Movies like Death of a Champion (1939)
The best movies like Death of a Champion (1939) are State Fair (1945), Best in Show (2000) and The Station Agent (2003). If Death of a Champion hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Plague Dogs (1982)7.8/10 from 314 votes
- NewestLessons from the Life and Death of Clifford (2025)Released 2025
State Fair (1945)
During their annual visit to the Iowa State Fair, the Frake family enjoy many adventures. Proud patriarch Abel has high hopes for his champion swine Blueboy; and his wife Melissa enters the mincemeat and pickles contest...with hilarious results.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBest in Show (2000)
The tension is palpable, the excitement is mounting and the heady scent of competition is in the air as hundreds of eager contestants from across America prepare to take part in what is undoubtedly one of the greatest events of their lives -- the Mayflower Dog Show. The canine contestants and their owners are as wondrously diverse as the great country that has bred them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Station Agent (2003)
When his only friend dies, a man born with dwarfism moves to rural New Jersey to live a life of solitude, only to meet a chatty hot dog vendor and a woman dealing with her own personal loss.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Dogwalker's Christmas Tale (2015)
Spoiled 21-year-old Luce Lockhart faces a tough decision when a handsome new friend asks her to help protect a dog park from her wealthy employer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisAll Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)
When a casino-owning dog named Charlie is murdered by his rival Carface, he finds himself in Heaven. Wanting to get back at his killer, he cons his way back to the living with the warning that doing so damns him to Hell. Once back, he teams with his old partner, Itchy, to prep his retaliation. He stumbles upon an orphan girl who can talk to the animals, thus allowing him to get the inside info on the races to ensure his wins to finance his plans. However, all the while, he is still haunted by nightmares of what's waiting for him on the other side unless he can prove that he is worthy of Heaven again.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBull Durham (1988)
Veteran catcher Crash Davis is brought to the minor league Durham Bulls to help their up and coming pitching prospect, "Nuke" Laloosh. Their relationship gets off to a rocky start and is further complicated when baseball groupie Annie Savoy sets her sights on the two men.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSnoopy Presents: It's the Small Things, Charlie Brown (2022)
Charlie Brown is determined to win the big baseball game. But things turn into a fiasco right before the matchup, when Sally bonds with a little flower on the pitcher's mound and vows to protect it at all costs.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMy Dog Skip (2000)
A shy boy is unable to make friends in Yazoo City, Mississippi in 1942, until his parents give him a terrier puppy for his ninth birthday. The dog, which he names Skip, becomes well known and loved throughout the community and enriches the life of the boy, Willie, as he grows into manhood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDean Spanley (2008)
Set in Edwardian England where upper lips are always stiff and men from the Colonies are not entirely to be trusted, Fisk Senior has little time or affection for his son, but when the pair visit an eccentric Indian, they start a strange journey that eventually allows the old man to find his heart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Plague Dogs (1982)
Two dogs, Rowf and Snitter, struggle to survive in the countryside after escaping from an animal research laboratory. They're pursued by search parties and then the military after rumours spread that they could be carrying the bubonic plague.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFixed (2025)
After learning he's getting neutered, a dog has 24 hours to squeeze in one last balls-to-the-wall adventure with the boys.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFirehouse Dog (2007)
Rexxx, Hollywood's top canine star, gets lost and is adopted into a shabby firehouse. He teams up with a young kid to get the station back on its feet.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPrizefighter: The Life of Jem Belcher (2022)
At the turn of the 19th century, Pugilism was the sport of kings and a gifted young boxer fought his way to becoming champion of England.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShow Dogs (2018)
Max, a macho, solitary Rottweiler police dog is ordered to go undercover as a primped show dog in a prestigious Dog Show, along with his human partner, to avert a disaster from happening.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisMy Little Pony: Equestria Girls - Rollercoaster of Friendship (2018)
Rarity's friendship with Applejack is tested when Vignette Valencia hires her as her new designer for a theme park parade.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisRoustabout (1964)
After losing his job at a coffee shop, Charlie Rogers finds employment at a struggling carnival, but his attempted romance with a teenager leads to friction with her father.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHomeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco (1996)
When the pets accidentally get separated from their vacationing owners, Chance, Shadow, and Sassy navigate the mean streets of San Francisco, trying to find their home across the Golden Gate Bridge. But the road is blocked by a series of hazards, both man and beast.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGood Neighbor Sam (1964)
To help his divorced neighbor claim a substantial inheritance, a family man poses as her husband. The ruse spills over into his career in advertising, and his recent promotion relies on his wholesome and moral appearance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSilk Stockings (1957)
After three bumbling Soviet agents fail in their mission to retrieve a straying Soviet composer from Paris, the beautiful, ultra-serious Ninotchka is sent to complete their mission and to retrieve them. She starts out condemning the decadent West, but gradually falls under its spell—with the help of an American movie producer. A remake of Ninotchka (1939).
