Movies like I Would Be Called John: Pope John XXIII (1987)
The best movies like I Would Be Called John: Pope John XXIII (1987) are Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert (2018), The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968) and Hamlet (1948). If I Would Be Called John: Pope John XXIII hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHamlet (1948)7.4/10 from 308 votes
- NewestMeet Me at the Eclipse (2026)Released 2026
Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert (2018)
The award-winning show is re-imagined as a live concert event, featuring an all-star cast of recording artists, set during the last week of Jesus' life as he deals with betrayal, love and jealousy, and told from the perspective of Judas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Shoes of the Fisherman (1968)
Ukrainian bishop Kiril Lakota, a political prisoner in a Soviet gulag for twenty years, is unexpectedly released and sent to the Vatican, where, upon the sudden death of the Pope, leader of the Catholic Church, he must face a challenging destiny that will put the future of the entire world in his hands.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHamlet (1948)
Winner of four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor, Sir Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet continues to be the most compelling version of Shakespeare’s beloved tragedy. Olivier is at his most inspired—both as director and as the melancholy Dane himself—as he breathes new life into the words of one of the world’s greatest dramatists.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThree Christs (2017)
Dr. Alan Stone breaks new ground for treatment of the mentally ill through an experiment on three paranoid schizophrenic patients who believe they are Jesus Christ.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Padre (2018)
American retired Judge Randall Nemes and his hired gun, Gaspar, track down a con man posing as a priest in a small Colombian town only to be thrown off-course by a scrappy 16-year-old girl intent on reuniting with her sister in the United States.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisJesus Christ Superstar (1973)
As played out by a theatre troupe, the last days of Jesus Christ are depicted from the perspective of Judas Iscariot, his betrayer. As Jesus' following increases, Judas begins to worry that Jesus is falling for his own hype, forgetting the principles of his teachings and growing too close to the prostitute Mary Magdalene.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisResurrecting the Champ (2007)
Up-and-coming sports reporter rescues a homeless man ("Champ") only to discover that he is, in fact, a boxing legend believed to have passed away. What begins as an opportunity to resurrect Champ's story and escape the shadow of his father's success becomes a personal journey as the ambitious reporter reexamines his own life and his relationship with his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFatima (2020)
In 1917, outside the parish of Fátima, Portugal, a 10-year-old girl and her two younger cousins witness multiple visitations of the Virgin Mary, who tells them that only prayer and suffering will bring an end to World War I. As secularist government officials and Church leaders try to force the children to recant their story, word of the sighting spreads across the country, inspiring religious pilgrims to flock to the site in hopes of witnessing a miracle..
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisVanya on 42nd Street (1994)
An uninterrupted rehearsal of Chekhov's 'Uncle Vanya' plays out by a company of actors. The setting: their run-down theater with an unusable stage and crumbling ceiling. The play is shown act by act with the briefest of breaks to move props or for refreshments. The lack of costumes, real props and scenery is soon forgotten.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSon of God (2014)
In the Holy Land, the Roman occupation has produced a cauldron of oppression, anxiety and excessive taxes levied upon the Jewish people. Fearing the wrath of Roman governor Pontius Pilate , Jewish high priest Caiaphas tries to keep control of his people. That control is threatened when Jesus arrives in Jerusalem, performing miracles and spreading messages of love and hope. Those who fear that Jesus will inspire a revolution decide that he must die.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisFaith Like Potatoes (2006)
Frank Rautenbach leads a strong cast as Angus Buchan, a Zambian farmer of Scottish heritage, who leaves his farm in the midst of political unrest and racially charged land reclaims and travels south with his family to start a better life in KwaZulu Natal,South Africa.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFather Stu (2022)
The true-life story of boxer-turned-priest. When an injury ends his amateur boxing career, Stuart Long moves to Los Angeles to find money and fame. While scraping by as a supermarket clerk, he meets Carmen, a Sunday school teacher who seems immune to his bad-boy charm. Determined to win her over, the longtime agnostic starts going to church to impress her. However, a motorcycle accident leaves him wondering if he can use his second chance to help others, leading to the surprising realization that he's meant to be a Catholic priest.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisViolent Saturday (1955)
Three men case a small town very carefully, with plans to rob the bank on the upcoming Saturday, which turns violent and deadly.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisConclave (2024)
After the unexpected death of the Pope, Cardinal Lawrence is tasked with managing the covert and ancient ritual of electing a new one. Sequestered in the Vatican with the Catholic Church’s most powerful leaders until the process is complete, Lawrence finds himself at the center of a conspiracy that could lead to its downfall.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisThe Reckoning (2004)
