Movies like The Big Blue (1988)
The best movies like The Big Blue (1988) are The Leisure Seeker (2018), Charlie St. Cloud (2010) and Top Gun (1986). If The Big Blue hooked you with its romance and adventure, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedLife in a Year (2020)8.2/10 from 2,026 votes
- NewestWe Live in Time (2024)Released 2024
- In FrenchAtlantics (2019)Also in French
The Leisure Seeker (2018)
A runaway couple go on an unforgettable journey from Boston to Key West, recapturing their passion for life and their love for each other on a road trip that provides revelation and surprise right up to the very end.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCharlie St. Cloud (2010)
Accomplished sailor Charlie St. Cloud has the adoration of his mother Claire and his little brother Sam, as well as a college scholarship that will lead him far from his sleepy Pacific Northwest hometown. But his bright future is cut short when tragedy strikes and takes his dreams with it. After high school classmate Tess returns home unexpectedly, Charlie grows torn between honoring a promise he made four years earlier and moving forward with newfound love. As he finds the courage to let go of the past for good, Charlie discovers the soul most worth saving is his own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTop Gun (1986)
For Lieutenant Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell and his friend and co-pilot Nick 'Goose' Bradshaw, being accepted into an elite training school for fighter pilots is a dream come true. But a tragedy, as well as personal demons, will threaten Pete's dreams of becoming an ace pilot.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAngel Eyes (2001)
A story about a seemingly unlikely couple who cross paths under life-threatening circumstances as though they are destined not only to meet but to save each other's lives. Not once, but twice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCollateral Beauty (2016)
Retreating from life after a tragedy, a man questions the universe by writing to Love, Time and Death. Receiving unexpected answers, he begins to see how these things interlock and how even loss can reveal moments of meaning and beauty.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAdrift (2018)
Tami Oldham and Richard Sharp couldn't anticipate that they would be sailing directly into one of the most catastrophic hurricanes in recorded history. In the aftermath of the storm, Tami awakens to find Richard badly injured and their boat in ruins. With no hope of rescue, Tami must now find the strength and determination to save herself and the only man she has ever loved.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCity of Angels (1998)
When a guardian angel – who invisibly watches over the citizens of Los Angeles – becomes captivated by a strong-willed heart surgeon, he ponders trading in his pure, otherworldly existence for a mortal life with his beloved. The couple embarks on a tender but forbidden romance spanning heaven and Earth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisP.S. I Love You (2007)
A young widow discovers that her late husband has left her 10 messages intended to help ease her pain and start a new life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWe Live in Time (2024)
An up-and-coming chef and a recent divorcée find their lives forever changed when a chance encounter brings them together, in a decade-spanning, deeply moving romance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Her (2014)
Told from the woman's perspective, the story of a couple trying to reclaim the life and love they once knew and pick up the pieces of a past that may be too far gone.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe In Between (2022)
After surviving a car accident that took the life of her boyfriend, a teenage girl believes he's attempting to reconnect with her from the after world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOrdinary Love (2019)
An extraordinary look at the lives of a middle-aged couple in the midst of the wife's breast cancer diagnosis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEO (2022)
The world is a mysterious place when seen through the eyes of an animal. EO, a grey donkey with melancholic eyes, meets good and bad people on his life’s path, experiences joy and pain, endures the wheel of fortune randomly turn his luck into disaster and his despair into unexpected bliss. But not even for a moment does he lose his innocence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLife in a Year (2020)
A 17 year old finds out that his girlfriend is dying, so he sets out to give her an entire life, in the last year she has left.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisTitanic (1953)
Unhappily married, Julia Sturges decides to go to America with her two children on the Titanic. Her husband, Richard also arranges passage on the luxury liner so as to have custody of their two children. All this fades to insignificance once the ship hits an iceberg.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMidnight Sun (2018)
Katie, a 17-year-old, has been sheltered since childhood and confined to her house during the day by a rare disease that makes even the smallest amount of sunlight deadly. Fate intervenes when she meets Charlie and they embark on a summer romance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSometimes a Great Notion (1971)
Hank Stamper and his father, Henry, own and operate the family business by cutting and shipping logs in Oregon. The town is furious when they continue working despite the town going broke and the other loggers go on strike ordering the Stampers to stop, however Hank continues to push his family on cutting more trees. Hank's wife wishes he would stop and hopes that they can spend more time together. When Hank's half brother Leland comes to work for them, more trouble starts.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Him (2014)