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlfie (1966)
A young man leads a promiscuous lifestyle until several life reversals make him rethink his purposes and goals in life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSon of the Mask (2005)
Tim Avery, an aspiring cartoonist, finds himself in a predicament when his dog stumbles upon the mask of Loki. Then after conceiving an infant son "born of the mask", he discovers just how looney child raising can be.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
SnoozefestMovies like thisK-9 (1989)
The extravagant cop Michael Dooley needs some help to fight a drug dealer who has tried to kill him. A "friend" gives him a dog named Jerry Lee (Officer Lewis), who has been trained to smell drugs. With his help, Dooley sets out to put his enemy behind the bars, but Jerry Lee has a personality of his own and works only when he wants to. On the other hand, the dog is quite good at destroying Dooley's car, house and sex-life...
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBabe: Pig in the City (1998)
Babe, fresh from his victory in the sheepherding contest, returns to Farmer Hoggett's farm, but after Farmer Hoggett is injured and unable to work, Babe has to go to the big city to save the farm.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
SnoozefestMovies like thisDogs (2021)
A young Polish partisan flees from the Warsaw Uprising. Whilst hiding in the yard of a countryside manor, he is chased up a tree by a large wolfhound. With his rifle out of reach, there seems to be no way to escape his predicament.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Underdog (2022)
Esther van Neerbos searches for missing people with her dogs. Her dogs are specially trained to recognize the smell of death. Thanks to Esther's efforts, many bodies are recovered and she puts an end to the uncertainty in which those left behind live.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Best Man's Wedding (2000)
Roro, a foreign worker in Swedish parks, loves his girlfriend but is about to marry another girl to prevent her from being sent back to Lebanon. Meanwhile, Roro's best friend, Måns, has serious problems getting an erection.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWonder Boys (2000)
Grady is a 50-ish English professor who hasn't had a thing published in years—not since he wrote his award winning 'Great American Novel' 7 years ago. This weekend proves even worse than he could imagine as he finds himself reeling from one misadventure to another in the company of a new wonder boy author.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSusie's Hope (2013)
In this family tale based on a true story, a woman who suffered a violent pit bull attack comes to terms with the harrowing experience by adopting a puppy that was severely beaten, burned and left to die.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Lessons from the Life and Death of Clifford (2025)
A sweet, sad philosophical contemplation about what death is like for our dogs and what it might be for us.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Singular Affair of the Missing Ball (2025)
An animated tale of the canine sleuth, Sherlock Whippet, who solves a mystery with the help of his intrepid companion, Dr. Woofson, a Bulldog.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Like Death of a Champion and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Death of a Champion?
The closest matches to Death of a Champion are State Fair (1945), Best in Show (2000) and The Station Agent (2003). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Death of a Champion?
Start with State Fair (1945), the closest match to Death of a Champion.
What is the highest-rated movie like Death of a Champion?
The Plague Dogs (1982), rated 7.8/10 by 314 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Death of a Champion?
Lessons from the Life and Death of Clifford (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Death of a Champion?
Yes: State Fair (1945), Best in Show (2000) and The Station Agent (2003).
How are movies similar to Death of a Champion chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Death of a Champion, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.