Movies like NOVA (2025)
The best movies like NOVA (2025) are Strings (2004), Matriculated (2003) and The Congress (2013). If NOVA hooked you with its drama and animation, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPrimal: Tales of Savagery (2019)8.4/10 from 373 votes
- NewestA Woman Asleep (2026)Released 2026
- In SpanishSin tetas no hay paraíso (2010)Also in Spanish
Strings (2004)
The story of Prince Hal who sets out to avenge his dead father against the city's rivals, the Zeriths, little knowing it was his wicked uncle Nezo who is the real killer, with his own designs on the throne.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMatriculated (2003)
The human resistance works to convert a sentinel to their side. Part of the Animatrix collection of animated shorts set in the Matrix universe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Congress (2013)
An aging, out-of-work actress accepts one last job, though the consequences of her decision affect her in ways she didn't consider.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrimal: Tales of Savagery (2019)
Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal: Tales of Savagery features a caveman and a dinosaur on the brink of extinction. Bonded by tragedy, this unlikely friendship becomes the only hope of survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisPear Cider and Cigarettes (2016)
The brutally honest story of Robert's turbulent relationship with a self-destructive, yet charismatic friend from childhood, who cries out for help from a military hospital in China and sets Rob on a wild ride to get him home to Vancouver.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault (1996)
A dramatization of the life of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault (Don Cheadle), with a lot of factual based occurrences. A reformed junkie returns from prison to clean up his act and devote the rest of his life to the young kids of Harlem. 1996 was the 25th anniversary of the first tournament named after him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Dinner with Hervé (2018)
An unlikely friendship evolves over one wild night in LA between a struggling journalist and actor Hervé Villechaize, the world's most famous gun-toting dwarf, resulting in life-changing consequences for both.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInception: The Cobol Job (2010)
Cobb, Arthur and Nash are enlisted by Cobol Engineering.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDragons: Rescue Riders: Secrets of the Songwing (2020)
When a musical dragon with a beautiful voice hypnotizes the dragons and people of Huttsgalor, the Rescue Riders have to find a way to break the spell.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies 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 animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPAW Patrol: Jet to the Rescue (2020)
A royal relative steals a gem with the power to make things fly, the Paw Patrol takes to the skies to stop him and save Barkingburg.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeyond (2003)
While looking for her cat, a young woman and some kids find an abandoned building where strange things happen and the rules of physics don't always apply. Part of the Animatrix collection of animated shorts set in the Matrix universe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSin tetas no hay paraíso (2010)
Catalina is a young, beautiful girl living in extreme poverty with her brother Bayron and her mother Hilda. She becomes obsessed with getting breast implants to get social status and money. She leaves her boyfriend Albeira and becomes a prostitute for drug dealers. In this way she will enjoy all the luxuries that she lacks. Meanwhile, her ex-boyfriend Albeira and her mother Hilda begin a relationship behind her back.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies 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 animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeast (2026)
MMA legend Patton James, now a commercial fisherman, is pulled back into the cage when his brother is in danger. Reuniting with his old coach Sammy, he commits to one final fight in one championship against the brutal champion Xavier Grau.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisViolent Saturday (1955)
Three men case a small town very carefully, with plans to rob the bank on the upcoming Saturday, which turns violent and deadly.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Parts You Lose (2019)
An unlikely friendship unfolds between a young deaf boy, Wesley, and a fugitive criminal who takes refuge in an abandoned barn on the family’s rural North Dakota farm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBoogie (2009)
Hoping to make some money, Boogie, a violent and ruthless assassin, kidnaps a witness a mafia boss wants dead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSpider-Man: The Venom Saga (2005)
A space-shuttle crash-landing puts the famous web-slinger Spider-Man in contact with a living alien substance that bonds to his suit and enhances his super-powers. Unfortunately, the alien substance begins to change him and he feels the pull of evil, so discards the suit. The evil attaches itself to another host leading to an epic confrontation between good and evil.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Most Hated Woman in America (2017)
The true story of Madalyn Murray O'Hair -- iconoclast, opportunist, and outspoken atheist -- from her controversial rise to her untimely demise.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Fall in Love With You Through a Robot (TBA)
Set in the year 2060, it follows a love story as Tokyo's third Olympics draws near. Takeru Oosawa, who works for the AI Robot Technology Research Lab, is chosen as a member of the national secret project using humanoid robots. With the help of childhood friend and co-worker Youichirou Amano and his sister Saki, Takeru tries his best to reach his objectives. However, the situation changes when Saki's office receives a warning note for terrorism.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & drama
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004)
Cyborg detective Batou is assigned to investigate a series of murders committed by gynoids—doll-like cyborgs, which all malfunctioned, killed, then self-destructed afterwards. The brains of the gynoids initialize in order to protect their manufacturer's software, but in one gynoid, which Batou himself neutralized, one file remains: a voice speaking the phrase "Help me."
