Movies like The Return (1980)
The best movies like The Return (1980) are The Animatrix (2003), The Second Renaissance Part I (2003) and Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III (2010). If The Return hooked you with its science fiction and animation, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedProject Hail Mary (2026)8.6/10 from 8,770 votes
- NewestProject Hail Mary (2026)Released 2026
The Animatrix (2003)
Straight from the creators of the groundbreaking Matrix trilogy, this collection of short animated films from the world's leading anime directors fuses computer graphics and Japanese anime to provide the background of the Matrix universe and the conflict between man and machines. The shorts include Final Flight of the Osiris, The Second Renaissance, Kid's Story, Program, World Record, Beyond, A Detective Story and Matriculated.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Second Renaissance Part I (2003)
Tells the early history of how conflict began between the humans and machines. Part 1 of 2.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRobot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III (2010)
Millions of years from now, after Socrates, Shakespeare and the bible are long forgotten, only two great works will remain: the sci-fi cinema epic Star Wars and Adult Swim's stop-motion animated, cheap gag extravanganza Robot Chicken. And now, for the first time, they come together for the third time, in this all new special. That's right, all your mot beloved Star Wars characters are going back through the comedy meat grinder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMass Effect: Paragon Lost (2012)
An untold chapter in the Mass Effect saga, following the early career of Alliance Marine, James Vega, as he leads a squad of elite special forces into battle against a mysterious alien threat known as The Collectors. Stationed at a colony in a remote star system, Vega and his troops must protect the inhabitants from an invasion of the deadly insectoid warriors determined to collect the population for unknown purposes. Soon after the attack, Vega's commanding officer falls in battle, forcing the young officer to embrace the responsibility of leadership for the colony's survival. Having idolized Earth's greatest hero and warrior, Commander Shepard (the central character in the Mass Effect video games), the young and idealistic Vega must now make life and the death decisions that will effect not only the lives of his squad, but the lives of every person in the colony - all of whom he has sworn to protect...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGreen Lantern: First Flight (2009)
Test pilot Hal Jordan finds himself recruited as the newest member of the intergalactic police force, The Green Lantern Corps.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLinoleum (2023)
When the host of a failing children’s science show tries to fulfill his childhood dream of becoming an astronaut by building a rocket ship in his garage, a series of bizarre events occur that cause him to question his own reality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDark Star (1974)
A group of scientists are sent on a mission to destroy unstable planets. Twenty years into their mission, they have to battle their alien mascot as well as a "sensitive" and intelligent bombing device that starts to question the meaning of its existence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisApollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood (2022)
A man narrates stories of his life as a 10-year-old boy in 1969 Houston, weaving tales of nostalgia with a fantastical account of a journey to the moon.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStowaway (2021)
A three-person crew on a mission to Mars faces an impossible choice when an unplanned passenger jeopardizes the lives of everyone on board.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStar Trek Beyond (2016)
The USS Enterprise crew explores the furthest reaches of uncharted space, where they encounter a mysterious new enemy who puts them and everything the Federation stands for to the test.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Astronaut (2025)
After returning from her first space mission, astronaut Sam Walker is placed under NASA’s care at a high security house for rehabilitation and medical testing. However, when disturbing occurrences begin happening around the property, she fears that something extraterrestrial has followed her back to Earth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Adam Project (2022)
After accidentally crash-landing in 2022, time-traveling fighter pilot Adam Reed teams up with his 12-year-old self on a mission to save the future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGravity (2013)
Dr Ryan Stone, an engineer on her first space mission, and Matt Kowalski, an astronaut on his final expedition, have to survive in space after they are hit by debris while spacewalking.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAd Astra (2019)
The near future, a time when both hope and hardships drive humanity to look to the stars and beyond. While a mysterious phenomenon menaces to destroy life on planet Earth, astronaut Roy McBride undertakes a mission across the immensity of space and its many perils to uncover the truth about a lost expedition that decades before boldly faced emptiness and silence in search of the unknown.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both 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 science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisProject Hail Mary (2026)
Science teacher Ryland Grace wakes up on a spaceship light years from home with no recollection of who he is or how he got there. As his memory returns, he begins to uncover his mission: solve the riddle of the mysterious substance causing the sun to die out. He must call on his scientific knowledge and unorthodox ideas to save everything on Earth from extinction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisInterstellar (2014)
