Movies like IARA: Synthetic Memories (2023)
The best movies like IARA: Synthetic Memories (2023) are Brainstorm (1983), The Second Renaissance Part I (2003) and Superintelligence (2020). If IARA: Synthetic Memories hooked you with its science fiction, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedEdge of Tomorrow (2014)7.6/10 from 15,750 votes
- NewestNIGHT CLONES: SO MANY DAYS (2026)Released 2026
Brainstorm (1983)
Two brilliant research scientists have invented a device capable of recording and playing back sensory experiences only to have devastating results when one of them records their own death.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Second Renaissance Part I (2003)
Tells the early history of how conflict began between the humans and machines. Part 1 of 2.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSuperintelligence (2020)
When an all-powerful Superintelligence chooses to study the most average person on Earth, Carol Peters, the fate of the world hangs in the balance. As the A.I. decides to enslave, save or destroy humanity, it’s up to Carol to prove that people are worth saving.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisStar Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
When an unidentified alien destroys three powerful Klingon cruisers, Captain James T. Kirk returns to the newly transformed U.S.S. Enterprise to take command.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRobot & Frank (2012)
Curmudgeonly old Frank lives by himself. His routine involves daily visits to his local library, where he has a twinkle in his eye for the librarian. His grown children are concerned about their father’s well-being and buy him a caretaker robot. Initially resistant to the idea, Frank soon appreciates the benefits of robotic support – like nutritious meals and a clean house – and eventually begins to treat his robot like a true companion. With his robot’s assistance, Frank’s passion for his old, unlawful profession is reignited, for better or worse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Philadelphia Experiment (1984)
Based on an "actual event" that took place in 1943. About a US Navy Destroyer Escort that disappeared from the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, and sent two men 40 years into the future to 1984.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCircle (2015)
In a massive, mysterious chamber, fifty strangers awaken to find themselves trapped with no memory of how they got there. Organized in an inward-facing circle and unable to move, they quickly learn that every two minutes, one of them must die…executed by a strange device in the center of the room.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Second Renaissance Part II (2003)
The battle for Earth turns against the humans, despite their infamous desperate act of blackening the skies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisElectric Dreams (1984)
Miles Harding buys a state-of-the-art computer that starts expressing conscious thought and emotion after an interaction with spilled champagne. Things begin getting out of hand when both Miles and Edgar, the computer, fall in love with beautiful neighbor Madeline Robistat.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBicentennial Man (1999)
Richard Martin buys a gift, a new NDR-114 robot. The product is named Andrew by the youngest of the family's children. "Bicentennial Man" follows the life and times of Andrew, a robot purchased as a household appliance programmed to perform menial tasks. As Andrew begins to experience emotions and creative thought, the Martin family soon discovers they don't have an ordinary robot.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShort Circuit (1986)
After a lightning bolt zaps a robot named Number 5, the lovable machine starts to think he's human and escapes the lab. Hot on his trail is his designer, Newton, who hopes to get to Number 5 before the military does. In the meantime, a spunky animal lover mistakes the robot for an alien and takes him in, teaching her new guest about life on Earth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSpace/Time (2025)
After a fatal test shuts down their project, a disgraced team of scientists enters the criminal underworld to rebuild a forbidden space-bending engine that could rescue humanity or annihilate it entirely.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisWarGames (1983)
High school student David Lightman has a talent for hacking. But while trying to hack into a computer system to play unreleased video games, he unwittingly taps into the Department of Defense's war computer and initiates a confrontation of global proportions. Together with his friend and a wizardly computer genius, David must race against time to outwit his opponent and prevent a nuclear Armageddon.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBabylon 5: The River of Souls (1998)
A group of Soul Hunters come to Babylon 5 demanding the return of something that was stolen from them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMinutemen (2008)
When three high-school friends invent a time-machine, they decide to use it to go back in time and prevent other youngsters from making humiliating mistakes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisTRON: Legacy (2010)
Sam Flynn, the tech-savvy and daring son of Kevin Flynn, investigates his father's disappearance and is pulled into The Grid. With the help of a mysterious program named Quorra, Sam quests to stop evil dictator Clu from crossing into the real world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisF.R.E.D.I. (2018)
An intelligent, lovable robot known as "F.R.E.D.I." is stolen from a secret research facility by the project's lead scientist. The robot is found by a 15 year old teenager, James. Soon the two begin to communicate and create a bond in which F.R.E.D.I. learns about teenage life and James learns about some new values.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Last Mimzy (2007)