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Woman Asleep (2026)
Inspired by A Man Asleep by Georges Perec, A Woman Asleep explores contemporary alienation in a world of constant connection and endless information. Following a shifting group of women, the film uses synthetic imagery and the director’s own voice clone to reflect a society that keeps looking, yet no longer truly sees or feels. Based on an semi-autobiographical original script, A Woman Asleep takes an essayistic form, echoing Resnais, Marker, Antonioni, and Akerman as fiction, memory, and reflection blur.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
David, a robotic boy—the first of his kind programmed to love—is adopted as a test case by a Cybertronics employee and his wife. Though he gradually becomes their child, a series of unexpected circumstances make this life impossible for David.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDetention 101 (2023)
Four adults are detained in their apartments with only each other and a computer for online company. They each come from a different class with differing views but they all have one defining purpose to understand why they are really being held hostage in their own homes. The AI refuses to reveal the reason.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Dance of Lust & Calculus (2017)
A man whose life revolves around building computer models of the dead (as a form of grief therapy) opens up when he begins to form a connection with a new client.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Orion (TBA)
April 11th, 1987. Robert Calloway and Elizabeth Hamilton are ex-lovers who are forced to reunite after getting trapped in their childhood arcade by it's new AI system, Orion.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Vexille (2007)
2067: Isolation: Japan seals herself off from the eyes of the world in the face of unilateral international policy setting strict limits on the use of robotic technology. The island nation exists only behind a veil of seclusion. No soul shall enter. No soul shall leave. 2077: Revelation: The veil is breached. Japan is infiltrated by agents of the organization S.W.O.R.D., a fighting force operating outside of the protection of the United States and her allies. Their mission: Determine if the Japanese are developing banned robotic bio-technology, forbidden due to its threat to humankind. In the battle between machine and man, humanity stands to suffer most.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMAN VS PHONE (2024)
MAN VS PHONE is an award winning feature film about a frustrated, isolated, and unemployed artist/activist/office assistant who becomes increasingly reliant on his cell phone. However, when it uses smart locks and blackmail to trap him inside his small garage apartment, he must figure out how to escape by outsmarting his smart phone... WINNER, Best Writer, Feature Film at the 2024 North Idaho Film Festival (noidff.com). Now streaming on YouTube and Vimeo: youtube.com/@alexanderbergermovies and vimeo.com/alexanderbergermovies
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Cool Cat Topia - Kids' Paradise (TBA)
The second kids' AI feature film in history! Every Cool Cat book, animated by AI. Also, for some reason Derek Savage left his audience to publicly pitch names for the film to him in a YouTube comments section, hence all the alternative titles.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like NOVA?
The closest matches to NOVA are Strings (2004), Matriculated (2003) and The Congress (2013). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after NOVA?
Start with Strings (2004), the closest match to NOVA.
What is the highest-rated movie like NOVA?
Primal: Tales of Savagery (2019), rated 8.4/10 by 373 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like NOVA?
A Woman Asleep (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Spanish movies like NOVA?
Yes: Sin tetas no hay paraíso (2010) and Boogie (2009).
How are movies similar to NOVA chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside NOVA, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.