Movies like Ghost in the Shell (2017)
The best movies like Ghost in the Shell (2017) are The Death of the Incredible Hulk (1990), Stormageddon (2015) and Alita: Battle Angel (2019). If Ghost in the Shell hooked you with its science fiction and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBatman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 (2012)7.7/10 from 1,768 votes
- NewestBlue Lock (2026)Released 2026
The Death of the Incredible Hulk (1990)
In his final attempt to free himself from the curse of the Hulk, Dr. David Banner becomes involved in a dangerous international espionage mission that may finally lead to a cure. As forces close in and the stakes rise, Banner faces an ultimate sacrifice, bringing his tragic journey to a definitive and emotional conclusion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisStormageddon (2015)
What happens when you ask the most powerful computer program, run by the most powerful computers, to follow, listen and predict human behavior? The program learns, becomes sentient and begins to behave like a human. When a master computer program, Echelon, takes over America's entire online system, our country is threatened to be brought to its knees. Hacking into DARPA, Echelon gains the ability to manipulate the weather, create earthquakes, and cause a level of destruction unlike anything the country could ever imagine. But how do you stop a computer program when it has control over any and every defense you have?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlita: Battle Angel (2019)
When Alita awakens with no memory of who she is in a future world she does not recognize, she is taken in by Ido, a compassionate doctor who realizes that somewhere in this abandoned cyborg shell is the heart and soul of a young woman with an extraordinary past.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRoboCop (2014)
In RoboCop, the year is 2028 and multinational conglomerate OmniCorp is at the center of robot technology. Overseas, their drones have been used by the military for years, but have been forbidden for law enforcement in America. Now OmniCorp wants to bring their controversial technology to the home front, and they see a golden opportunity to do it. When Alex Murphy – a loving husband, father and good cop doing his best to stem the tide of crime and corruption in Detroit – is critically injured, OmniCorp sees their chance to build a part-man, part-robot police officer. OmniCorp envisions a RoboCop in every city and even more billions for their shareholders, but they never counted on one thing: there is still a man inside the machine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisSurrogates (2009)
Set in a futuristic world where humans live in isolation and interact through surrogate robots, a cop is forced to leave his home for the first time in years in order to investigate the murders of others' surrogates.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Creator (2023)
Amid a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife, is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war—and mankind itself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLegion of Super-Heroes (2023)
Kara, devastated by the loss of Krypton, struggles to adjust to her new life on Earth. Her cousin, Superman, mentors her and suggests she leave their space-time to attend the Legion Academy in the 31st century, where she makes new friends and a new enemy: Brainiac 5. Meanwhile, she must contend with a mysterious group called the Dark Circle as it searches for a powerful weapon held in the Academy’s vault.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBatman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 (2012)
Batman has not been seen for ten years. A new breed of criminal ravages Gotham City, forcing 55-year-old Bruce Wayne back into the cape and cowl. But, does he still have what it takes to fight crime in a new era?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDivergent (2014)
In a world divided into factions based on personality types, Tris learns that she's been classified as Divergent and won't fit in. When she discovers a plot to destroy Divergents, Tris and the mysterious Four must find out what makes Divergents dangerous before it's too late.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlack Widow (2021)
Natasha Romanoff, also known as Black Widow, confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisInsurgent (2015)
Beatrice Prior must confront her inner demons and continue her fight against a powerful alliance which threatens to tear her society apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOblivion (2013)
Jack Harper is one of the last few drone repairmen stationed on Earth. Part of a massive operation to extract vital resources after decades of war with a terrifying threat known as the Scavs, Jack’s mission is nearly complete. His existence is brought crashing down when he rescues a beautiful stranger from a downed spacecraft. Her arrival triggers a chain of events that forces him to question everything he knows and puts the fate of humanity in his hands.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPush (2009)
After his father, an assassin, is brutally murdered, Nick Gant vows revenge on Division, the covert government agency that dabbles in psychic warfare and experimental drugs. Hiding in Hong Kong's underworld, Nick assembles a band of rogue psychics dedicated to destroying Division. Together with Cassie, a teenage clairvoyant, Nick goes in search of a missing girl and a stolen suitcase that could be the key to accomplishing their mutual goal.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisImpostor (2001)
A top-secret government weapons designer is arrested by a clandestine government organization on suspicion of being a clone created by the hostile alien race wanting to take over Earth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTHX 1138 (1971)
People in the future live in a totalitarian society. A technician named THX 1138 lives a mundane life between work and taking a controlled consumption of drugs that the government uses to make puppets out of people. As THX is without drugs for the first time he has feelings for a woman and they start a secret relationship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Flash (2023)