Two siblings begin to develop special talents after they find a mysterious box of toys, and soon their parents and even their teacher are drawn into a strange new world – and find a task ahead of them that is far more important than any of them could imagine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEdge of Tomorrow (2014)
Major Bill Cage is an officer who has never seen a day of combat when he is unceremoniously demoted and dropped into combat. Cage is killed within minutes, managing to take an alpha alien down with him. He awakens back at the beginning of the same day and is forced to fight and die again... and again - as physical contact with the alien has thrown him into a time loop.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDoctor Who: Dark Water / Death in Heaven (2014)
In this epic two-part finale, the Doctor comes face to face with the mysterious Missy, and an impossible choice is looming. With Cybermen on the streets of London, old friends unite against old enemies, and the Doctor takes to the air in a startling new role.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisQuatermass and the Pit (1967)
A mysterious artifact unearthed below a London Underground station proves to have powerful psychic effects on the people around.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisClaustro (2022)
Short film in competition at the 48Hours Film Project. Sci-Fi/Mystery genre. Directed by Simone Marsella, starring Ludovica Castrichella, Dario Grasso and Federico Imola.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Idiocracy (2006)
To test its top-secret Human Hibernation Project, the Pentagon picks the most average European-Americans it can find - an Army private and a prostitute - and sends them to the year 2505 after a series of freak events. But when they arrive, they find a civilization so dumbed-down that they're the smartest people around.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
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: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNIGHT CLONES: SO MANY DAYS (2026)
In this sequel to DONOVAN 17: THE WEEKEND WARS, after the clones, created by the Alien Surf Dude, questioned the purposes given to them, they decided to return to space, however, with The Brilliant Brick still lost in space, the few clones left must wait, uncertain whether to stay on Earth or go to space... These clones are the night clones... but are they the right clones?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Planet (2003)
When you are 10 years old - everything is possible and even an ordinary going out for shopping becomes a space trip through different undiscovered worlds. The main thing is that you must fight the fear. Based on Vladislav Krapivin's short story "Такая была планета".
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
The Reality of Time (2024)
The Reality of Time takes viewers on an immersive journey through the mysteries of time, from the Big Bang to modern physics, ancient philosophy, and myth. Using groundbreaking generative AI to re-create scientific phenomena, historical epochs, and mythological concepts, the film brings to life complex ideas that bridge science and storytelling. It is the world's first feature length cinematic movie created with Generative AI.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Time Changer (2003)
The year is 1890 and Bible professor Russell Carlisle has written a new manuscript entitled "The Changing Times". His colleague, Dr. Norris Anderson, believes that what Carlisle has written could greatly affect the future of coming generations and, using his secret time machine, Anderson sends Carlisle over 100 years into the future, offering him a glimpse of where his beliefs will lead.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisBlack Holes: The Edge of All We Know (2020)
Black holes stand at the limit of what we can know. To explore that edge of knowledge, the Event Horizon Telescope links observatories across the world to simulate an earth-sized instrument. With this tool the team pursues the first-ever picture of a black hole, resulting in an image seen by billions of people in April 2019. Meanwhile, Hawking and his team attack the black hole paradox at the heart of theoretical physics—Do predictive laws still function, even in these massive distortions of space and time? Weaving them together is a third strand, philosophical and exploratory using expressive animation. “Edge” is about practicing science at the highest level, a film where observation, theory, and philosophy combine to grasp these most mysterious objects.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDownsizing (2017)
A kindly occupational therapist undergoes a new procedure to be shrunken to four inches tall so that he and his wife can help save the planet and afford a nice lifestyle at the same time.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like this
Like IARA: Synthetic Memories and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like IARA: Synthetic Memories?
The closest matches to IARA: Synthetic Memories are Brainstorm (1983), The Second Renaissance Part I (2003) and Superintelligence (2020). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after IARA: Synthetic Memories?
Start with Brainstorm (1983), the closest match to IARA: Synthetic Memories.
What is the highest-rated movie like IARA: Synthetic Memories?
Edge of Tomorrow (2014), rated 7.6/10 by 15,750 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like IARA: Synthetic Memories?
NIGHT CLONES: SO MANY DAYS (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to IARA: Synthetic Memories chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside IARA: Synthetic Memories, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.