes
- NewestDesert Road (2024)Released 2024
Cranston Academy: Monster Zone (2020)
An intelligent 15-year-old high school student is unexpectedly transferred to a boarding school where he opens a portal of monsters from another dimension.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBatman: The Dark Knight Returns (2013)
Batman has not been seen for ten years. A new breed of criminal ravages Gotham City, forcing fifty-five-year-old Bruce Wayne back into the cape and cowl, but does he still have what it takes to fight crime in a new era?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & mystery
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisJustice League: Doom (2012)
An adaptation of Mark Waid's "Tower of Babel" story from the JLA comic. Vandal Savage steals confidential files Batman has compiled on the members of the Justice League, and learns all their weaknesses.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJustice League: Gods and Monsters (2015)
In an alternate universe, very different versions of DC's Trinity fight against the government after they are framed for an embassy bombing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFire and Ice (1983)
The villainous Nekron and his mother, Queen Juliana, plot against the human race from their frigid fortress. Creating mass destruction with huge glaciers, mother and son incur the wrath of Larn, a warrior whose entire village was destroyed by ice. When Nekron's underlings kidnap the beautiful Princess Teegra, Larn sets out to rescue her, assisted by the fierce and enigmatic Darkwolf.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSuicide Squad: Hell to Pay (2018)
Amanda Waller's top-secret "Task Force X" — consisting of Deadshot, Bronze Tiger, Killer Frost, Captain Boomerang, Harley Quinn, and Copperhead — is on a mission to retrieve a mystical object so powerful that they're willing to risk their lives to steal it. However, the Suicide Squad isn't the only group of villains seeking to possess the object. It's a race for the golden prize, and second place isn't an option if they want to stay alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisInjustice (2021)
When Lois Lane is killed, an unhinged Superman decides to take control of the Earth. Determined to stop him, Batman creates a team of freedom-fighting heroes. But when superheroes go to war, can the world survive?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisVesper (2022)
After the collapse of Earth's ecosystem, Vesper, a 13-year-old girl struggling to survive with her paralyzed Father, meets a mysterious Woman with a secret that forces Vesper to use her wits, strength and bio-hacking abilities to fight for the possibility of a future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInvader Zim: Enter the Florpus (2019)
ZIM discovers his almighty leaders never had any intention of coming to Earth and he loses confidence in himself for the first time in his life, which is the big break his human nemesis, Dib has been waiting for.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Spine of Night (2021)
When ancient dark magic falls into sinister hands and unleashes ages of suffering onto mankind, a group of heroes from different eras and cultures must band together in order to defeat it at all costs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStarchaser: The Legend of Orin (1985)
Set on the subterranean Mine-World, a band of human worker are treated like slaves under the power of the evil overlord Zygon until one, Orin, unearths the hilt of a mythical sword that only he can master. Escaping the planet, he runs into the rogue smuggler Dagg and a pair of helpful droids and the princess, who all team up to return to the Mine-World with a plan to defeat Zygon and free Orin's enslaved people.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRegular Show: The Movie (2015)
After a high school lab experiment goes horribly wrong, Mordecai and Rigby must go back in time to battle an evil volleyball coach in order to save the universe — and their friendship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisStrings (2004)
The story of Prince Hal who sets out to avenge his dead father against the city's rivals, the Zeriths, little knowing it was his wicked uncle Nezo who is the real killer, with his own designs on the throne.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness (2022)
A brave young animal explorer teams up with two trusty friends to find a powerful artifact before his greedy uncle can get his paws on it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Willoughbys (2020)
When the four Willoughby children are abandoned by their selfish parents, they must learn how to adapt their Old-Fashioned values to the contemporary world in order to create something new: The Modern Family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Venture Bros.: Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart (2023)
A nationwide manhunt for Hank Venture leads to untold dangers and unexpected revelations, while The Monarch is literally out for Dr Venture's blood. An imposing evil from the past reemerges to wreak havoc on the Ventures, The Guild, and even the Monarch marriage—it will take friends and foes alike to restore the Ventures' world to order… or end it once and for all.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisChildren of the Damned (1964)
Six children are found spread through out the world that not only have enormous intelligence, but identical intelligence and have a strange bond to each other.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both mystery & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSpider-Man: The Venom Saga (2005)
