Movies like The Earthquake (2016)
The best movies like The Earthquake (2016) are Testament (1983), Meltdown: Days of Destruction (2006) and Adopt a Highway (2019). If The Earthquake hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWhat Maisie Knew (2013)7.1/10 from 466 votes
- NewestKraken (2025)Released 2025
Testament (1983)
It's just another day in the small town of Hamlin until something disastrous happens. Suddenly, news breaks that a series of nuclear warheads has been dropped along the Eastern Seaboard and, more locally, in California. As people begin coping with the devastating aftermath of the attacks — many suffer radiation poisoning — the Wetherly family tries to survive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
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 drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdopt a Highway (2019)
Russ Millings has just been released from prison after serving 21 years for a 3rd strike conviction for possessing an ounce of marijuana. As he tries to adapt to a world he doesn’t recognize – including trying to learn how to use the internet – he finds an abandoned baby in a dumpster behind the fast food restaurant where he works as a dishwasher. Unsure of what to do, and caught between impulses of kindness and panic, Russ soon realizes this could be his chance at redemption.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSan Andreas (2015)
In the aftermath of a massive earthquake in California, a rescue-chopper pilot makes a dangerous journey across the state in order to rescue his estranged daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTalhotBlond (2012)
Thomas Montgomery, a married father of two young daughters, gets seduced by the world of online gambling and chat rooms where a virtual romance and sexual obsession ultimately leads to the murder of an innocent man.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe River (1984)
Tom and Mae Garvey are a Tennessee farming couple battling violent floods to save their land. In addition to natural disasters, the Garveys fight to stop a selfish land developer and a local corporation from foreclosing on their farm. While Mae stays at home to care for their children and tend to the crops, Tom finds work as a scab at a steel mill to preserve his family's property.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGray Lady Down (1978)
The USS Neptune, a nuclear submarine, is sunk off the coast of Connecticut after a collision with a Norwegian cargo ship. The navy must attempt a potentially dangerous rescue in the hope of saving the lives of the crew.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHereafter (2010)
Three people — a blue-collar American, a French journalist and a London school boy — are touched by death in different ways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChernobyl: Abyss (2021)
The aftermath of a shocking explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power station made hundreds of people sacrifice their lives to clean up the site of the catastrophe and to successfully prevent an even bigger disaster that could have turned a large part of the European continent into an uninhabitable exclusion zone. This is their story.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdmiral (2008)
This is a story of a great love facing the greatest drama of the history of Russia. Admiral Kolchak is a true war hero and beloved husband and father. One day he meets Anna, the love of his life and the wife of his best friend. The revolution in his heart faces the revolution in his own country His destiny is to become the Supreme Ruler of Russia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Girl in the Book (2015)
The story of a young writer's transformation when her past invades her present.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisFire (2020)
Fires are raging in the Moscow region, and the forest protection airbase is on a rotation. However, experienced firefighters are in short supply and team leader Andrey Pavlovich has to take on a new recruit, Roman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLight of My Life (2019)
Years after a pandemic wipes out most of the female population, a father struggles to shield his daughter from a dangerous and predatory world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGodzilla (2014)
Ford Brody, a Navy bomb expert, has just reunited with his family in San Francisco when he is forced to go to Japan to help his estranged father, Joe. Soon, both men are swept up in an escalating crisis when an ancient alpha predator arises from the sea to combat malevolent adversaries that threaten the survival of humanity. The creatures leave colossal destruction in their wake, as they make their way toward their final battleground: San Francisco.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Zoe (2019)
Isabelle, a geneticist recovering from a toxic marriage, is raising her only daughter, Zoe, with her contentious ex-husband. Zoe means everything to her mother and so when tragedy strikes the fractured family, Isabelle travels to Russia in seeking the help of a world-renowned fertility physician who Isabelle believes can help bring back her little girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Question of Faith (2017)
When Tragedy Strikes three Families, their Destiny forces them on a coverging path and mercy as the challenges of their fate could also resurrect their beliefs
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Am David (2003)
A 12-year-old boy manages to flee a Communist concentration camp on his own, through sheer will and determination. All he has in his possession is a loaf of bread, a letter to deliver to someone in Denmark, and a compass to help get him there.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004)
