Movies like Return of Sandokan (1964)
The best movies like Return of Sandokan (1964) are Extortion (2017), Amazonia: The Catherine Miles Story (1985) and The Emerald Forest (1985). If Return of Sandokan hooked you with its adventure, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedSwapped (2026)8.8/10 from 2,299 votes
- NewestWildwood (2026)Released 2026
- In ItalianAmazonia: The Catherine Miles Story (1985)Also in Italian
Extortion (2017)
A doctor desperately tries to save his wife and their 5 year old son after their vacation in the Bahamas takes an unexpected turn.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmazonia: The Catherine Miles Story (1985)
A young woman seeks vengeance and finds love when her parents are killed in the Amazon and she is taken prisoner by an indigenous tribe of headhunters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Emerald Forest (1985)
For ten years, engineer Bill Markham has searched tirelessly for his son Tommy who disappeared from the edge of the Brazilian rainforest. Miraculously, he finds the boy living among the reclusive Amazon tribe who adopted him. This is when Bill's adventure truly begins.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStolen Girl (2025)
In 1993, Maureen’s six-year-old daughter Amina is snuck out of the country by her ex-husband, Karim. After years of unsuccessful attempts to find her, Maureen intersects with a professional retriever of internationally abducted children who promises to help her find Amina in exchange for her collaboration.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSwapped (2026)
A small woodland creature and a majestic bird, two natural sworn enemies of the Valley, magically trade places and set off on an adventure of a lifetime to switch back. Their journey soon uncovers a greater threat—one that could endanger not only their species, but the entire valley they call home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisReturn from Witch Mountain (1978)
Tony and Tia are other-worldly twins endowed with telekinesis. When their Uncle Bene drops them off in Los Angeles for an earthbound vacation, a display of their supernatural skill catches the eye of the nefarious Dr. Gannon and his partner in crime, Letha, who see rich possibilities in harnessing the children's gifts. They kidnap Tony, and Tia gives chase only to find Gannon is using her brother's powers against her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Jungle Book (1994)
Raised by wild animals since childhood, Mowgli is drawn away from the jungle by the beautiful Kitty. But Mowgli must eventually face corrupt Capt. Boone, who wants both Kitty's hand and the treasures of Monkey City – a place only Mowgli can find.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDragon Rider (2020)
An unlikely trio of heroes – a dragon, a boy and a forest brownie – embark on an epic adventure to find the “Rim of Heaven” - the mythological safe haven for all dragons.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNate and Hayes (1983)
Nathaniel Williamsen is taken to an island mission with his fiancee Sophie. Their ship, the Rona, is captained by the roguish Bully Hayes, who also takes a liking to Sophie. When Sophie is kidnapped by slave trader Ben Pease "Nate" teams with Hayes in order to find her.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhere the Wild Things Are (2009)
Max imagines running away from his mom and sailing to a far-off land where large talking beasts—Ira, Carol, Douglas, the Bull, Judith and Alexander—crown him as their king, play rumpus, build forts and discover secret hideaways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Professionals (1966)
An arrogant Texas millionaire hires four adventurers to rescue his kidnapped wife from a notorious Mexican bandit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Jungle Book (1967)
The boy Mowgli makes his way to the man-village with Bagheera, the wise panther. Along the way he meets jazzy King Louie, the hypnotic snake Kaa and the lovable, happy-go-lucky bear Baloo, who teaches Mowgli "The Bare Necessities" of life and the true meaning of friendship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTo Grandmother's House We Go (1992)
When precocious twins Sarah and Julie feel like Mom is tired of them, they take off on an exciting adventure to their grandmother's house and encounter a pair of villains along the way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Lonely Place to Die (2011)
A group of five mountaineers are hiking and climbing in the Scottish Highlands when they discover a young Serbian girl buried in a small chamber in the wilderness. They become caught up in a terrifying game of cat and mouse with the kidnappers as they try to get the girl to safety.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWildwood (2026)
Prue and her classmate Curtis are drawn into a magical forest filled with enchanted creatures, loyal allies, and formidable adversaries as they embark on a desperate quest to rescue Prue's abducted baby brother from a murder of crows led by a mysterious woman named Alexandra.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisStrange Cargo (1940)
Convicts escaping from Devil's Island come under the influence of a strange Christ-like figure.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Warrior (2001)
In feudal India, a warrior who renounces his role as the longtime enforcer to a local lord becomes the prey in a murderous hunt through the Himalayan mountains.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Legend of Ochi (2025)
In a remote village on the island of Carpathia, a shy farm girl named Yuri is raised to fear an elusive animal species known as ochi. But when Yuri discovers a wounded baby ochi has been left behind, she escapes on a quest to bring him home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRed One (2024)
