Movies like War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave (2008)
The best movies like War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave (2008) are Starship Troopers (1997), AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004) and Total Recall (1990). If War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave hooked you with its action and science fiction, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedInterstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (2003)7.8/10 from 548 votes
- NewestDestination North (2026)Released 2026
Starship Troopers (1997)
Set in the future, the story follows a young soldier named Johnny Rico and his exploits in the Mobile Infantry. Rico's military career progresses from recruit to non-commissioned officer and finally to officer against the backdrop of an interstellar war between mankind and an arachnoid species known as "the Bugs."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004)
When scientists discover something near Antarctica that appears to be a buried Pyramid, they send a research team out to investigate. Little do they know that they are about to step into a hunting ground where Aliens are grown as sport for the Predator race.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTotal Recall (1990)
Construction worker Douglas Quaid's obsession with the planet Mars leads him to visit Rekall, a virtual vacation company that manufactures memories. When something goes wrong during Quaid's memory implant procedure, his life turns upside down, leading him to question what is reality and what isn't.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStargate SG-1: Children of the Gods (2009)
An alien similar to Ra appears out of the Stargate, killing five soldiers and kidnapping another, a year after the original Stargate mission. A new team is assembled, including some old members, and they go in search of the missing soldier in order to find out how Ra could still be alive. Meanwhile, the alien Goa'uld kidnap Sha're and Skaara, implanting them with symbiotes and making them Goa'uld hosts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOccupation: Rainfall (2020)
Two years into an intergalactic invasion of Earth, survivors in Sydney, Australia, fight back in a desperate ground war. As casualties mount by the day, the resistance and their unexpected allies, uncover a plot that could see the war come to a decisive end. With the Alien invaders hell-bent on making earth their new home, the race is on to save mankind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisExtinction (2018)
A chief mechanic at a factory, haunted by apocalyptic nightmares, becomes a hero when Earth is invaded by a mysterious army bent on destruction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOsiris (2025)
Special Forces commandos on a mission are abducted mid-operation by a mysterious spacecraft. Upon waking aboard, they find themselves prey to a relentless alien race in a fight for survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMonster Hunters (2020)
When an alien prison ship crash lands and unleashes creature after creature in the California desert, they make quick work of the army that tries to stop them. Now, the only hope of stopping the aliens rests with a secret branch of the government specializing in alien weaponry. But with the team untested in actual combat, the battle for Earth will be brutal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSoldier (1998)
Sergeant Todd is a veteran soldier for an elite group of the armed forces. After being defeated by a new breed of genetically engineered soldiers, he is dumped on a waste planet and left for dead. He soon interacts with a group of crash survivors who lead out a peaceful existence. The peace is broken as the new soldiers land on the planet to eliminate the colony, which Sergeant Todd must defend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRiddick (2013)
Betrayed by his own kind and left for dead on a desolate planet, Riddick fights for survival against alien predators and becomes more powerful and dangerous than ever before. Soon bounty hunters from throughout the galaxy descend on Riddick only to find themselves pawns in his greater scheme for revenge. With his enemies right where he wants them, Riddick unleashes a vicious attack of vengeance before returning to his home planet of Furya to save it from destruction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIck (2025)
Science teacher Hank’s life changes when he reconnects with his first love and suspects that a new student may be his daughter—all while facing an alien threat in their town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLong Distance (2024)
After crash-landing on an alien planet, an asteroid miner must contend with the challenges of his new surroundings, while making his way across the harsh terrain to the only other survivor – a woman who is trapped in her escape pod.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAfterburn (2025)
Set against the backdrop of a postapocalyptic Earth whose Eastern Hemisphere was destroyed by a massive solar flare, leaving what life remains mutated from radiation and fallout. The story revolves around a group of treasure hunters who extract such objects as the Mona Lisa, the Rosetta Stone and the Crown Jewels while facing rival hunters, mutants and pirates.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAttack on Titan (2022)
As viable water is depleted on Earth, a mission is sent to Saturn's moon Titan to retrieve sustainable H2O reserves from its alien inhabitants. But just as the humans acquire the precious resource, they are attacked by Titan rebels, who don't trust that the Earthlings will leave in peace.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisTimescape (1992)
Before they can complete renovations on their new country inn, a widowed father and his young daughter are visited by a strange group of tourists. He soon makes a chilling discovery: they are disaster junkies from the future who visit the past to witness history's greatest catastrophes—and his small town is their next stop.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisImpostor (2001)
