Movies like Mothra (1961)
The best movies like Mothra (1961) are Son of Godzilla (1967), Rebirth of Mothra (1996) and Inuyashiki (2018). If Mothra hooked you with its adventure and science fiction, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)8.0/10 from 1,422 votes
- NewestThat Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Tears of the Azure Sea (2026)Released 2026
- In JapaneseSon of Godzilla (1967)Also in Japanese
Son of Godzilla (1967)
Reporter Goro Maki stumbles upon scientists conducting weather experiments on Sollgel Island in the South Seas. He discovers the island is inhabited by giant mantis and a woman named Saeko who's been cast away since the death of her father. The pair soon find a helpless infant monster that Godzilla must adopt and learn to raise as one of his own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRebirth of Mothra (1996)
A new Mothra takes to the air and battles against Desghidorah to save all of humanity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInuyashiki (2018)
A middle-aged office worker encounters aliens and is gifted with alien technology and limitless powers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGamera 2: Advent of Legion (1996)
A strange meteor lands in Japan and unleashes hundreds of insect-like "Legion" creatures bent on colonizing the Earth. When the military fails to control the situation, Gamera shows up to deal with the ever-evolving space adversary. However the battle may result in Gamera losing his bond with both Asagi and humanity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGamera vs. Gyaos (1967)
Unusual volcanic activity in Japan awakens Gyaos, a bloodthirsty flying monster with the power to slice things in half with an ultrasonic ray. While scientists and the military scramble to devise a way to stop this new threat, a young boy forms an alliance with Gamera; a monster no one else seems to trust.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWrath of Daimajin (1966)
In a mountainous region of Japan, Lord Arakawa kidnaps the men of nearby villages to use as slave labor, producing gunpowder from his sulfur pits. A band of young boys decide to rescue their enslaved fathers on their own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGodzilla vs. Gigan (1972)
Manga artist Gengo Odaka lands a job with the World Children's Land amusement park only to become suspicious of the organization when a garbled message is discovered on tapes. As Gengo and his team investigate, Godzilla and Anguirus quickly decipher the message and begin their own plan of action.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGamera 3: Revenge of Iris (1999)
With the Gyaos re-emerging, Gamera's ties to humanity have been severed with his bond to Asagi broken. Nagamine and Asagi investigate while an orphaned girl named Ayana discovers a new creature she names Iris. Nagamine and Asagi must reach Ayana before she takes her revenge on Gamera, who she blames for the death of her family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGodzilla 2000: Millennium (1999)
An independent group of researchers called the Godzilla Prediction Network (GPN) actively track Godzilla as he makes landfall in Nemuro. Matters are further complicated when a giant meteor is discovered in the Ibaragi Prefecture. The mysterious rock begins to levitate as it's true intentions for the world and Godzilla are revealed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKong: Skull Island (2017)
Explore the mysterious and dangerous home of the king of the apes as a team of explorers ventures deep inside the treacherous, primordial island.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSpace Amoeba (1970)
When a space probe crash-lands on a far-flung Pacific atoll, the craft's alien stowaways decide to take over their new world one creature at a time. Soon, the parasitic life forms latch onto three indigenous critters -- a squid, a crab and a snapping turtle -- and transform them into colossal mutant monsters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPacific Rim: Uprising (2018)
It has been ten years since The Battle of the Breach and the oceans are still, but restless. Vindicated by the victory at the Breach, the Jaeger program has evolved into the most powerful global defense force in human history. The PPDC now calls upon the best and brightest to rise up and become the next generation of heroes when the Kaiju threat returns.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWar of the Worlds (2005)
Ray Ferrier is a divorced dockworker and less-than-perfect father. Soon after his ex-wife and her new husband drop off his teenage son and young daughter for a rare weekend visit, a strange and powerful lightning storm touches down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 5th Wave (2016)
16-year-old Cassie Sullivan tries to survive in a world devastated by the waves of an alien invasion that has already decimated the population and knocked mankind back to the Stone Age.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThat Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Scarlet Bond (2022)
