Movies like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1997)
The best movies like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1997) are 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916), Underwater (2020) and Meltdown: Days of Destruction (2006). If 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea hooked you with its adventure and action, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMetropolis (1927)8.1/10 from 3,266 votes
- NewestMeg 2: The Trench (2023)Released 2023
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916)
Captain Nemo has built a fantastic submarine for his mission of revenge. He has traveled over 20,000 leagues in search of Charles Denver - a man who caused the death of Princess Daaker. Seeing what he had done, Denver took the daughter to his yacht and sailed away.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUnderwater (2020)
After an earthquake destroys their underwater station, six researchers must navigate two miles along the dangerous, unknown depths of the ocean floor to make it to safety in a race against time.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMeltdown: Days of Destruction (2006)
Despite scientist Nathan's warnings, his boss continues an experiment meant as publicity for his satellite firm: exploding an asteroid. Instead it splits, and the major piece, the size of Iceland, changes course to earth. It is deflected but so close that it shift our course closer to the sun, causing rapid extreme heating, hopefully only mid-term. Nathan warns his sister, TV journalist Carly, and she her lover, police detective Tom. He brings his unruly daughter Kim, her ex-con lover C.J. and her mother, nurse Bonnie, when Nathan offers a flight to a friend's Arctic weather station. Tom takes charge of a dangerous trip to the airport, as everywhere on earth things catch fire and people fight for water, transport and sheer looting.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSnow Queen (2002)
Since a bitter winter storm stole the life of Gerda's mother, she and her father have sadly continued to run the remote hotel they call home. Lonely and isolated, Gerda's only joy is Kai, the handsome bellboy. A mysterious guest with an icy stare arrives at the hotel one night, wrapped in fur and diamonds. By daybreak, the "Snow Queen" has vanished with Kai! Gerda embarks on a journey of morphing seasons, fantastical creatures, and long-frozen mysteries in a desperate quest to find her stolen love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lost World (2001)
This Lost World is a splendid BBC TV dramatisation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous adventure story. Bob Hoskins makes an unusually genial Professor Challenger, far less of a bully than Doyle's character, but his slightly stereotyped companions are nicely filled out by a solid cast. James Fox is Challenger's more timid but still covertly adventurous rival, Tom Ward is the moustachioed big game hunter who faces an Allosaurus with an elephant gun, and Matthew Rhys plays the tagalong reporter hoping to impress his faithless fiancée.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBattleship (2012)
When mankind beams a radio signal into space, a reply comes from ‘Planet G’, in the form of several alien crafts that splash down in the waters off Hawaii. Lieutenant Alex Hopper is a weapons officer assigned to the USS John Paul Jones, part of an international naval coalition which becomes the world's last hope for survival as they engage the hostile alien force of unimaginable strength. While taking on the invaders, Hopper must also try to live up to the potential that his brother, and his fiancée's father—an Admiral—expect of him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Ewok Adventure (1984)
Wicket the Ewok and his friends agree to help two shipwrecked human children, Mace and Cindel, on a quest to find their parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisJack Hunter and the Star of Heaven (2009)
Jack Hunter pursues his arch nemesis Littman across ancient Europe, intent on thwarting his attempt to salvage a deadly artefact.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like this20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
A ship sent to investigate a wave of mysterious sinkings encounters the advanced submarine, the Nautilus, commanded by Captain Nemo.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOn the Beach (2000)
The world has finally managed to blow itself up and only Australia has been spared from nuclear destruction and a gigantic wave of radiation is floating in on the breezes. One American sub located in the Pacific has survived and is met with disdain by the Australians. The calculations of Australia's most renowned scientist says the country is doomed. However, one of his rivals says that he is wrong. He believes that 1000 people can be relocated to the northern hemisphere, where his assumptions indicate the radiation levels may be lower. The American Captain is asked to take a mission to the north to determine which scientist is right.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTreasure Island (1990)
Young Jim Hawkins, while running the Benbow Inn with his mother, meets Captain Billy Bones, who dies at the inn while it is beseiged by buccaneers led by Blind Pew. Jim and his mother fight off the attackers and discover Billy Bones' treasure map for which the buccaneers had come. Jim agrees to sail on the S.S. Hispaniola with Squire Trelawney and Dr. Livesey to find the treasure on a mysterious island. Upon arriving at the island, ship's cook and scallywag Long John Silver leads a mutiny of crew members who want the treasure for themselves. Jim helps the Squire and Hispaniola officers to survive the mutiny and fight back against Silver's men, who have taken over the ship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Meg (2018)
A deep sea submersible pilot revisits his past fears in the Mariana Trench, and accidentally unleashes the seventy foot ancestor of the Great White Shark believed to be extinct.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMeg 2: The Trench (2023)
An exploratory dive into the deepest depths of the ocean of a daring research team spirals into chaos when a malevolent mining operation threatens their mission and forces them into a high-stakes battle for survival.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHell and High Water (1954)
A privately-financed scientist and his colleagues hire an ex-Navy officer to conduct an Alaskan submarine expedition in order to prevent a Red Chinese anti-American plot that may lead to World War III. Mixes deviously plotted schoolboy fiction with submarine spectacle and cold war heroics.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMysterious Island (1961)
During the US Civil War, Union POWs escape in a balloon and end up stranded on a South Pacific island, inhabited by giant plants and animals. They must use their ingenuity to survive the dangers, and to devise a way to return home. Sequel to '20,000 Leagues Under the Sea' .
