Movies like Only Once (2025)
The best movies like Only Once (2025) are The Shepherd (2023), Game of Thrones The IMAX Experience (2015) and Petite Maman (2021). If Only Once hooked you with its drama and fantasy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLittle Lord Fauntleroy (1980)7.3/10 from 326 votes
- NewestTurquoise (2026)Released 2026
- In FrenchPetite Maman (2021)Also in French
The Shepherd (2023)
On Christmas Eve, a fighter pilot on his way home becomes lost while flying over water and needs a miracle to land safely.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGame of Thrones The IMAX Experience (2015)
The first episode of this IMAX screening takes place entirely at The Wall with the Night’s Watch (S4 EP9) hopelessly outnumbered as they attempt to defend Castle Black from the Wildings and features one the fiercest and most intense battle scenes ever filmed for television. The second episode (S4 EP10), features Dany coming to grips with the realities of ruling a kingdom, Bran learning the startling reality of his destiny and Tyrion facing the truth of his unfortunate situation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisPetite Maman (2021)
After the death of her beloved grandmother, eight-year-old Nelly meets a strangely familiar girl her own age in the woods. Instantly forming a connection with this mysterious new friend, Nelly embarks on a fantastical journey of discovery which helps her come to terms with this newfound loss.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMood Indigo (2013)
A woman suffers from an unusual illness caused by a flower growing in her lungs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHouse of Anubis: The Touchstone of Ra (2013)
The students of Anubis House are on the eve of their graduation when they encounter a new group of underclassmen and a mysterious stone that leads them on a quest to save the world from evil.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNine Days (2021)
A bureaucrat interviews five souls to decide which of them will be given a life on Earth. But he soon faces an existential challenge of his own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Good Witch (2008)
A mysterious woman comes in to town and inhabits the local haunted mansion, making everyone wonder if she's a witch or "The Grey Lady".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTuesday (2024)
A mother and her teenage daughter must confront Death when it arrives in the form of an astonishing talking bird.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBefore I Fall (2017)
Samantha Kingston has everything. Then, everything changes. After one fateful night, she wakes up with no future at all. Trapped into reliving the same day over and over, she begins to question just how perfect her life really was.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Little Match Girl (1928)
An impoverished girl tries to sell matches on New Year's Eve. Shivering with cold and unable to sell her wares, she sits in a sheltered nook. Striking a match to keep warm, the flame shows her what's beyond.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHow Sarah Got Her Wings (2015)
Good Samaritan Sarah Fitzpatrick has a fatal accident just before Christmas, and finds herself in the lobby before the gates of Heaven. Certain that she will be let in, she is shocked to find that her name is not on the reservation list. However, she is granted the chance to return to Earth as an "angel in training" with the requirement to help a soul in need. Sarah has the 12 days before Christmas to secure her place on the list leaving her in the race for her after-life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisSons of Ramses (2023)
Thirty-four year old Ramsès has established himself as a clairvoyant in La Goutte d’Or, Paris. A shrewd manipulator and something of a poet, he built a sound business consoling people. Elusive and dangerous youths, freshly arrived from the streets of Tangier, disrupt his business and the whole neighbourhood. Until the day Ramses has an actual vision.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisMythica: A Quest for Heroes (2014)
Stuck in a life of indentured servitude, Marek dreams of becoming a wizard. When she meets the beautiful priestess Teela in need of help, she offers her assistance and provides a motley troupe. Together they go in search of Teela's sister, who was kidnapped by a wild ogre.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisKisses (2008)
Two kids, Dylan and Kylie, run away from home on Christmas Day and spend a night of magic and terror on the streets of inner-city Dublin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPrincess (2008)
A reclusive princess and a directionless young man embark on a quest to save the world's mythical creatures from becoming extinct.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Good Witch's Wonder (2014)
While planning her stepson's wedding, Cassie Nightingale also tries to uncover the truth behind missing auction items.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLittle Lord Fauntleroy (1980)
Young Cedric Errol and his widowed mother live in genteel poverty in 1880s Brooklyn after the death of his father. Cedric's grandfather, the Earl of Dorincourt, has long ago disowned his son for marrying an American. But after the death of the Earl's remaining son, he decides to accept Cedric as his heir.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSofia the First: Once Upon a Princess (2012)
Set in the storybook world of Enchancia, the music-filled movie follows Sofia, an average girl whose life suddenly changes when her mother marries the king and she is whisked off to live in a castle with her mom, new step-father, King Roland II, and step-siblings, Amber and James. Along the way this ordinary girl learns to navigate the extraordinary life of royalty, and in the process makes everyone around her feel special.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTrouble at Timpetill (2008)
The children of a small European mountain village end up being its only residents, soon after the adults cannot take their behavior any longer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDirt (2018)
In search of a lifeline for his struggling off road racing team, a man takes on a young car thief looking for a second chance, but as their worlds collide, they must struggle to forge a successful alliance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLa mujer de los nudos (The Woman of the Knots) (TBA)
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & fantasy
My Mother’s Father (TBA)
Davi, a ten-year-old boy, shares a deeply affectionate relationship with his mother, Rosa. When Rosa experiences a schizophrenic episode, the dynamic between them is reversed: Davi assumes a caregiving role that no child should have to occupy. Set against the backdrop of a house move in Nilópolis, in Rio de Janeiro’s Baixada Fluminense, the film follows the small gestures of survival, tenderness, and exhaustion that shape their bond after his mother’s episode. My Mother’s Father is an intimate drama about love, premature maturity, and everyday resilience, approaching mental health not through the lens of diagnosis, but through the territory of affection. A quiet portrait of a childhood marked by pain, but also by the possibility of carrying on.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
La symphonie du sens (TBA)
Ten-year-old Sam sees his father Richard reappear after a long absence. The reassuring world she shared with her mother and stepfather is shaken. Richard, with his excesses and vulnerabilities, disrupts her sense of security. In this tender chaos, will Sam be able to keep her light alive?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
ELISE (2024)
After tragically losing Mathis in a fire, Elise, a grief-stricken mother suffering from dementia, becomes convinced that his spirit lives on. She begins having poignant conversations with the flame of a candle. Caught between reality and fantasy, Elise struggles to come to terms with her loss as she retreats further into memories of happier times.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Only Once?
The closest matches to Only Once are The Shepherd (2023), Game of Thrones The IMAX Experience (2015) and Petite Maman (2021). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Only Once?
Start with The Shepherd (2023), the closest match to Only Once.
What is the highest-rated movie like Only Once?
Little Lord Fauntleroy (1980), rated 7.3/10 by 326 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Only Once?
Turquoise (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like Only Once?
Yes: Petite Maman (2021), Mood Indigo (2013) and The Little Match Girl (1928).
How are movies similar to Only Once chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Only Once, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.