When his attempt to save his family inadvertently alters the future, Barry Allen becomes trapped in a reality in which General Zod has returned and there are no Super Heroes to turn to. In order to save the world that he is in and return to the future that he knows, Barry's only hope is to race for his life. But will making the ultimate sacrifice be enough to reset the universe?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAllegiant (2016)
Beatrice Prior and Tobias Eaton venture into the world outside of the fence and are taken into protective custody by a mysterious agency known as the Bureau of Genetic Welfare.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPaycheck (2003)
Michael Jennings is a genius who's hired – and paid handsomely – by high-tech firms to work on highly sensitive projects, after which his short-term memory is erased so he's incapable of breaching security. But at the end of a three-year job, he's told he isn't getting a paycheck and instead receives a mysterious envelope. In it are clues he must piece together to find out why he wasn't paid – and why he's now in hot water.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTranscendence (2014)
Two leading computer scientists work toward their goal of Technological Singularity, as a radical anti-technology organization fights to prevent them from creating a world where computers can transcend the abilities of the human brain.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Flash (1990)
A laboratory accident endows a police scientist with the ability to move at superhuman speed which he uses to battle a menacing gang as a superhero.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOn the Line (2021)
Seo-joon, loses everything to voice phishing and infiltrates a organization in China to meet Kwak Pro, the designer behind this phishing system.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEbirah, Horror of the Deep (1966)
Searching for his brother, Ryota stows away on a boat belonging to a criminal alongside two other teenagers. The group shipwrecks on Letchi island and discover the Infant Island natives have been enslaved by a terrorist organization controlling a crustacean monster. Finding a sleeping Godzilla, they decide to awaken him to defeat the terrorists and liberate the natives.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlphaville (1965)
Lemmy Caution is on a mission to eliminate Professor Von Braun, the creator of a malevolent computer that rules the city of Alphaville. Befriended by the scientist’s daughter Natasha, Lemmy must unravel the mysteries of the strictly logical Alpha 60 and teach Natasha the meaning of the word “love.”
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlien³ (1992)
After escaping with Newt and Hicks from the alien planet, Ripley crash lands on Fiorina 161, a prison planet and host to a correctional facility. Unfortunately, although Newt and Hicks do not survive the crash, a more unwelcome visitor does. The prison does not allow weapons of any kind, and with aid being a long time away, the prisoners must simply survive in any way they can.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlien Resurrection (1997)
Two hundred years after Lt. Ripley died, a group of scientists clone her, hoping to breed the ultimate weapon. But the new Ripley is full of surprises … as are the new aliens. Ripley must team with a band of smugglers to keep the creatures from reaching Earth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJust Cause (1995)
A Harvard professor is lured back into the courtroom after twenty-five years to take the case of a young black man condemned to death for the horrific murder of a child.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Element of Crime (1984)
Fisher, an ex-detective, decides to take one final case when a mysterious serial killer claims the lives of several young girls. Fisher, unable to find the culprit, turns to Osbourne, a writer who was once respected for his contributions to the field of criminology. Fisher begins to use Osbourne's technique, which involves empathizing with serial killers; however, as the detective becomes increasingly engrossed in this method, things take a disturbing turn.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTank Girl (1995)
After a comet disrupts the rain cycle of Earth, the planet has become a desolate, barren desert by the year 2033. With resources scarce, Kesslee, head of the powerful and evil Water & Power Corporation, the de facto government, has taken control of the water supply. Unwilling to cower under Kesslee's tyrannical rule, a pair of outlaws known as Tank Girl and Jet Girl rise up, joining the mysterious rebel Rippers to destroy the corrupt system.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisBlue Lock (2026)
A secret training program is established by the Japan Football Union to scout the world’s greatest striker after several years of defeat for the national team. Three hundred high school players gather at a remote facility to compete in ruthless trials where only one will emerge as the world’s greatest and most egoistic striker. The price of failure is absolute: those eliminated are permanently banned from ever joining the National Team.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & drama
The Devil's Own (1997)
Frankie McGuire, one of the IRA's deadliest assassins, draws an American family into the crossfire of terrorism. But when he is sent to the U.S. to buy weapons, Frankie is housed with the family of Tom O'Meara, a New York cop who knows nothing about Frankie's real identity. Their surprising friendship, and Tom's growing suspicions, forces Frankie to choose between the promise of peace or a lifetime of murder.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Ghost in the Shell?
The closest matches to Ghost in the Shell are The Death of the Incredible Hulk (1990), Stormageddon (2015) and Alita: Battle Angel (2019). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Ghost in the Shell?
Start with The Death of the Incredible Hulk (1990), the closest match to Ghost in the Shell.
What is the highest-rated movie like Ghost in the Shell?
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 (2012), rated 7.7/10 by 1,768 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Ghost in the Shell?
Blue Lock (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Ghost in the Shell?
Yes: The Death of the Incredible Hulk (1990), Stormageddon (2015) and Alita: Battle Angel (2019).
How are movies similar to Ghost in the Shell chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Ghost in the Shell, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.