A long-running conspiracy is swirling over a mysterious power wielded by the Queen in Raja, a small country west of Tempest. When a slime who evolved into a Demon Lord named Rimuru Tempest crosses paths with Hiiro, a survivor of the Ogre race, an incredible adventure packed with new characters begins. The power of bonds will be put to the test!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & adventure
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMiss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (2016)
A teenager finds himself transported to an island where he must help protect a group of orphans with special powers from creatures intent on destroying them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & fantasy
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 & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThat Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Tears of the Azure Sea (2026)
After concluding the opening ceremony of the Demon Kingdom Federation Tempest, Rimuru and his companions are invited by the Celestial Emperor Hermesia of the great elven nation – the Magi Dynasty Salion – to visit her private resort island. As the group enjoys their brief vacation, a mysterious woman named Yura appears. A new incident unfolds against the backdrop of the boundless azure sea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & adventure
Absolute CinemaMovies 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 this20th Century Boys: Beginning of the End (2008)
In 1969, Kenji, an elementary school kid and his friends built a secret base during their summer holidays. They fantasized that they had to fight villains who were out to conquer the world and wrote them in the Book of Prophecies. Years later in 1997, Kenji becomes a convenience store manager and leads a regular life after giving up his dreams to become a rock star. His boring life is suddenly turned upside down when his old classmate dies mysteriously and an entire family in the neighbourhood disappears. At the same time, a religious cult and its mysterious leader, Friend emerges and a strange chain of events duplicating exactly the events described in the Book of Prophecies follow. Is this the beginning of the end of the world? Who is Friend?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024)
A sudden attack by Wulf, a clever and traitorous lord of Rohan seeking vengeance for the death of his father, forces Helm Hammerhand, the King of Rohan, and his people to make a daring last stand in the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Spirit of the Beehive (1973)
In 1940, in the immediate aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, a young girl living on the Castilian plain is haunted after attending a screening of James Whale's 1931 film Frankenstein and hearing from her sister that the monster is not dead, instead existing as a spirit inhabiting a nearby barn.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Count of Monte-Cristo (1975)
Young sailor Edmond Dantès is wrongfully imprisoned, escapes, finds treasure, and reinvents himself as the wealthy Count of Monte Cristo to exact revenge on those who betrayed him.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)
Frankenstein's unscrupulous colleague, Dr. Bohmer, plans to transplant Ygor's brain so he can rule the world using the monster's body, but the plan goes sour when he turns malevolent and goes on a rampage.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Two jobless Americans convince a prospector to travel to the mountains of Mexico with them in search of gold. But the hostile wilderness, local bandits, and greed all get in the way of their journey.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHouse of Frankenstein (1944)
Deranged scientist, Gustav Niemann, escapes from prison and overtakes the director of a traveling chamber of horrors, soon reviving the infamous Count Dracula, the frozen Frankenstein Monster, and the Wolf Man.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrankenstein: The True Story (1974)
Victor Frankenstein witnesses his creation turn uncontrollable after he's duped by his associate, Dr. Polidori.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Destroy All Monsters (1968)
At the turn of the century, all of the Earth's monsters have been rounded up and kept safely on Monsterland. Chaos erupts when a race of she-aliens known as the Kilaaks unleash the monsters across the world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLady Frankenstein (1971)
When Dr. Frankenstein is killed by a monster he created, his daughter and his lab assistant continue his experiments.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Mothra?
The closest matches to Mothra are Son of Godzilla (1967), Rebirth of Mothra (1996) and Inuyashiki (2018). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Mothra?
Start with Son of Godzilla (1967), the closest match to Mothra.
What is the highest-rated movie like Mothra?
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), rated 8.0/10 by 1,422 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Mothra?
That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime the Movie: Tears of the Azure Sea (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Mothra?
Yes: Son of Godzilla (1967), Rebirth of Mothra (1996) and Inuyashiki (2018).
How are movies similar to Mothra chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Mothra, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.