Movies like Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)
The best movies like Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) are Bookworm (2024), Dear Eleanor (2016) and Burn Your Maps (2016). If Hunt for the Wilderpeople hooked you with its adventure and comedy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Lion King (1994)8.3/10 from 20,402 votes
- NewestA Dog's Perfect Christmas (2026)Released 2026
Bookworm (2024)
Eleven-year-old Mildred’s life is turned upside down when her mother lands in hospital and estranged, American magician father, Strawn Wise, comes to look after her. Hoping to entertain the bookish tween, Strawn takes Mildred camping in the notoriously rugged New Zealand wilderness, and the pair embark on the ultimate test of family bonding – a quest to find the mythological beast known as the Canterbury Panther.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDear Eleanor (2016)
Two teenage girls travel across the U.S. in 1962, during the chaos of the Cuban missile crisis, in search of Eleanor Roosevelt.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & comedy
SnoozefestMovies like thisBurn Your Maps (2016)
A family in emotional turmoil is taken by surprise in this quirky adventure where an eccentric 8-year-old American boy, Wes, has an existential epiphany - He believes that he is in fact a Mongolian goat herder.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDances with Wolves (1990)
Wounded Civil War soldier John Dunbar tries to commit suicide—and becomes a hero instead. As a reward, he's assigned to his dream post, a remote junction on the Western frontier, and soon makes unlikely friends with the local Sioux tribe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Dog's Perfect Christmas (2026)
When a medical emergency pulls the Goss family apart, determined dog Winstead will do all he can to bring his humans back together before Christmas Eve.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Call of the Wild (1972)
John Thornton, is a fearless man who's after more than gold; he wants to do what's right. Thornton works for the U.S. mail and is the only person daring and smart enough to figure out how to travel the deadly 600 miles from Skagway to Dawson, Alaska in the icy winter. His incredibly dog Buck is by his side and part of how he survives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWalkabout (1971)
Under the pretense of having a picnic, a geologist takes his teenage daughter and 6-year-old son into the Australian outback and attempts to shoot them. When he fails, he turns the gun on himself, and the two city-bred children must contend with harsh wilderness alone. They are saved by a chance encounter with an Aboriginal boy who shows them how to survive, and in the process underscores the disharmony between nature and modern life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCharlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure (2003)
Wilbur the pig knows how important friendship is - he learned that from a spider named Charlotte. So when Wilbur meets Cardigan, a lonely lamb, Wilbur immediately makes him his friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCave Rescue (2019)
When a youth football team of 12 boys, aged 11-16, and their 25-year-old coach is trapped deep inside a cave in Northern Thailand, thousands of volunteers and soldiers from around the world unite in a race against time to find them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Cowboys (1972)
When his cattlemen abandon him for the gold fields, rancher Wil Andersen is forced to take on a collection of young boys as his cowboys in order to get his herd to market in time to avoid financial disaster. The boys learn to do a man's job under Andersen's tutelage, however, neither he nor the boys know that a gang of cattle thieves is stalking them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAlabama Moon (2009)
After the unexpected death of his survivalist father, an eleven year old boy raised in the Alabama wilderness must learn how to make a home in the modern world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPinocchio (2009)
The enchanted story of Pinocchio.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHousekeeping (1987)
In the Pacific Northwest during the 1950s, two young sisters whose mother has abandoned them wind up living with their Aunt Sylvie, whose views of the world and its conventions don't quite live up to most people's expectations.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAirborne (1993)
Good-natured teen surfer Mitchell Goosen finds himself staying with his aunt and uncle in Cincinnati, Ohio when his parents head to Australia for work. There he meets his cousin, Wiley, and together they try to navigate the perils of high school—avoid the bullies, get the girl, and win a little respect.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhite Water Summer (1987)
When the experienced guide Vic accompanies the city boy Alan and his three friends on their first wilderness experience, he not only hopes to teach the four boys lessons about the wilderness, but about themselves. Vic pushes them to the limit. Soon after alienating the boys, Vic finds himself in desperate need of help and must rely on his students in order to survive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRiddle of Fire (2024)
Three mischievous children embark on a woodland odyssey when their mother sends them on an errand.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMowgli: Legend of the Jungle (2018)
A human child raised by wolves, must face off against a menacing tiger named Shere Khan, as well as his own origins.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Emerald Forest (1985)