A space-shuttle crash-landing puts the famous web-slinger Spider-Man in contact with a living alien substance that bonds to his suit and enhances his super-powers. Unfortunately, the alien substance begins to change him and he feels the pull of evil, so discards the suit. The evil attaches itself to another host leading to an epic confrontation between good and evil.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Congress (2013)
An aging, out-of-work actress accepts one last job, though the consequences of her decision affect her in ways she didn't consider.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStewie Griffin: The Untold Story (2005)
The maniacal baby of the Griffin family, Stewie, meets his future self. In doing this he discovers that his future image is not what he has anticipated because of a near death experience.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDesert Road (2024)
A young woman crashes her car and walks down the road seeking help, only to find no matter which way she walks she ends up back at her car. As night falls, she realizes she’s going to die in this endless loop... unless she can find a way to escape.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & mystery
Persepolis (2007)
In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Satrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family of a long dream being fulfilled of the hated Shah's defeat in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. However as Marji grows up, she witnesses first hand how the new Iran, now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, has become a repressive tyranny on its own.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBlue My Mind (2017)
15-year-old Mia faces an overwhelming transformation which puts her entire existence into question. Her body is changing radically, and despite desperate attempts to halt the process, Mia is soon forced to accept that nature is far more powerful than she is.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wishing Tree (2017)
'The Wishing Tree' is a magical, inspirational and an extremely entertaining story of five children in a hill-station somewhere in India, who come together to save their 'wishing tree' from being cut by vested interests. The film is extremely lively, endearing and engrossing so that the underlying message to protect trees and environment is seamlessly driven home.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
The Tank (2017)
On April 26, 2012, six people entered an Isolated Confined Environment with the mission to simulate a trip to Mars. Their mission was a catastrophic failure.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Grandpa Walrus (2018)
On the windy and cloudy beach, Granny is praying, Mum is shouting, the sisters don’t care, Lucas is alone. Grandpa was a weird guy, now he's dead.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Maya and the Starboy (1988)
The story about a class of star-boys who travel with their research spaceship to "Outdoor School" to see life on Earth. Since they wear "snurke" - a kind of shiny badges, they are invisible to Earthlings. But the star-boy Gubang's desire to meet the Earthlings in personal is so strong that he can not resist. He befriends a girl named Maya and gives her "snurko" so that she could see him. This causes severe complications both on Earth and in spaceship. Of course, everything finishes with a happy end.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Stranded (2001)
A team of astronauts on the first mission to Mars crashes onto the surface, losing contact with Earth. With no other recourse, and help millions of miles away, the crew is forced to make desperate choices in order to stay alive. Will they be able to survive as the minutes slip away?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisNemesis (2010)
Claire and Robert spend most of their time in a house they own in the beautiful and remote countryside in Italy. Their life seems to be perfect. But when Claire's sister gets murdered in the very same house, the traumatic event shakes up their relationship. Disappointment, fear and resentment they swept under the rug for years, resurface. Revealing the dark side of a blissful love - a dream that turns into a nightmare. It is the story of two people trapped in a dark secret.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Big (1988)
When a young boy makes a wish at a carnival machine to be big, he wakes up the following morning to find that it has been granted and his body has grown older overnight, but he is still the same 13-year-old boy inside. Now he must learn how to cope with the unfamiliar world of grown-ups, including getting a job and having his first romantic encounter with a woman.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like What's next??
The closest matches to What's next? are Cranston Academy: Monster Zone (2020), Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (2013) and Justice League: Doom (2012). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after What's next??
Start with Cranston Academy: Monster Zone (2020), the closest match to What's next?.
What is the highest-rated movie like What's next??
Regular Show: The Movie (2015), rated 7.9/10 by 455 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like What's next??
Desert Road (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to What's next? chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside What's next?, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.