In 14th Century England, this tale of murder and mystery follows a fugitive priest who falls in with a troupe of actors. As they arrive in a small town, the actors encounter a woman being sentenced to death for practicing witchcraft and murder. Discarding the expected bible stories, the actors now stage a performance based on the crime. Through the performance of the play, they discover a mystery.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Carpetbaggers (1964)
Jonas Cord is a disagreeable young tycoon who's building planes, directing films, and catting around on the corporate make in 1930s Hollywood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHome (2021)
An ex-felon returns home from prison and must confront the demons of his past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMeet Me at the Eclipse (2026)
In 1995, a young Catholic woman at the end of noviciate finds herself shaken by the flashbacks of a long gone first love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Walden (2021)
After returning from a year-long Moon mission, Cassie, a NASA botanist, finds herself in a remote cabin in the woods, where her estranged twin sister, Stella, a former NASA architect, has found a new life with climate activist Bryan. Old wounds resurface as the sisters attempt to pick up the pieces of the rivalry that broke them apart.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Ace Attorney: Turnabout Gold Medal (2019)
Phoenix Wright, Miles Edgeworth, and many more prepare to face off in the Judicial Olympics. Overseeing the event is executive chairman and former champion Godot. The trial will end when one lawyer receives the event's prestigious gold medal.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Into the Woods (1991)
In a woods filled with magic and fairy tale characters, a baker and his wife set out to end the curse put on them by their neighbor, a spiteful witch.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisPadre Pio (2022)
It is the end of World War I and the young Italian soldiers are making their way back to San Giovanni Rotondo, a land of poverty, with a tradition of violence and submission to the iron-clad rule of the church and its wealthy landowners. Families are desperate, the men are broken, albeit victorious. Padre Pio also arrives, at a remote Capuchin monastery, to begin his ministry, evoking an aura of charisma, saintliness and epic visions of Jesus, Mary and the Devil himself. The eve of the first free elections in Italy sets the stage for a massacre with a metaphorical dimension: an apocalyptic event that changes the course of history.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisDare (2009)
When a pompous actor tells good girl Alexa that she hasn't lived, she embarks on a bold journey that takes her to mysterious bad boy Johnny. Envious, her shy best friend Ben also dares to pursue Johnny.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe 13th Day (2009)
In Fatima, Portugal, between May and October 1917, the Virgin Mary appeared to three young children. The Lady of Light appeared to them on the 13th day of each month for six months, promising that on her last visit she would perform a miracle.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
W Wolinski (2024)
After the Charlie Hebdo shooting events by the hand of jihadist terrorists David wants to bring on stage a play based on the late satyrical cartoonist George Wolinski's comicbook strips, but he struggles to finds cohoperation from institutional figures. He then agrees to direct in a small provincial town a stage play about an apulian folk dance, the Pizzica. Masterminding to disguise the original planned one, with its sexually explicit nature, into the accorded one he will gain the complicity of the curious cast hired on the spot. The start of the rehearsals will arouse excited consensus either censure which will lead to a growing boycott of the staging.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Yeh Ballet (2020)
Discovered by an eccentric ballet master, two gifted but underprivileged Mumbai teens face bigotry and disapproval as they pursue their dancing dreams.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Romero (1989)
Romero is a compelling and deeply moving look at the life of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, who made the ultimate sacrifice in a passionate stand against social injustice and oppression in his county. This film chronicles the transformation of Romero from an apolitical, complacent priest to a committed leader of the Salvadoran people.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like I Would Be Called John: Pope John XXIII?
The closest matches to I Would Be Called John: Pope John XXIII are Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert (2018), The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968) and Hamlet (1948). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after I Would Be Called John: Pope John XXIII?
Start with Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert (2018), the closest match to I Would Be Called John: Pope John XXIII.
What is the highest-rated movie like I Would Be Called John: Pope John XXIII?
Hamlet (1948), rated 7.4/10 by 308 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like I Would Be Called John: Pope John XXIII?
Meet Me at the Eclipse (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like I Would Be Called John: Pope John XXIII?
Yes: Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert (2018), The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968) and Hamlet (1948).
How are movies similar to I Would Be Called John: Pope John XXIII chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside I Would Be Called John: Pope John XXIII, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.