Movies like The Way the Future Was (2019)
The best movies like The Way the Future Was (2019) are 57 Seconds (2023), The Time Shifters (1999) and 12:01 (1993). If The Way the Future Was 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 ratedTerminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)8.2/10 from 15,187 votes
- NewestPeculiar Green (2026)Released 2026
57 Seconds (2023)
When a tech blogger lands an interview with a tech guru and stops an attack on him, he finds a mysterious ring that takes him back 57 seconds into the past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Time Shifters (1999)
Tom Merrick gets caught up in a time-traveling conspiracy and must set the timeline right before it is irrevocably altered.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like this12:01 (1993)
Office employee Barry Thomas is caught in a "time bounce" caused by a glitch in the company's secret project. Now the same day occurs again and again - and Barry's the only one who can do anything about it, including saving the life of beautiful research assistant Lisa Fredericks.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDoctor Who: Time Crash (2007)
After Martha Jones parts company with the Doctor, his TARDIS collides with another, and he comes face to face with one of his previous incarnations.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOmni Loop (2024)
Diagnosed with a black hole growing inside her chest and stuck in a loop reliving the last five days of her life, a 55-year-old wife and mother from Miami, Florida decides to solve time travel in order to go back and be the person she always intended to be.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrankenstein Unbound (1990)
The ultimate weapon, claimed to be safe for mankind, produces global side-effects including time slides and disappearances. The scientist behind the project and his car are zapped from the year 2031 to 1817 in Switzerland where he meets Dr. Victor Frankenstein, Mary Shelley and others.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisRegular Show: The Movie (2015)
After a high school lab experiment goes horribly wrong, Mordecai and Rigby must go back in time to battle an evil volleyball coach in order to save the universe — and their friendship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisDoctor Who: Deep Breath (2014)
The newly-regenerated Doctor arrives in Victorian London, and Clara Oswald struggles to embrace the man he has become. All the while, they reunite with the Paternoster Gang to investigate a series of combustions that have been occurring all around the city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisElectronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB (1967)
In an underground city in a dystopian future, the protagonist, whose name is "THX 1138 4EB", is shown running through passageways and enclosed spaces. It is soon discovered that THX is escaping his community. The government uses computers and cameras to track down THX and attempt to stop him; however, they fail. He escapes by breaking through a door and runs off into the sunset. The government sends their condolences to YYO 7117, THX's mate, claiming that THX has destroyed himself. Electronic Labyrinth: THX-1138 4EB is a 1967 science fiction short film written and directed by George Lucas while he attended the University of Southern California's film school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHappy Accidents (2000)
A comedy that pays tribute to the science fiction genre -- specifically, the sub-genre of time travel. But here the alternate reality is contemporary New York City where past and future experiences of trust, commitment and denial are cleverly put to the test. Just as Ruby is beginning to relish her first-ever healthy relationship, Sam begins muttering about being a time traveler from the year 2470.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Adam Project (2022)
After accidentally crash-landing in 2022, time-traveling fighter pilot Adam Reed teams up with his 12-year-old self on a mission to save the future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDoctor Who: The Curse of Fatal Death (1999)
Before the Doctor can settle down to married life, he must face one last confrontation with his deadly enemy of certain death - the Master.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisProject Almanac (2015)
A group of teens discover secret plans of a time machine, and construct one. However, things start to get out of control.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisARQ (2016)
Two old friends living in a dystopic future become trapped in a mysterious time loop — one that may have something to do with an ongoing battle between an omnipotent corporation and a ragtag band of rebels.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like this2073 (2024)
Inspired by Chris Marker's iconic 1962 featurette La Jetée; the year is 2073—a not-so-distant dystopian future—and the setting is New San Francisco, the scorched-earth tech-dominant police state where democracy and personal freedom have been well and truly obliterated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlien: Containment (2019)
Aboard a small escape pod, four survivors try to discover what caused the destruction of their spaceship.
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 thisBlackadder: Back & Forth (1999)
What was a cunning plan from Lord Edmund Blackadder V to fake a time machine on his gullibly incompetent friends, turns out to be the real thing and hurls him and his imbecile underling, Baldrick, through the course of human history.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTime Lapse (2014)
Three friends discover a mysterious machine that takes pictures 24 hours into the future and conspire to use it for personal gain, until disturbing and dangerous images begin to develop.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTerminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
It's been 10 years since John Connor saved Earth from Judgment Day, and he's now living under the radar, steering clear of using anything Skynet can trace. That is, until he encounters T-X, a robotic assassin ordered to finish what T-1000 started. Good thing Connor's former nemesis, the Terminator, is back to aid the now-adult Connor … just like he promised.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTerminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Ten years after the events of the original, a reprogrammed T-800 is sent back in time to protect young John Connor from the shape-shifting T-1000. Together with his mother Sarah, he fights to stop Skynet from triggering a nuclear apocalypse.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisA Grand Day Out (1990)
Wallace and Gromit have run out of cheese, and this provides an excellent excuse for the duo to take their holiday to the moon, where, as everyone knows, there is ample cheese.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTime Trap (2017)
A group of students become trapped inside a mysterious cave where they discover time passes differently underground than on the surface.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPeculiar Green (2026)
A middle-aged man with deity-like powers details the creation of his new world. A world characterized by a shade of green.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Newton's Third Law (2024)
On Christmas day, Nico (Max Bourke) discovers he's in a sandwich-initiated time loop - to what extremes will he take this new opportunity?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
The Cure to Loneliness (2022)
Netty is feeling lost in life following the abrupt end of her relationship with Liam. Luckily, there's a quick fix found in pill marketed as "the cure to loneliness".
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
The Butterfly Effect (2004)
A young man struggles to access sublimated childhood memories. He finds a technique that allows him to travel back into the past, to occupy his childhood body and change history. However, he soon finds that every change he makes has unexpected consequences.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBatman Beyond (2014)
This short celebrating 75 years of Batman from artist Darwyn Cooke returns fans to the world of Batman Beyond as Terry McGinnis' futuristic Dark Knight faces his most formidable foe of all - himself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStar Wreck: In the Pirkinning (2005)
Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning begins with Captain James B. Pirk of the starship Kickstart shipwrecked on the 21st century Earth with his crew. Originally from the distant future, Pirk and his crew traveled back in time to save the Earth from hostile aliens, but lost their ship and became stranded. Pirk's daily routine consists mainly of stuffing his face at the local fast food restaurant, and he is finding it difficult to convince the ladies he is, in fact, an intergalactic space hero from the future. As the prospects for humanity's conquest of space look increasingly bleaker, Pirk comes up with a questionable plan to save mankind's future...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Way the Future Was?
The closest matches to The Way the Future Was are 57 Seconds (2023), The Time Shifters (1999) and 12:01 (1993). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Way the Future Was?
Start with 57 Seconds (2023), the closest match to The Way the Future Was.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Way the Future Was?
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), rated 8.2/10 by 15,187 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Way the Future Was?
Peculiar Green (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Way the Future Was?
Yes: 57 Seconds (2023), The Time Shifters (1999) and 12:01 (1993).
How are movies similar to The Way the Future Was chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Way the Future Was, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.