Movies like The Box (1981)
The best movies like The Box (1981) are The Trouble with Angels (1966), Much Ado About Nothing (2013) and The Air Up There (1994). If The Box hooked you with its comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex (2013)7.9/10 from 1,096 votes
- NewestOh, Hi! (2025)Released 2025
The Trouble with Angels (1966)
Mary and her friend, Rachel, are new students at St. Francis Academy, a boarding school run by the iron fist of Mother Superior. The immature teens grow bored and begin playing pranks on both the unsuspecting nuns and their unpleasant classmates, becoming a constant thorn in Mother Superior's side. However, as the years pass, Mary and Rachel slowly mature and begin to see the nuns in a different light.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMuch Ado About Nothing (2013)
A modern retelling of Shakespeare's classic comedy about two pairs of lovers with different takes on romance and a way with words.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Air Up There (1994)
Jimmy Dolan is a college basketball coach who wants a big promotion. To get it, he needs to make a dramatic find. He ends up deep in Africa, hoping to recruit Saleh, a huge basketball prodigy Jimmy glimpsed in a home movie. But Saleh is the chief's son and has responsibilities at home, since the tribe's land is threatened by a mining company with its own hotshot basketball team.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTaking Care of Business (1990)
An uptight advertising exec has his entire life in a filofax organizer which mistakenly ends up in the hands of a friendly convict who poses as him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRecess: All Growed Down (2003)
T.J. and The Recess Gang are kidnapped by the Third Street School's kindergartners, who are in turn being bullied by a new kid in their class.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Big League (1994)
When the owner of the Minnesota Twins passes away, he bequeaths the team to his preteen grandson. The newly minted head honcho quickly appoints himself manager, causing unrest in an organization that struggles to take orders from a 12-year-old.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWrong Cops (2013)
A group of bad cops look to dispose of a body that one of them accidentally shot.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex (2013)
While trying to prove to her family she can be mature and responsible, teen wizard Alex Russo conjures up a spell to rid herself of her bad qualities, unintentionally creating a Good and Evil Alex. When Evil Alex gets involved in a plan to take over the world by a dark wizard, Good Alex must find a way to save her family, humankind, and ultimately herself in an epic Good vs. Evil battle.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisSwitched (2020)
Tired of being bullied, Cassandra Evans prays that her nemesis, Katie Sharp, the queen bee of social media, would know what it’s like to walk a day in her shoes. Her prayer is answered in an unexpected way when they get switched.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdventures in Public School (2018)
A socially-awkward, home-schooled kid forces his way into public school against his suffocating, but loving, mother's wishes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWoody Woodpecker (2017)
Woody Woodpecker enters a turf war with a big city lawyer wanting to tear down his home in an effort to build a house to flip.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Jetsons & WWE: Robo-WrestleMania (2017)
Blast off to adventure in this animated feature where our favorite space-age family, The Jetsons, meet the superstars of WWE! When George unearths WWE’s Big Show, who has been frozen for 100 years, the futuristic face-off begins! Once thawed, Big Show wastes no time in taking the WWE belt from the current robot champ as well as taking total control of Orbit City. It’s up to The Jetsons to travel back in time and enlist help from WWE’s brightest stars: Sheamus, Alicia Fox, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and the Uso brothers. Can this cosmic tag-team prevail and set this twisted time-warp straight? Tune in and see with The Jetsons and WWE!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
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 comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKung Fu Panda: Secrets of the Masters (2011)
Po and the Furious Five uncover the legend of three of kung fu's greatest heroes: Master Thundering Rhino, Master Storming Ox, and Master Croc.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Flintstones Christmas Carol (1994)
Fred is cast as Ebenezer Scrooge in a stage adaption of the classic Christmas story, but is acting a bit stingy in real life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Happiest Days of Your Life (1950)
Nutbourne College, an old established, all-boys, boarding school is told that another school is to be billeted with due to wartime restrictions. The shock is that it's an all-girls school that has been sent. The two head teachers are soon battling for the upper hand with each other and the Ministry. But a crisis (or two) forces them to work together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLouis C.K.: Hilarious (2010)