The adventures of a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisEnemy Mine (1985)
A soldier from Earth crashlands on an alien world after sustaining battle damage. Eventually he encounters another survivor, but from the enemy species he was fighting; they band together to survive on this hostile world. In the end the human finds himself caring for his enemy in a completely unexpected way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
The surviving Resistance faces the First Order once again as the journey of Rey, Finn and Poe Dameron continues. With the power and knowledge of generations behind them, the final battle begins.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSolaris (2002)
A troubled psychologist is sent to investigate the crew of an isolated research station orbiting a bizarre planet.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisElephants Dream (2006)
Elephants Dream is the story of two strange characters exploring a capricious and seemingly infinite machine. The elder, Proog, acts as a tour-guide and protector, happily showing off the sights and dangers of the machine to his initially curious but increasingly skeptical protege Emo. As their journey unfolds we discover signs that the machine is not all Proog thinks it is, and his guiding takes on a more desperate aspect. Elephants Dream is a story about communication and fiction, made purposefully open-ended as the world’s first 3D animated “Open movie”. The film itself is released under the Creative Commons license, along with the entirety of the production files used to make it (roughly 7 Gigabytes of data). The software used to make the movie is the free/open source animation suite Blender along with other open source software, thus allowing the movie to be remade, remixed and re-purposed with only a computer and the data on the DVD or download.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation & science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe House That Jack Built (1976)
Story about the cow with the crumpled horn that tossed the dog that worried the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
The Forgotten (2004)
Telly Paretta is a grieving mother struggling to cope with the loss of her 9-year-old son. She is stunned when her psychiatrist reveals that she has created nine years of memories about a son she never had. But when she remembers a man who had a similar experience, Telly embarks on a search to prove her son's existence, and her sanity.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisElectric Eye (2021)
An experimental short film, shot during the COVID-19 pandemic, made by one person. Using recorded scenes and archival footage, the short presents an unorthodox narrative to explore the themes of self-identification, identity, gender expression and androgyny.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Bearpuncher (2022)
Bearpuncher, a mountaineer with a monstrous curse, aims her ursine fist towards all that may threaten the safety of the Smoky Mountains. But when she discovers a destroyed lab while tracking a mysterious wildfire, she stumbles into a conflict she can’t punch her way out of.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
Kalashtar (2022)
The story spins around a frustrated unemployed youth who manages to get a parttime job , where he gets stirred up by a stranger who orders him to do an illegal activity , that makes a major change in his life in a not so good manner , did he manages to break his shackles ?!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
The ErlKing (2003)
This animated short is a visual representation of Goethe's poem, The ErlKing that uses sand-on-glass animation set to the music of Franz Schubert. The moving images, resembling woodcuts, capture the haunting, nightmarish quality of the tale of the ErlKing who steals and kills a little boy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
The End of the Crisis (2010)
Susanne is called to her boss's office. There she drinks from a cup containing a paralyzing liquid. When Susanne regains consciousness, she has already become a will-less, controllable puppet of the system.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Growth Vitamin (1988)
The teacher at school made a scientific experiment - he put two rats in different cages. One of the rats was given carrots containing vitamin of growth, and the other did not feed. Time passed, and the rat, to whom nothing was given, became thicker than the rat that was fed. It turned out that one student from pity fed another rat.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
NO LITTERING (2013)
While enjoying a date in a park, a man carelessly tosses an empty bottle onto the ground. His selfish littering promptly summons an imposing figure wearing a white hockey mask. The gruesome events that follow tell an admonishing tale about the importance of preserving the outdoors and defending the environment from the ugly menace of litter. The short was made for the tve YouTube Relay project, but wasn't included because it's too violent.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both animation
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Return?
The closest matches to The Return are The Animatrix (2003), The Second Renaissance Part I (2003) and Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III (2010). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Return?
Start with The Animatrix (2003), the closest match to The Return.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Return?
Project Hail Mary (2026), rated 8.6/10 by 8,770 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Return?
Project Hail Mary (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Return chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Return, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.