Movies like Chess Set (2026)
The best movies like Chess Set (2026) are Queen of Katwe (2016), Eleanor the Great (2025) and Brian's Song (1971). If Chess Set hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedRear Window (1954)8.3/10 from 7,485 votes
- NewestTinskani: Afterimage (2026)Released 2026
Queen of Katwe (2016)
A young girl overcomes her disadvantaged upbringing in the slums of Uganda to become a Chess master.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEleanor the Great (2025)
94-year-old Eleanor Morgenstein tries to rebuild her life after the death of her best friend. As a result, she moves back to New York City after living in Florida for decades.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrian's Song (1971)
Based on the real-life relationship between teammates Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers and the bond established when Piccolo discovers that he is dying.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Music Never Stopped (2011)
Henry struggles to bond with his estranged son, Gabriel, who suffers from a brain tumor that prevents him from forming new memories. With Gabriel unable to shed the beliefs and interests that caused their physical and emotional distance, Henry must learn to embrace his son's choices and try to connect with him through music.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlue Chips (1994)
Pete Bell, a college basketball coach is under a lot of pressure. His team isn't winning and he cannot attract new players. The stars of the future are secretly being paid by boosters. This practice is forbidden in the college game, but Pete is desperate and has pressures from all around.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHamlet (1948)
Winner of four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor, Sir Laurence Olivier’s Hamlet continues to be the most compelling version of Shakespeare’s beloved tragedy. Olivier is at his most inspired—both as director and as the melancholy Dane himself—as he breathes new life into the words of one of the world’s greatest dramatists.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRocky IV (1985)
Rocky Balboa holds the world heavyweight championship, but a new challenger has stepped forward: Drago, a six-foot-four, 261-pound fighter who has the backing of the Soviet Union. This time, Rocky's training regimen takes him to Siberia, where he prepares for a globally televised match in the heart of Moscow. But nothing can truly prepare him for what he's about to face – a fight to the finish, in which he must defend not only himself, but also the honor of his country!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRain Man (1988)
When car dealer Charlie Babbitt learns that his estranged father has died, he returns home to Cincinnati, where he discovers that he has a savant older brother named Raymond and that his father's $3 million fortune is being left to the mental institution in which Raymond lives. Motivated by his father's money, Charlie checks Raymond out of the facility in order to return with him to Los Angeles. The brothers' cross-country trip ends up changing both their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHere (2024)
An odyssey through time and memory, centered on a place in New Jersey where—from wilderness, and then, later, from a home—love, loss, struggle, hope and legacy play out between couples and families over generations.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack or White (2015)
A grieving widower is drawn into a custody battle over his granddaughter, whom he helped raise her entire life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEverybody's Fine (2009)
Eight months after the death of his wife, Frank Goode looks forward to a reunion with his four adult children. When all of them cancel their visits at the last minute, Frank, against the advice of his doctor, sets out on a road trip to reconnect with his offspring. As he visits each one in turn, Frank finds that his children's lives are not quite as picture-perfect as they've made them out to be.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMr. Holmes (2015)
In 1947, long-retired and near the end of his life, Sherlock Holmes grapples with an unreliable memory and must rely on his housekeeper's son as he revisits the still-unsolved case that led to his retirement.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Bus (2021)
Widower Tom, on the recent passing of his wife Mary, uses his free bus pass to travel the length of Britain from John O'Groats in Caithness to Land's End in Cornwall, their shared birthplace, using only local buses. It's an incident-fuelled nostalgia trip and his encounters with local people make him a media phenomenon. Tom is totally unaware and to his surprise on arrival at Land’s End he’s greeted as a celebrity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRear Window (1954)
A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHamlet (1996)
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, returns home to find his father murdered and his mother now marrying the murderer... his uncle. Meanwhile, war is brewing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDriveways (2020)
Eight-year-old Cody is spending the summer in an unfamiliar setting with his mom Kathy. Though he can't relate to the neighbourhood kids, things take an unexpected turn when he develops an unusual friendship with the widowed old man from next door.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019)
An award-winning cynical journalist, Lloyd Vogel, begrudgingly accepts an assignment to write an Esquire profile piece on the beloved television icon Fred Rogers. After his encounter with Rogers, Vogel's perspective on life is transformed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAugust Rush (2007)