After Santa Claus (codename: Red One) is kidnapped, the North Pole's Head of Security must team up with the world's most infamous tracker in a globe-trotting, action-packed mission to save Christmas.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCave Rescue (2019)
When a youth football team of 12 boys, aged 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach is trapped deep inside a cave in Northern Thailand, thousands of volunteers and soldiers from around the world unite in a race against time to find them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJust Married (2019)
A young girl who is about to get married is kidnapped by her teddybear in front of the church. Together, they will live a dreamy adventure.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
Sheba (TBA)
1938, Ethiopa. Facist troops are ravaging the country. 10-year-old Emelia embarks on a treasure hunt across the Horn of Africa to find her father, an archaeologist captured by General Servillo. As she travels through imposing historical sites and magnificent landscapes, Emelia will face many great dangers alongside her companion Muluku, a hight-spirited young boy from an Ethiopian tribe. During their incredible journey, Emilia will reunify against the oppressor those who, centuries before, belonged to the realm of the Queen of Sheba.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
Malaya (1949)
Soon after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, cynical former newspaper correspondent John Royer devises a scheme with his old editor and government agents to return to the Far East and smuggle out a vast amount of rubber for the war effort. Demanding the freedom and company of his ex-friend, Carnahan, whom he betrayed in an exposé years earlier, Royer sails off into the hands of the Japanese with a motley crew, gold, and the promise of covert government aid.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
Born to Be Wild (2011)
Born to Be Wild observes various orphaned jungle animals and their day-to-day behavioural interactions with the individuals who rescue them and raise them to adulthood. The film unfurls in two separate geographic spheres. Half of it takes place in the rain forests of Borneo, where celebrated primatologist Dr. Birute Galdikas assists baby orangutans; the other half takes place on the arid savannahs of Kenya, where zoologist Dame Daphne Sheldrick works with baby elephant calves.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBring 'Em Back Alive (1932)
American animal trapper Frank Buck travels with Ali, his "number one boy," on an expedition into the Malayan jungle. From their jungle headquarters just north of Singapore, Frank, Ali and a team of native helpers roam the area from Northern Johore to Perak in search of interesting wild animals, reptiles and birds. Hoping to find a tiger, Buck captures a monitor lizard and a black leopard, while another black leopard narrowly escapes an encounter with a giant python and then battles a bigger and stronger tiger. After trapping a spotted leopard, Frank adopts a baby honey bear and a baby elephant. The team catches an orangutan, but the tiger eludes their camouflaged pit. Meanwhile, Frank visits the "bathing festival" of a local tribe and watches as tribesmen kill an intruding spotted leopard with blow darts. The tiger then meets an enormous regal python, who has just crushed a crocodile, and fights to a draw with it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid (2004)
A scientific expedition sets out for Borneo to seek a flower called the Blood Orchid, which could grant extended life. Meanwhile, they run afoul of snakes and each other.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisFarewell to the King (1989)
An American soldier who escapes the execution of his comrades by Japanese soldiers in Borneo during WWII becomes the leader of a personal empire among the headhunters in this war story told in the style of Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling. The American is reluctant to rejoin the fight against the Japanese on the urging of a British commando team but conducts a war of vengeance when the Japanese attack his adopted people.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInyaah (Jungle Goddess) (1934)
Two white explorers, American Tom Dawes and Scotsman Sandy Kemp, travel to the Dyak villages of Borneo, where they hear stories of a primitive, remote tribe, that is ruled by a "white goddess." Intrigued, Tom and Sandy travel upriver to the village and are captured by the hostile tribesmen. Because they have entered a sacred place, the men are sentenced to death, but are saved when they hear a woman's voice say that they are to be made blood brothers of the Dyaks.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
The 7th Dawn (1964)
Political and personal intrigues surround a group of characters in Malaya, after the close of the Second World War.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
Cinnamon & Gunpowder (TBA)
Adaptation of Eli Brown's novel of the same name.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Return of Sandokan?
The closest matches to Return of Sandokan are Extortion (2017), Amazonia: The Catherine Miles Story (1985) and The Emerald Forest (1985). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Return of Sandokan?
Start with Extortion (2017), the closest match to Return of Sandokan.
What is the highest-rated movie like Return of Sandokan?
Swapped (2026), rated 8.8/10 by 2,299 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Return of Sandokan?
Wildwood (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Italian movies like Return of Sandokan?
Yes: Amazonia: The Catherine Miles Story (1985).
How are movies similar to Return of Sandokan chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Return of Sandokan, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.