In this unique and dynamic live concert experience, Louis C.K.'s exploration of life after 40 destroys politically correct images of modern life with thoughts we have all had...but would rarely admit to.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNo Deposit, No Return (1976)
Two rich children devise a way to escape their grandfather and visit their mother. Unfortunately for two hapless safe crackers, they become part of the plan.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJim Jefferies: Freedumb (2016)
Returning for a second Netflix comedy special, Jim Jefferies unleashes his famously ferocious black humor to a packed house in Nashville, Tennessee.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAmy Schumer: Mostly Sex Stuff (2012)
A ratings hit! Amy Schumer debuts her one-hour special in front of a live audience at the Historic Fillmore Theatre in San Francisco. Nothing is off limits as Schumer airs every hilarious, messed up detail of her dating and sex life, from encounters with unexpected body parts to hate-filled personal grooming appointments. In her matter-of-fact raunchy style, at odds with her self-described "Cabbage Patch Kid" appearance, Schumer tells stories of a boyfriend who makes dirty requests over dinner, the way she outsmarts her birth control, and a shocking ending to a seemingly innocent cab ride.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisOn Borrowed Time (1939)
Young Pud is orphaned and left in the care of his aged grandparents. The boy and his grandfather are inseparable. Gramps is concerned for Pud's future and wary of a scheming relative who seeks custody of the child. One day Mr. Brink, an agent of Death, arrives to take Gramps "to the land where the woodbine twineth." Through a bit of trickery, Gramps confines Mr. Brink, and thus Death, to the branches of a large apple tree, giving Gramps extra time to resolve issues about Pud's future.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Mendadak Dangdut (2006)
After a temperamental pop singer is caught in possession of drugs, she evades arrest by becoming a fledgling dangdut performer in a rural neighborhood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Bigbug (2022)
Set in the world of 2045, where communities have robotic helpers, a group of suburbanites are locked in for their protection by their household robots, while a rogue, self-aware AI android revolt uprising takes place outside.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisOh, Hi! (2025)
Iris and Isaac's first weekend away as a couple is going so well — until Isaac mentions he didn’t know they were a couple. Convinced she's met her perfect guy and that he's just confused, Iris goes to increasingly ridiculous and irrational lengths to prove to Isaac that they are meant to be together.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHideous! (1997)
Dr. Lorca, an eccentric collector of biological oddities - has just "acquired" his greatest specimen: a horrible mutant born of toxic sewage, but the creature's rightful owner wants it back. The collector's clash is cut short though, as the sickening specimen comes to life, re-animating an angry, oozing little army of ferocious freaks
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisMurder Room, Inc (2021)
A janitor for the world's largest Murder Room company gets an unexpected surprise when he begins to suspect his wife is cheating on him with their boss.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
A Journey (1972)
This film shows a surreal train ride by several passengers whose journey is not quite what they expect in this brilliant short film.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Boxed (2023)
Boxed is a journey of man who relies on consumerism to fill his inner void as he descends into madness when his latest purchase - the ClapMaster - a tiny device to power lights with a simple clap, does not arrive on time. Things turn dark when a box larger than him shows up at his door.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Together Until the End (2020)
When Elena and Joaquín are about to end their relationship, they run into a small obstacle: the zombie apocalypse has begun.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Glorious (2022)
After a breakup, Wes ends up at a remote rest stop. He finds himself locked inside the bathroom with a mysterious figure speaking from an adjacent stall. Soon Wes realizes he is involved in a situation more terrible than he could imagine.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
SnoozefestMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Box?
The closest matches to The Box are The Trouble with Angels (1966), Much Ado About Nothing (2013) and The Air Up There (1994). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Box?
Start with The Trouble with Angels (1966), the closest match to The Box.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Box?
The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex (2013), rated 7.9/10 by 1,096 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Box?
Oh, Hi! (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Box?
Yes: The Trouble with Angels (1966), Much Ado About Nothing (2013) and The Air Up There (1994).
How are movies similar to The Box chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Box, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.