Told from the man's perspective, the story of a couple trying to reclaim the life and love they once knew and pick up the pieces of a past that may be too far gone.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat Dreams May Come (1998)
After Chris Nielsen dies in a car accident, he is guided through the afterlife by his spirit guide, Albert. His new world is beautiful and can be whatever Chris imagines. Even his children are there. But, when his wife, Annie, commits suicide and is sent to hell, Chris ignores Albert's warnings and journeys there to save her. Upon arrival, Chris finds that rescuing Annie will be more difficult than he'd imagined.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAtlantics (2019)
Arranged to marry a rich man, young Ada is crushed when her true love goes missing at sea during a migration attempt — until a miracle reunites them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998)
The circle of life continues for Simba, now fully grown and in his rightful place as the king of Pride Rock. Simba and Nala have given birth to a daughter, Kiara who's as rebellious as her father was. But Kiara drives her parents to distraction when she catches the eye of Kovu, the son of the evil lioness, Zira. Will Kovu steal Kiara's heart?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Women (1994)
Four sisters come of age in America in the aftermath of the Civil War.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDersu Uzala (1975)
A military explorer meets and befriends a Goldi man in Russia’s unmapped forests. A deep and abiding bond evolves between the two men, one civilized in the usual sense, the other at home in the glacial Siberian woods.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHe's Just Not That Into You (2009)
Remember that really cute girl/guy who said they'd call – and didn't? Maybe they lost your number. Maybe they're in the hospital. Maybe they're awed by your looks, brains or success. Or maybe... They're just not that into you.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Sound of Thunder (2005)
When a hunter sent back to the prehistoric era runs off the path he must not leave, he causes a chain reaction that alters history in disastrous ways.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisLa Grande Bouffe (1973)
Four friends gather at a villa with the intention of eating themselves to death.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStick It (2006)
Haley is a naturally gifted athlete but, with her social behavior, the teen seems intent on squandering her abilities. After a final brush with the law, a judge sentences her to an elite gymnastics academy run by a legendary, hard-nosed coach. Once there, Haley's rebellious attitude wins her both friends and enemies.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSpy Kids (2001)
Carmen and Juni think their parents are boring. Little do they know that in their day, Gregorio and Ingrid Cortez were the top secret agents from their respective countries. They gave up that life to raise their children. Now, the disappearances of several of their old colleagues forces the Cortez' return from retirement. What they didn't count on was Carmen and Juni joining the "family business."
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisJoriku (2020)
Former Olympic candidate Kaneda Musashi has been appointed coach of the women's track and field club at Tsukimi University. Meanwhile, Misaki Tono, the 100 meters ace there, is in a slump because she can't sprint due to her chest being too big…! With competition against a rival college just around the corner, can Musashi, a virgin track and field head, win the hearts of the female college students!?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
The Suicide Theory (2014)
Steven Ray was never quite normal. But when tragedy strikes in the form of a deadly hit-and-run incident at a city cross walk, his violent and bizarre behavior becomes uncontrollable. One night, as Steven plots his next murder, he meets Percival, whose unsuccessful attempt at suicide not only interferes with Stevens plans, but the chance encounter also introduces the two into each others sad and lonely lives. Percival believes hes cursed after miraculously surviving each suicide attempt and concludes fate brought he and Steven together. So he hires Steven to assist him in suicide. Steven does not believe in fate and thinks Percival is desperate and delusional. But he accepts the offer. Easy money. After Percival continues to miraculously survive each attempt on his life, Steven starts to believe. He tries to help Percival figure out ways to break the curse. And in the process, they form an unlikely friendship through the common bond of tragedy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like The Big Blue and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Big Blue?
The closest matches to The Big Blue are The Leisure Seeker (2018), Charlie St. Cloud (2010) and Top Gun (1986). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Big Blue?
Start with The Leisure Seeker (2018), the closest match to The Big Blue.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Big Blue?
Life in a Year (2020), rated 8.2/10 by 2,026 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Big Blue?
We Live in Time (2024) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like The Big Blue?
Yes: Atlantics (2019) and La Grande Bouffe (1973).
How are movies similar to The Big Blue chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Big Blue, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.