Movies like The Zoo Gang (1985)
The best movies like The Zoo Gang (1985) are Imperial Dreams (2014), Hardball (2001) and The Cut (2025). If The Zoo Gang hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
The Zoo Gang
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Hate U Give (2018)8.1/10 from 2,266 votes
- NewestThe Light We Left Behind (2026)Released 2026
Imperial Dreams (2014)
A 21-year-old reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHardball (2001)
An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Cut (2025)
A retired boxer intends to return to the ring for one last shot at the title, but first he must make the weight. Holed up in a room in Las Vegas with an unscrupulous trainer, he embarks on an intensive and illegal weight-cutting program.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Short History of the Long Road (2019)
Nola grew up living in a van with her father, Clint—two nomads against the world. When tragedy strikes, Nola must confront the reality of life on the road alone, learning to own her grief, her past, and her new destination.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEl Chicano (2019)
A pair of twin brothers from East L.A. choose to live their lives differently and end up on opposite sides of the law.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCharm City Kings (2020)
Mouse desperately wants to join The Midnight Clique, the infamous Baltimore dirt bike riders who rule the summertime streets. When Midnight’s leader, Blax, takes 14-year-old Mouse under his wing, Mouse soon finds himself torn between the straight-and-narrow and a road filled with fast money and violence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSalvable (2025)
When a battered boxer past his prime finds his dreams and his relationships on the ropes, he falls back in with a dangerous crowd and has to take the biggest swing of his life to reclaim his hope and his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGracie (2007)
A teenager faces an uphill battle when she fights to give women the opportunity to play competitive soccer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeautiful Boy (2018)
After he and his first wife separate, journalist David Sheff struggles to help their teenage son, who goes from experimenting with drugs to becoming devastatingly addicted to methamphetamine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNot Without Hope (2025)
A group of friends' fishing boat capsizes off the coast of Mexico and they're left alone stranded at sea and struggling for survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWalkaway Joe (2020)
A young boy named Dallas goes on a search for his pool-hustling father after he abandons their family. Dallas is determined to bring his father home when he meets Joe Haley, a drifter wrestling with a past he'd rather forget, who feels responsible for Dallas' safety and reluctantly takes him in.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Enforcer (2022)
A noir thriller set in Miami, the film follows an enforcer who discovers his femme fatale boss has branched out into cyber sex trafficking, putting a young runaway he’s befriended at risk. He sacrifices everything to save the young girl from the deadly organization he’s spent his life building.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEl padrino: The Latin Godfather (2004)
In the streets of East Los Angeles, Manny is a formidable drug dealer. Impressed by his extravagant lifestyle and prowess, his young son, Kilo, yearns to follow in his footsteps. Kilo resolves to learn how to prosper in the drug world, and his new life as a dealer begins. In a world where a man wants everything, he may end up with nothing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRogue Agent (2022)
Conman Robert Freegard poses as an undercover MI5 agent and kidnaps countless victims amidst a high-stakes manhunt, until the woman who fell for him brings him to justice.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFast Charlie (2023)
When his aging mob boss is whacked, Charlie Swift, a loyal friend and hired gun, will stop at nothing to destroy the upcoming crew that took him out.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Hate U Give (2018)
Raised in a poverty-stricken slum, a 16-year-old girl named Starr now attends a suburban prep school. After she witnesses a police officer shoot her unarmed best friend, she's torn between her two very different worlds as she tries to speak her truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisCardboard Boxer (2016)
Gentle and broken, a homeless man fights others on video for money but soon finds comfort in an unlikely friend and the lost diary of a young girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSavage Streets (1984)
Brenda, vivacious leader of the "Satins", a fun-loving group of pretty high school girls, searches for deadly vengeance against the gang members who assaulted her deaf-mute sister.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLorelei (2020)
A man is released from prison after 15 years. He reunites with his high school girlfriend, now a single mother of three. What follows is a lyrical take on love, regret and second chances.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lens Within Me (TBA)
A film student from Long Island, who cut his dying father’s cough out of the home movies at thirteen, spends four years filming everyone but himself — until one festival slot, a rival’s film, and the footage he’s been cutting force him to choose between the safe version and the true one.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Away Out (2023)
During an evening after high-school, friends Josh and Robbie come to realise their outlooks on life are not as similar as they once were.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Winged Detectives (2022)
"The Winged Detectives" is a queer coming-of-age short film, which follows Reagan and her friends as they prepare for the annual bird-watching competition. Tensions quickly rise for Reagan with the introduction of potential new friends and the absence of a special team member.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Yellow Handkerchief (2009)
A road trip through Louisiana transforms three strangers who were originally brought together by their respective feelings of loneliness.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Light We Left Behind (2026)
Unai and Elena, childhood friends, skip school to fulfill a forgotten promise: to light fireworks together that they never got around to using. On a tram to a distant beach, long-forgotten memories and feelings resurface. What begins as an escape becomes a journey into who they once were and who they still are.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
How to Make It to the Promised Land (2014)
Summer camp gets really strange for 15-year-old Lizzie when she is forced to play a Holocaust role-play game.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Head In The Clouds (2021)
Laiila’s journey that looking for an answer to the questions that plagued her mind. In the middle of her journey, Ale comes to help Laiila to define what happiness truly is.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
FurtaCor (2023)
Between the depths of grief and the bliss of friendship, Gabriel teams up with his friends to create a film written by his late grandfather, who passed away during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
I Feel Fine. (2024)
Ozzy Taylor, a charismatic high school teen, discovers he can't control his intrusive thoughts of suicide, setting off a life-changing shift in his destiny.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like The Zoo Gang and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Zoo Gang?
The closest matches to The Zoo Gang are Imperial Dreams (2014), Hardball (2001) and The Cut (2025). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Zoo Gang?
Start with Imperial Dreams (2014), the closest match to The Zoo Gang.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Zoo Gang?
The Hate U Give (2018), rated 8.1/10 by 2,266 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Zoo Gang?
The Light We Left Behind (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Zoo Gang?
Yes: Imperial Dreams (2014), Hardball (2001) and The Cut (2025).
How are movies similar to The Zoo Gang chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Zoo Gang, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.