Movies like Rip Van Winkle (1896)
The best movies like Rip Van Winkle (1896) are Much Ado About Nothing (2013), The Fugitive Kind (1960) and Perfect Day (1929). If Rip Van Winkle hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHigh and Low (1963)8.4/10 from 1,235 votes
- NewestBalls Up (2026)Released 2026
Much Ado About Nothing (2013)
A modern retelling of Shakespeare's classic comedy about two pairs of lovers with different takes on romance and a way with words.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fugitive Kind (1960)
Val Xavier, a drifter of obscure origins, arrives at a small town and gets a job in a store run by Lady Torrence. Her husband, Jabe M. Torrance, is dying of cancer. Val is pursued by Carol Cutere, the enigmatic local tramp-of-good-family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPerfect Day (1929)
Two families embark on a pleasant Sunday picnic but manage to run into a variety of issues with their temperamental automobile. Each incident requires repeated exits and reboardings by Laurel, Hardy, their wives and grouchy, gout-ridden Uncle Edgar.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOur Wife (1931)
Oliver is making plans to marry his sweetheart Dulcy with Stan as his best man, but the plans are thwarted when Dulcy's father sees a picture of Ollie and forbids the marriage. The couple plan to elope, and run away to a Justice of the Peace. After typical Laurel and Hardy blundering, they manage to sneak the girl away from her father's house.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIn the Blood (2014)
When her husband goes missing during their Caribbean vacation, a woman sets off on her own to take down the men she thinks are responsible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Bravados (1958)
Jim Douglass arrives in the small town of Rio Arriba in order to witness the hanging of the four men he believes murdered his wife. When the convicts escape, Jim tracks them into Mexico, determined to see that justice is done. But the farther Jim goes in his quest for vengeance, the more merciless he becomes, losing himself in an unrelenting spiral of hatred and violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIcefall (2025)
A young Indigenous game warden arrests an infamous poacher only to discover that the poacher knows the location of a plane carrying millions of dollars that has crashed in a frozen lake. When a group of criminals and dirty cops are alerted to the poacher’s whereabouts, the warden and the poacher team up to fight back and escape across the treacherous lake before the ice melts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPoint Blank (2019)
A nurse is forced to spring a wounded murder suspect from the hospital when the man’s brother kidnaps his pregnant wife and wants to make a trade.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Good Neighbor (2022)
A nightmarish evening unfolds for neighbors David and Robert when they accidentally hit a woman on her bike and flee the scene. While David is increasingly plagued by feelings of guilt, Robert shows no remorse and becomes overbearing and possessive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSleep, My Love (1948)
A woman wakes up in the middle of the night on board a train, but she can't remember how she got there. Danger and suspense ensue.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Grandmother (1970)
To escape neglect and abuse from his parents, a young boy plants some strange seeds and they grow into a grandmother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lady Vanishes (2013)
Young socialite Iris Carr befriends an older woman while traveling solo by train. When Iris wakes from a nap, the woman is gone and other passengers claim she never existed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Days of American Crime (2020)
In the not-too-distant future, as a final response to crime and terrorism, the U.S. government plans to broadcast a signal that will make it impossible for anyone to knowingly break the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 355 (2022)
A group of top female agents from American, British, Chinese, Colombian, and German government agencies are drawn together to try and stop an organization from acquiring a deadly weapon to send the world into chaos.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBalls Up (2026)
Two marketing executives go "balls out" and pitch a bold full‑coverage condom sponsorship with the World Cup. After their drunken celebration in Brazil sparks a global scandal, they must outrun furious fans, criminals, and power-hungry officials to salvage their careers and make it home alive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisThunderstruck (2012)
After NBA star Kevin Durant switches talent with 16 year old Brian, the teenager becomes the star of his high school team, but Durant starts struggling and eventually learns an important lesson.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWerewolf: The Beast Among Us (2012)
Set in a 19th century village, a young man studying under a local doctor joins a team of hunters on the trail of a wolf-like creature.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisBad Sister (2015)
As a top student at St. Adeline's Catholic Boarding School, Zoe senses that something is not quite right about the school's new nun-- a sense proven to be true when it is revealed the "good' nun is an imposter with a fatal attraction to Zoe's brother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBreathe (2017)
Based on the true story of Robin, a handsome, brilliant and adventurous man whose life takes a dramatic turn when polio leaves him paralyzed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlanket-Tossing A New Recruit (1898)
A method soldier boys have for amusing themselves in their leisure moments. New comrades are frequently initiated by the old-fashioned sport of tossing in a blanket. The newly arrived recruit, who is the victim of their sport, enjoys himself, perhaps, less than the other participants.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Strings (2010)
In a certain rural town, a girl calls her senior to a shrine after school to give him a love letter. As she reaches for the letter, a red string suddenly appears on her left hand. Ignoring her senior, she chases after the red string. Along the way, various things happen, but an unexpected ending awaits the girl.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Robin Hood (1913)
Robin Hood and his followers aid the poor and oppressed from their hideout in Sherwood Forest, pursued by the Sheriff of Nottingham.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Film Lost To Time (2024)
A film buff's obsession with an elusive, possibly nonexistent film spirals into a dangerous descent, blurring the line between reality and madness.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Marret El-ayam (1954)
Inside the university, a student admires her ideal professor, without the professor realizing it. The professor proposes to the family and proposes to the sister, which shocks the student. She decides to conceal her feelings and continue studying. The professor marries the sister, and days pass without the flame of love being extinguished. A husband discovers... The sister realizes the student's feelings for him, and he begins to reciprocate the same feelings due to her intense interest in him, and the two almost drift into a stream full of mistakes.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
I Vitelloni (1953)
Five young men dream of success as they drift lazily through life in a small Italian village. Fausto, the group's leader, is a womanizer; Riccardo craves fame; Alberto is a hopeless dreamer; Moraldo fantasizes about life in the city; and Leopoldo is an aspiring playwright. As Fausto chases a string of women, to the horror of his pregnant wife, the other four blunder their way from one uneventful experience to the next.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHigh and Low (1963)
A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Absolute CinemaMovies like this30 Days in Prison (1959)
Amshir works as a bodyguard in the cabaret owned by his Medhat al-Shamshiri, and a court sentences Medhat to a month in prison after he burned the mustache of a wealthy Upper Egyptian named al-Najawi. Amshir goes to prison instead of Medhat for money. in meanwhile Medhat relation with Azhar (al-Najawi girl) is revealed to Sohair (Medhat Fiance).
Why it matches: Similar story and style
In Search of a Midnight Kiss (2007)
Broke and alone on New Year's Eve, Wilson just wants to spend the rest of a very bad year in bed. But, when his best friend convinces him to post a personal ad, he meets a woman bent on finding the right guy to be with at midnight.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisScrooge (1951)
Ebenezer Scrooge malcontentedly shuffles through life as a cruel, miserly businessman, until he is visited by three spirits on Christmas Eve who show him how his unhappy childhood and adult behavior has left him a selfish, lonely old man.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Rip Van Winkle?
The closest matches to Rip Van Winkle are Much Ado About Nothing (2013), The Fugitive Kind (1960) and Perfect Day (1929). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Rip Van Winkle?
Start with Much Ado About Nothing (2013), the closest match to Rip Van Winkle.
What is the highest-rated movie like Rip Van Winkle?
High and Low (1963), rated 8.4/10 by 1,235 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Rip Van Winkle?
Balls Up (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Rip Van Winkle?
Yes: Much Ado About Nothing (2013), The Fugitive Kind (1960) and Perfect Day (1929).
How are movies similar to Rip Van Winkle chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Rip Van Winkle, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.