Movies like Wake Up (2018)
The best movies like Wake Up (2018) are Earth: One Amazing Day (2017), And the Band Played On (1993) and Trash (2014). If Wake Up hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedKoyaanisqatsi (1983)7.9/10 from 813 votes
- NewestBeware Boiúna (2026)Released 2026
Earth: One Amazing Day (2017)
An astonishing journey revealing the awesome power of the natural world. Over the course of one single day, we track the sun from the highest mountains to the remotest islands to exotic jungles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAnd the Band Played On (1993)
The story of the discovery of the AIDS epidemic and the political infighting of the scientific community hampering the early fight with it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrash (2014)
Set in Brazil, three kids who make a discovery in a garbage dump soon find themselves running from the cops and trying to right a terrible wrong.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisReturn of the Living Dead Part II (1988)
A group of kids discover one of the drums containing a rotting corpse and release the 2-4-5 Trioxin gas into the air, causing the dead to once again rise from the grave and seek out brains.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrawl in Cell Block 99 (2017)
After working as a drug courier and getting into a brutal shootout with police, a former boxer finds himself at the mercy of his enemies as they force him to instigate violent acts that turn the prison he resides in into a battleground.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeware Boiúna (2026)
A medical mission deep in the Amazon becomes a desperate fight for survival when a colossal ancient predator awakens, turning the jungle into a deadly battleground where nature decides who lives and dies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisForgive Us All (2025)
In a post-apocalyptic world, a virus has transformed humans into violently deranged cannibals. A bereaved mother has lost everything and takes refuge in an isolated mountain cabin, until a desperate wounded stranger arrives with a story of hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisGood Neighbor Sam (1964)
To help his divorced neighbor claim a substantial inheritance, a family man poses as her husband. The ruse spills over into his career in advertising, and his recent promotion relies on his wholesome and moral appearance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKoyaanisqatsi (1983)
Takes us to locations all around the US and shows us the heavy toll that modern technology is having on humans and the earth. The visual tone poem contains neither dialogue nor a vocalized narration: its tone is set by the juxtaposition of images and the exceptional music by Philip Glass.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisRedux Redux (2025)
In an attempt to avenge her daughter’s death, Irene Kelly travels through parallel universes, killing her daughter’s murderer again and again. As she becomes consumed by vengeance, her humanity begins to slip away—until the cycle is disrupted when she rescues Mia, a sharp-witted teenager already marked by the killer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Trouble with Angels (1966)
Mary and her friend, Rachel, are new students at St. Francis Academy, a boarding school run by the iron fist of Mother Superior. The immature teens grow bored and begin playing pranks on both the unsuspecting nuns and their unpleasant classmates, becoming a constant thorn in Mother Superior's side. However, as the years pass, Mary and Rachel slowly mature and begin to see the nuns in a different light.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnother Earth (2011)
On the night a duplicate Earth is discovered in the solar system, the lives of a young woman and an accomplished composer become tragically connected after a fatal accident.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Year Earth Changed (2021)
Never-before-seen footage shows how our living in lockdown opened the door for nature to bounce back and thrive. Across the seas, skies, and lands, Earth found its rhythm when we came to a stop.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisWaste Land (2010)
An uplifting feature documentary highlighting the transformative power of art and the beauty of the human spirit. Top-selling contemporary artist Vik Muniz takes us on an emotional journey from Jardim Gramacho, the world's largest landfill on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, to the heights of international art stardom. Vik collaborates with the brilliant catadores, pickers of recyclable materials, true Shakespearean characters who live and work in the garbage quoting Machiavelli and showing us how to recycle ourselves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Crush (1993)
A precocious and obsessive teenager develops a crush on a naive writer with harrowing consequences.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMighty Joe Young (1998)
As a child living in Africa, Jill Young saw her mother killed while protecting wild gorillas from poachers led by Andrei Strasser. Now an adult, Jill cares for an orphaned gorilla named Joe -- who, due to a genetic anomaly, is 15 feet tall. When Gregg O'Hara arrives from California and sees the animal, he convinces Jill that Joe would be safest at his wildlife refuge. But Strasser follows them to the U.S., intent on capturing Joe for himself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeroin(e) (2017)
This documentary follows three women — a fire chief, a judge, and a street missionary — as they battle West Virginia's devastating opioid epidemic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Spit on Your Grave (2010)
A beautiful woman from the city, Jennifer Hills, rents an isolated cabin in the country to write her latest novel. Soon, a group of local lowlifes subject her to a nightmare of degradation, rape, and violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisErin Brockovich (2000)
A twice-divorced mother of three who sees an injustice, takes on the bad guy and wins -- with a little help from her push-up bra. Erin goes to work for an attorney and comes across medical records describing illnesses clustered in one nearby town. She starts investigating and soon exposes a monumental cover-up.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTo All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020)
Lara Jean and Peter have just taken their romance from pretend to officially real when another recipient of one of her love letters enters the picture.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Wake Up?
The closest matches to Wake Up are Earth: One Amazing Day (2017), And the Band Played On (1993) and Trash (2014). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Wake Up?
Start with Earth: One Amazing Day (2017), the closest match to Wake Up.
What is the highest-rated movie like Wake Up?
Koyaanisqatsi (1983), rated 7.9/10 by 813 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Wake Up?
Beware Boiúna (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Wake Up?
Yes: Earth: One Amazing Day (2017), And the Band Played On (1993) and Trash (2014).
How are movies similar to Wake Up chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Wake Up, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.