A top-secret government weapons designer is arrested by a clandestine government organization on suspicion of being a clone created by the hostile alien race wanting to take over Earth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)
The sole survivor of an interplanetary rescue mission lands on the planet of the apes, and uncovers a horrible secret beneath the surface.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStarship Troopers: Traitor of Mars (2017)
Federation trooper Johnny Rico is ordered to work with a group of new recruits on a satellite station on Mars, where giant bugs have decided to target their next attack.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisLifeforce (1985)
A race of space vampires arrives in London and infects the populace, commencing an apocalyptic descent into chaos.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThey Live (1988)
A lone drifter stumbles upon a unique pair of sunglasses that reveal aliens are systematically gaining control of the Earth by masquerading as humans and lulling the public into submission.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSpace Truckers (1996)
John Canyon is one of the last independent space transport entrepreneurs. Rough times force him to carry suspicious cargo to Earth without questions being asked. During the flight the cargo turns out to be a multitude of unstoppable killer robots.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisRebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023)
When the ruthless forces of the Motherworld threaten a quiet farming village on a distant moon, a mysterious outsider becomes its best hope for survival.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisReplikator (1994)
In a poisoned world where sunshine kills, a hit squad from the Zyklor Corporation interrupts the testing of a matter replikator capable of duplicating living tissue for the purpose of extending human life. When the smoke clears, scientist Ludovic finds himself framed for murder and on the run from an exact duplicate... of himself. Joining forces with ex-lover Kat Moscow and cynical Detective Valiant, Ludovic follows the bloody path of destruction wrought by a monster with his face.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & adventure
Men in Black: International (2019)
The Men in Black have always protected the Earth from the scum of the universe. In this new adventure, they tackle their biggest, most global threat to date: a mole in the Men in Black organization.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisFortress 2 (2000)
John Brennick once again finds himself imprisoned, but this time in a new, more sophisticated fortress prison in outer space. But Brennick's not a man to give in easily, and with a 10-year-old son waiting for him back on earth, he's going to pack some serious assault on the evil corporation.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisInterstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (2003)
Four talented alien musicians are kidnapped by a record producer who disguises them as humans. Shep, a space pilot in love with bass player Stella, follows them to Earth. Reprogrammed to forget their real identities and renamed The Crescendolls, the group quickly becomes a huge success playing soulless corporate pop. At a concert, Shep manages to free all the musicians except Stella, and the band sets out to rediscover who they really are — and to rescue Stella.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJunk Head (2021)
Mankind can no longer reproduce because of gene manipulation aimed at making life longer. The clones ruling the bottomless underworld may have become fertile. Parton is selected to go on a mission through a subterranean labyrinth crawling with monsters to secure humanity's future.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Omega Man (1971)
Due to an experimental vaccine, Dr. Robert Neville is the only human survivor of an apocalyptic war waged with biological weapons. Besides him, only a few hundred deformed, nocturnal people remain; sensitive to light, and homicidally psychotic.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDestination North (2026)
In 2056, there has been a zombie outbreak caused by the polluted and contaminated water all over the world. In this story we are in Scotland, following the journey of two sisters trying to survive and adapt in this new way of the world. They believe if they go further North it will be easier to survive there. On their travels they come across love and loss, meeting and joining an orphan group. They continue their path North together, but there's more than that to the story... Watch and find out, and be hyped for this is only the beginning of their story.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & action
Rollerball (1975)
In a corporate-controlled future, an ultra-violent sport known as Rollerball represents the world, and one of its powerful athletes is out to defy those who want him out of the game.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave?
The closest matches to War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave are Starship Troopers (1997), AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004) and Total Recall (1990). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave?
Start with Starship Troopers (1997), the closest match to War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave.
What is the highest-rated movie like War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave?
Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem (2003), rated 7.8/10 by 548 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave?
Destination North (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave?
Yes: Starship Troopers (1997), AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004) and Total Recall (1990).
How are movies similar to War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside War of the Worlds 2: The Next Wave, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.