Evan, a musically gifted orphan, runs away from his orphanage and searches New York City for his birth parents. On his journey, he's taken under the wing of the Wizard, a homeless man who lives in an abandoned theater. After discovering his talent, the Wizard gives Evan the name "August Rush" and devises a plan to profit from his talent. Little does Evan know that his parents, Lyla and Louis, are searching for him too.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFast Girls (2012)
A street smart runner develops an intense rivalry with an equally ambitious wealthy young athlete.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Christmas Shoes (2002)
Two separate stories mesh - in the first, a young music teacher, Maggie Andrews, begins dying of a heart condition and her son Nathan tries to get a pair of Christmas shoes for her before she dies. In the second, lawyer Robert Layton and his wife Kate are slowly drifting apart and the matter comes to a head during Christmas when Kate takes over for Maggie for the school choir.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Recce (2018)
After the South African Defense Force wrongfully declares young Recce Henk Viljoen dead behind enemy lines, it’s up to him alone to use every skill and tool in his arsenal to make it back to his grieving wife.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Poetic Justice (1993)
Still grieving after the murder of her boyfriend, hairdresser Justice writes poetry to deal with the pain of her loss. Unable to get to Oakland to attend a convention because of her broken-down car, Justice gets a lift with her friend, Iesha, and Iesha's postal worker boyfriend, Chicago. Along for the ride is Chicago's co-worker, Lucky, to whom Justice grows close after some initial problems. But is she ready to open her heart again?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Thin Red Line (1998)
The story of a group of men, an Army Rifle company called C-for-Charlie, who change, suffer, and ultimately make essential discoveries about themselves during the fierce World War II battle of Guadalcanal. It follows their journey, from the surprise of an unopposed landing, through the bloody and exhausting battles that follow, to the ultimate departure of those who survived.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTinskani: Afterimage (2026)
Tinskani mourns the death of his friend and mentor, Salvador. His partner, Citlali, urges him to attend the funeral with her, but Tinskani is haunted by the photograph of his friend's corpse. He'd rather wander through the town’s carnival, camera in hand, seeking to replace that ghostly portrait with new ones.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Iron Claw (2023)
The true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers, who made history in the intensely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s. Through tragedy and triumph, under the shadow of their domineering father and coach, the brothers seek larger-than-life immortality on the biggest stage in sports.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCrying is allowed Laughing is NOT! (2024)
Due to the sudden death of his grandfather, Nejat (8) arrives at a funeral home for the first time in his life. As soon as they arrive, he is left all alone by his devastated mourning parents. Nejat gets so confused in this chaotic environment, especially because he doesn't know how to feel or behave in this certain situation. On the contrary, everyone around him has strong opinions about how he should feel or behave, so they force him to act accordingly. Failing to take the pressure off, Nejat finds himself in a great struggle of 'not to get sad.' As the tension escalates, the war begins...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
King of Endings (1987)
Branko Kralj is an alienated businessman and avid chess fan. He is married to the attractive Visnja and they have a son. Their marriage is weak and Branko feels much closer to his mistress than to his wife. One day Kralj and Visnja travel on a half empty train. Kralj goes to a far away compartment for a game of chess, and leaves Visnja alone. Three men take advantage of the lone woman in her compartment and rape her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Being Billy (2026)
William (Billy) Livesey is a Falklands Veteran with dementia, living in a care home. A brief connection with new carer Lisa stirs memories in Billy, taking him back to the closing stages of the Falklands War in 1982 and a life changing incident that took place for him, his close friend (and fellow Para) Stu and Argentinian soldier Pablo. Memories from the past help guide Billy through the fog of dementia and re-connect him to the present. Some Wars Never End....
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Jaunt (2020)
The friendship between an elderly peddler and a middled aged fruit merchant.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Chess Set?
The closest matches to Chess Set are Queen of Katwe (2016), Eleanor the Great (2025) and Brian's Song (1971). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Chess Set?
Start with Queen of Katwe (2016), the closest match to Chess Set.
What is the highest-rated movie like Chess Set?
Rear Window (1954), rated 8.3/10 by 7,485 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Chess Set?
Tinskani: Afterimage (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Chess Set?
Yes: Queen of Katwe (2016), Eleanor the Great (2025) and Brian's Song (1971).
How are movies similar to Chess Set chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Chess Set, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.