For ten years, engineer Bill Markham has searched tirelessly for his son Tommy who disappeared from the edge of the Brazilian rainforest. Miraculously, he finds the boy living among the reclusive Amazon tribe who adopted him. This is when Bill's adventure truly begins.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBoy (2010)
Boy, an 11-year-old child and devout Michael Jackson fan who lives on the east coast of New Zealand in 1984, gets a chance to know his absentee criminal father, who has returned to find a bag of money he buried years ago.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBrigsby Bear (2017)
Brigsby Bear Adventures is a children's TV show produced for an audience of one: James. When the show abruptly ends, James's life changes forever, and he sets out to finish the story himself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRunt (2024)
In the Australian town of Upson Downs, ten-year-old Annie and Runt, her stray dog, attempt to win the Agility Course Championship at the Krumpets Dog Show in London in order to save their family's farm from drought and misery.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & comedy
By the Wayside (2012)
Four friends (a background actor, a documentarian, a homeless musician, and a virgin) descend into a life-awakening 24 hours that involve excess drinking, prostitutes, a sage-like lounge singer and psychedelic drugs.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & drama
My Life as a Dog (1985)
A boy, obsessed with comparing himself with those less fortunate, experiences a different life at the home of his aunt and uncle in 1959 Sweden.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Worth the HypeMovies like this99 Francs (2007)
Paris, France, 2001. Octave Parango, a young advertiser working at the Ross & Witchcraft advertising agency, lives a suicidal existence, ruled by cynicism, irresponsibility and debauchery. The obstacles he will encounter in developing a campaign for a new yogurt brand will force him to face the meaning of his work and the way he manages his relationship with those who orbit around his egotistic lifestyle.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Cutlass (1954)
The teenager Misha Polyakov, being with his mother in a Ukrainian village on vacation with his grandmother and about to return home to Petrograd, offers his best friend Genka to go with him. Suddenly, a white gang of Nikitsky bursts into the village and attacks Misha’s house, where Commissioner Polevoy lives. The purpose of Nikitskiy (aka Nikolskiy) is a dagger located at Polevoy. Saving the commissioner, Misha learns from him the history and secret of the weapon, and receives it for storage with a request to solve the secret. Having returned with adventures to Petrograd, Misha Polyakov with friends begins to unravel the riddle of the dagger, in the handle of which is encrypted text.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
In late 1940s Los Angeles, Easy Rawlins is an unemployed black World War II veteran with few job prospects. At a bar, Easy meets DeWitt Albright, a mysterious white man looking for someone to investigate the disappearance of a missing white woman named Daphne Monet, who he suspects is hiding out in one of the city's black jazz clubs. Strapped for money and facing house payments, Easy takes the job, but soon finds himself in over his head.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lion King (1994)
Young lion prince Simba, eager to one day become king of the Pride Lands, grows up under the watchful eye of his father Mufasa; all the while his villainous uncle Scar conspires to take the throne for himself. Amid betrayal and tragedy, Simba must confront his past and find his rightful place in the Circle of Life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe Spy with a Cold Nose (1966)
A dog with a spying device under its skin is sent to the Russian government as a present. When the Russians send the dog to a veterinary, British intelligence must get to the dog first and retrieve the spying device.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Bringing Out the Dead (1999)
Once called "Father Frank" for his efforts to rescue lives, Frank Pierce sees the ghosts of those he failed to save around every turn. He has tried everything he can to get fired, calling in sick, delaying taking calls where he might have to face one more victim he couldn't help, yet cannot quit the job on his own.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Thin Red Line (1998)
The story of a group of men, an Army Rifle company called C-for-Charlie, who change, suffer, and ultimately make essential discoveries about themselves during the fierce World War II battle of Guadalcanal. It follows their journey, from the surprise of an unopposed landing, through the bloody and exhausting battles that follow, to the ultimate departure of those who survived.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Hunt for the Wilderpeople?
The closest matches to Hunt for the Wilderpeople are Bookworm (2024), Dear Eleanor (2016) and Burn Your Maps (2016). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Hunt for the Wilderpeople?
Start with Bookworm (2024), the closest match to Hunt for the Wilderpeople.
What is the highest-rated movie like Hunt for the Wilderpeople?
The Lion King (1994), rated 8.3/10 by 20,402 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Hunt for the Wilderpeople?
A Dog's Perfect Christmas (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Hunt for the Wilderpeople?
Yes: Bookworm (2024), Dear Eleanor (2016) and Burn Your Maps (2016).
How are movies similar to Hunt for the Wilderpeople chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Hunt for the Wilderpeople, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.