Movies like Dreamland: The Land of Dreams (2011)
The best movies like Dreamland: The Land of Dreams (2011) are Hardball (2001), Imperial Dreams (2014) and Cardboard Boxer (2016). If Dreamland: The Land of Dreams hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBoyz n the Hood (1991)7.6/10 from 2,398 votes
- NewestSalvable (2025)Released 2025
- In ItalianPiranhas (2019)Also in Italian
Hardball (2001)
An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisImperial Dreams (2014)
A 21-year-old reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCardboard Boxer (2016)
Gentle and broken, a homeless man fights others on video for money but soon finds comfort in an unlikely friend and the lost diary of a young girl.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPiranhas (2019)
A gang of teenage boys stalk the streets of Naples armed with hand guns and AK-47s to do their mob bosses' bidding – until they decide to be the bosses themselves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMenace II Society (1993)
A young street hustler attempts to escape the rigors and temptations of the ghetto in a quest for a better life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBelly (1998)
Tommy Bundy and Sincere are best friends as well as infamous and ruthless criminals and shot-callers in the hood. Respected by many but feared by all. As the police are closing in on them and new players are looking for a come up, will their reign last?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBoyz n the Hood (1991)
Three friends growing up in South Central Los Angeles navigate a neighborhood plagued by violence, unemployment, and crime, each responding differently to the harsh realities of street life. As tragedy strikes close to home, their friendship, choices, and hopes for a better future are put to the ultimate test.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEmbattled (2020)
The eldest son of a ruthlessly tough MMA champion must fight his way out of the abusive cycle his father has continued.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLucky Luciano (1973)
Lucky Luciano is one of the bosses of the Mafia. He orders the slaughter of 40 other responsibles, therefore becoming the only boss. But a few years later he is put into jail. In 1946, he got a pardon and is sent back to Sicilia. There, he begins becoming one of the chief of the Mafia. The US Army seems to refrain from interfering.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJoe (1970)
After murdering his daughter's drug-dealing boyfriend, a wealthy ad executive stumbles into a bar and strikes up an uneasy alliance with Joe Curran, a drunken bigot with a bloodlust who works at a local factory.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this5 Is the Perfect Number (2019)
Peppino, a retired hitman for the Camorra, has now fully passed on his job and know-how to his single son, Nino. But when Nino is brutally assassinated, the old man is back in business to take revenge. Aside his everlasting love Rita and his longtime henchman Totò, Peppino will go to any lengths, even if it means bringing the Camorra down.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMean Streets (1973)
A small-time hood must choose from among love, friendship and the chance to rise within the mob.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHome Run (2013)
A pro ball player with a substance abuse problem is forced into rehab in his hometown, finding new hope when he gets honest about his checkered past, and takes on coaching duties for a misfit Little League team
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGigi & Nate (2022)
A young man with a bright future suffers a near-fatal accident and recreates his new life with the help of an unlikely animal friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGangster Squad (2013)
Los Angeles, 1949. Ruthless, Brooklyn-born mob king Mickey Cohen runs the show in this town, reaping the ill-gotten gains from the drugs, the guns, the prostitutes and — if he has his way — every wire bet placed west of Chicago. And he does it all with the protection of not only his own paid goons, but also the police and the politicians who are under his control. It’s enough to intimidate even the bravest, street-hardened cop… except, perhaps, for the small, secret crew of LAPD outsiders led by Sgt. John O’Mara and Jerry Wooters who come together to try to tear Cohen’s world apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPaid in Full (2002)
Ace is an impressionable young man working for a dry cleaning business. His friend, drug dealer Mitch, goes to prison. In an unrelated incident, he finds some cocaine in a pants pocket. Soon, Ace finds himself dealing cocaine for Lulu. Via lucky breaks and solid interpersonal skills, Ace moves to the top of the Harlem drug world. Of course, unfaithful employees and/or rivals conspire to bring about Ace's fall.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSalvable (2025)
When a battered boxer past his prime finds his dreams and his relationships on the ropes, he falls back in with a dangerous crowd and has to take the biggest swing of his life to reclaim his hope and his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGuilty by Suspicion (1991)
Owing to his alleged involvement with communist parties, film director David Merrill is forbidden from working in Hollywood. He decides to fight for his rights and faces numerous challenges.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSiberian Education (2013)
The story of a gang of children growing up in a community of banished criminals, in a forgotten corner of the former Soviet Union. This community rejects the world outside. The only law it obeys… is its own. Against this backdrop two best friends, Kolyma and Gagarin, gradually become fierce enemies as they find themselves on opposite sides of the strict code of honour of the ‘honest criminal’ brotherhood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDownsizing (2017)
A kindly occupational therapist undergoes a new procedure to be shrunken to four inches tall so that he and his wife can help save the planet and afford a nice lifestyle at the same time.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisMr. No Legs (1978)
A double amputee known as Mr. No Legs oversees a drug syndicate while cavorting around in his double shotgun-equipped wheelchair. When one of the syndicate's drug dealers accidentally kills his own girlfriend—whose brother is a cop—after she announces plans to leave him, the game is on to bury the evidence, protect the syndicate and evade the long arm of the law.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Midnight (TBA)
An egotistical young man must face consequences after his dark past makes a resurgence.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Big George Foreman (2023)
Fueled by an impoverished childhood, George Foreman channeled his anger into becoming an Olympic Gold medalist and World Heavyweight Champion, followed by a near-death experience that took him from the boxing ring to the pulpit. But when he sees his community struggling spiritually and financially, Foreman returns to the ring and makes history by reclaiming his title, becoming the oldest and most improbable World Heavyweight Boxing Champion ever.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeloved (1998)
After Paul D. finds his old slave friend Sethe in Ohio and moves in with her and her daughter Denver, a strange girl comes along by the name of "Beloved". Sethe and Denver take her in and then strange things start to happen...
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Man from Hell (1977)
A detective's bride and her bridesmaid are raped and killed on the eve of the wedding, and the bodies are left covered in red roses. The detective is drugged and framed for the murders and he must clear his name and find the killers.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
What's Love Got to Do with It (1993)
Singer Tina Turner rises to stardom while mustering the courage to break free from her abusive husband Ike.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Greatest (2024)
Inhibited by his conventional life, a man named Jay is forced to confront his darkest secret when having to choose between a life of normality and authenticity.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Blood and Bone (2009)
In Los Angeles, an ex-con takes the underground fighting world by storm in his quest to fulfill a promise to a dead friend.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI am Steve Lopez (2014)
A college student witnesses a gang attack and as his curiosity behind the encounter tries to get the better of him, he realizes that his dad and the police are involved.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Dreamland: The Land of Dreams?
The closest matches to Dreamland: The Land of Dreams are Hardball (2001), Imperial Dreams (2014) and Cardboard Boxer (2016). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Dreamland: The Land of Dreams?
Start with Hardball (2001), the closest match to Dreamland: The Land of Dreams.
What is the highest-rated movie like Dreamland: The Land of Dreams?
Boyz n the Hood (1991), rated 7.6/10 by 2,398 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Dreamland: The Land of Dreams?
Salvable (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Italian movies like Dreamland: The Land of Dreams?
Yes: Piranhas (2019), Lucky Luciano (1973) and 5 Is the Perfect Number (2019).
How are movies similar to Dreamland: The Land of Dreams chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Dreamland: The Land of Dreams, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.