The story of golf icon and legend, Bobby Jones, who retired from competition at the tender age of 28.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisWhat Maisie Knew (2013)
In New York City, six-year-old Maisie is caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle between her self-absorbed parents—an aging rock singer mother and a distracted art dealer father. As both quickly marry new partners to strengthen their legal standing, Maisie is shuttled back and forth in an endless game of emotional point-scoring. Yet amid the chaos and upheaval, Maisie begins to find true comfort and affection in her new step-parents.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKraken (2025)
A Russian missile submarine disappears without trace during a secret mission in the Greenland Sea. A vessel is deployed to search for it, captained by the brother of the missing submarine’s commander. The search crew is tasked with locating the submarine and preventing a top-secret weapon from falling into enemy hands. Meanwhile, a geological research operation at the North Pole awakens the Kraken, a giant deep-water monster with an incredible ability to camouflage and an uncanny intelligence. As the search party narrows in on the missing submarine, they will encounter the legendary creature of the deep.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRocky IV (1985)
Rocky Balboa holds the world heavyweight championship, but a new challenger has stepped forward: Drago, a six-foot-four, 261-pound fighter who has the backing of the Soviet Union. This time, Rocky's training regimen takes him to Siberia, where he prepares for a globally televised match in the heart of Moscow. But nothing can truly prepare him for what he's about to face – a fight to the finish, in which he must defend not only himself, but also the honor of his country!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Man Without a World (1991)
The Man Without a World is credited to the legendary (and imaginary) 1920s Soviet director, Yevgeny Antinov. But the film is anything but old. In fact, Antinov himself is the creation of contemporary filmmaker Eleanor Antin. Her film is a moving, comic melodrama set in a typical shtetl (village) in Poland. The Jews’ struggle against poverty and racial hatred is complicated by their own division into hostile political factions of the religious orthodoxy, assimilationists, socialists, Zionists, anarchists and survivors. While the Jews of the shtetl pursue their loves, politics, religion, business and dreams for the future, the Angel of Death is ever near...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Meine Mutter, mein Bruder und ich! (2008)
In Munich, the Armenian Areg dreams of studying cinema with his German girlfriend Lilly. Until her widowed mother fell seriously ill with diabetes. Areg and her little brother Garnik have to take care of her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)
Successful surgeon Tomas leaves Prague for an operation, meets a young photographer named Tereza, and brings her back with him. Tereza is surprised to learn that Tomas is already having an affair with the bohemian Sabina, but when the Soviet invasion occurs, all three flee to Switzerland. Sabina begins an affair, Tom continues womanizing, and Tereza, disgusted, returns to Czechoslovakia. Realizing his mistake, Tomas decides to chase after her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPlanetquake (2024)
A tectonic shift deep below the Mariana Trench causes a series of ever escalating earthquakes. If a team of leading seismologists fails to stop the disaster, the events will break apart the Earth, resulting in billions of casualties. Finally, someone’s paying attention to our leading seismologists.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Murder in Pacot (2014)
In the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake, a middle-aged Port-au-Prince couple come face to face with the stark contradictions of Haitian society when they are forced to rent out their villa to a foreign aid worker and his enterprising local girlfriend.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
September 19th (2021)
Jorge loses his wife and daughter in the 1985 earthquake; the tragedy drives him to become a rescuer—a way, he believes, to save his own family—and he goes on to experience disasters all over the world. He attempts to foster a culture of prevention, though with little success; then, in 2017, he is put to the test once again, facing the greatest tragedy of his life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Tinā (2025)
A woman grieving her daughter's death in the Christchurch earthquakes, becomes a substitute teacher at an elite private school. Unexpectedly, she discovers students lacking guidance and care, prompting her to provide inspiration and support.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Cargo 200 (2007)
While returning to Leningrad from a visit to his brother, Professor Artyom's car breaks down and he finds assistance at an isolated farmhouse occupied by Alexey, his wife, a Vietnamese laborer, and a stranger who wanders around the farm. When his car is repaired, Artyom leaves, drunk on moonshine, and students Valera and Angelika arrive. After Valera gets drunk, the stranger abducts Angelika.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Earthquake?
The closest matches to The Earthquake are Testament (1983), Meltdown: Days of Destruction (2006) and Adopt a Highway (2019). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Earthquake?
Start with Testament (1983), the closest match to The Earthquake.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Earthquake?
What Maisie Knew (2013), rated 7.1/10 by 466 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Earthquake?
Kraken (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to The Earthquake chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Earthquake, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.