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAtlantis: Milo's Return (2003)
Milo and Kida reunite with their friends to investigate strange occurances around the world that seem to have links to the secrets of Atlantis.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Philadelphia Experiment (1984)
Based on an "actual event" that took place in 1943. About a US Navy Destroyer Escort that disappeared from the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, and sent two men 40 years into the future to 1984.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLeviathan (1989)
Underwater deep-sea miners encounter a Soviet wreck and bring back a dangerous cargo to their base on the ocean floor with horrifying results. The crew of the mining base must fight to survive against a genetic mutation that hunts them down one by one.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInvisible Sister (2015)
Teenager Cleo's school science project goes quite awry, causing her popular older sister Molly to go invisible.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Call of the Wild: Dog of the Yukon (1997)
Jack London's classic story from 1903 about Buck, a dog kidnapped from his home in California and taken to the Yukon where he is mistreated until a prospector discovers him and relates to his situation. Although the two are bonded, Buck yearns to run free with the wild dogs in the wilderness.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPirates Down the Street (2020)
When a pirate family's arrival shakes up a coastal town, the kids next door offer to help them blend in and fight a bitter rival.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & adventure
Un reietto delle isole (1980)
TV-adaptation of Joseph Conrad's "Outcast of the Islands".
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
The White Warrior (1959)
The story of Hadji Murad, a 19th-century Chechen chieftain who led his warriors in a fight against the invading forces of the Russian Czar.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & adventure
Metropolis (1927)
In a futuristic city sharply divided between the rich and the poor, the son of the city's mastermind meets a prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisUnder a Texas Moon (1930)
A cowboy arrives in a small town and winds up trying to help a local rancher stop a gang of cattle thieves while romancing a pretty young girl.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
Vengeance of the Three Musketeers (1961)
To avenge her defeat and with the help of the Cardinal's army leader Rochefort, the treacherous Milady de Winter kidnaps both D'Artagnan and Constance, in order to spur a war between the French and the English, as per the Cardinal's wish.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
The Wren (1966)
Feride is a young girl who lost her family as a child and was educated in a French school. A fearless climber of trees and an endless source of pranks, Feride's mischievousness earns her the nickname "Çalıkuşu" (Wren). The sudden discovery of betrayal causes her to defy all social expectations. She runs away on her own to teach in the Anatolian backcountry. But it is not so easy to escape a broken heart.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
Les Misérables (1978)
In 19th century France, Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a relentless policeman named Javert. The pursuit consumes both men's lives, and soon Valjean finds himself in the midst of the student revolutions in France.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCaptain Fracasse (1961)
A ruined Baron Philippe de baron, meets one day a troupe of traveling actors led by Herod. Attracted by the one who plays the role of the ingenue: Isabella, and by the dynamism and enthusiasm of his companions, he takes the place of the deceased poet of the troupe. And during performances, Philippe became the captain Sunder. For his part, Isabelle loves Philip, but does not consider marriage, nobility him missing, she refuses to harm the career of Baron. And one day, the Duke of Vallombrosa, seduced by Isabella, finds himself challenged to a duel by Philippe for touching the girl. Defeated, he launched his men against Sunder, then removes Isabelle. The actors throw themselves then to storm the castle where she is being held. This time Vallombrosa was seriously injured, and the duke's own father, rushed to the scene, Isabelle discovers the girl he had once been an actress. Nothing stands now the union of Sunder and Isabella, under the tender gaze of the actors Herod and Scapin.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
Heart of Darkness (1994)
A trading company manager travels up an African river to find a missing outpost head and discovers the depth of evil in humanity's soul.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea?
The closest matches to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea are 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916), Underwater (2020) and Meltdown: Days of Destruction (2006). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea?
Start with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916), the closest match to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
What is the highest-rated movie like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea?
Metropolis (1927), rated 8.1/10 by 3,266 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea?
Meg 2: The Trench (2023) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea?
Yes: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916), Underwater (2020) and Meltdown: Days of Destruction (2006).
How are movies similar to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.