Movies like The Manual (2017)
The best movies like The Manual (2017) are Surrogates (2009), Wifelike (2022) and The Creator (2023). If The Manual hooked you with its science fiction, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedFinch (2021)7.8/10 from 4,283 votes
- NewestInvasion of the Space Zombies (2026)Released 2026
Surrogates (2009)
Set in a futuristic world where humans live in isolation and interact through surrogate robots, a cop is forced to leave his home for the first time in years in order to investigate the murders of others' surrogates.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWifelike (2022)
A grieving detective in the near-future hunts down criminals who trade artificial humans on the black market. In the fight to end AI exploitation, an underground resistance attempts to infiltrate him by sabotaging the programming of the artificial human assigned as his companion to behave like his late wife. She begins to question her reality as memories of a past life begin to surface in a world where nothing is as it seems.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Creator (2023)
Amid a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife, is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war—and mankind itself.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Machine (2013)
Already deep into a second Cold War, Britain’s Ministry of Defense seeks a game-changing weapon. Programmer Vincent McCarthy unwittingly provides an answer in The Machine, a super-strong human cyborg. When a programming bug causes the prototype to decimate his lab, McCarthy takes his obsessive efforts underground, far away from inquisitive eyes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisAutomata (2014)
Jacq Vaucan, an insurance agent of ROC robotics corporation, routinely investigates the case of manipulating a robot. What he discovers will have profound consequences for the future of humanity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Matrix Resurrections (2021)
Plagued by strange memories, Neo's life takes an unexpected turn when he finds himself back inside the Matrix.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHarrison Bergeron (1995)
"All men are not created equal. It is the purpose of the Government to make them so." This is the premise of the Showtime film adaption of Kurt Vonnegut's futuristic short story Harrison Bergeron. The film centers around a young man (Harrison) who is smarter than his peers, and is not affected by the usual "Handicapping" which is used to train all Americans so everyone is of equal intelligence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFinch (2021)
On a post-apocalyptic Earth, a robot, built to protect the life of his dying creator's beloved dog, learns about life, love, friendship, and what it means to be human.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTHX 1138 (1971)
People in the future live in a totalitarian society. A technician named THX 1138 lives a mundane life between work and taking a controlled consumption of drugs that the government uses to make puppets out of people. As THX is without drugs for the first time he has feelings for a woman and they start a secret relationship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSpace/Time (2025)
After a fatal test shuts down their project, a disgraced team of scientists enters the criminal underworld to rebuild a forbidden space-bending engine that could rescue humanity or annihilate it entirely.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Terminator (1984)
In the post-apocalyptic future, reigning tyrannical supercomputers teleport a cyborg assassin known as the "Terminator" back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, whose unborn son is destined to lead insurgents against 21st century mechanical hegemony. Meanwhile, the human-resistance movement dispatches a lone warrior to safeguard Sarah. Can he stop the virtually indestructible killing machine?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisI Am Mother (2019)
A teenage girl is raised underground by a robot "Mother", designed to repopulate the earth following an extinction event. But their unique bond is threatened when an inexplicable stranger arrives with alarming news.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRobot & Frank (2012)
Curmudgeonly old Frank lives by himself. His routine involves daily visits to his local library, where he has a twinkle in his eye for the librarian. His grown children are concerned about their father’s well-being and buy him a caretaker robot. Initially resistant to the idea, Frank soon appreciates the benefits of robotic support – like nutritious meals and a clean house – and eventually begins to treat his robot like a true companion. With his robot’s assistance, Frank’s passion for his old, unlawful profession is reignited, for better or worse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
David, a robotic boy—the first of his kind programmed to love—is adopted as a test case by a Cybertronics employee and his wife. Though he gradually becomes their child, a series of unexpected circumstances make this life impossible for David.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisZ.P.G. (1972)
In the not too distant future, an overpopulated Earth government makes it illegal to have children for a generation. One couple, unsatisfied with their substitute robot baby, breaks the rules.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCherry 2000 (1987)
When successful businessman Sam Treadwell finds that his android wife, Cherry model 2000 has blown a fuse, he hires sexy renegade tracker E. Johnson to find her exact duplicate. But as their journey to replace his perfect mate leads them into the treacherous and lawless region of 'The Zone', Treadwell learns the hard way that the perfect woman is made not of computer chips and diodes.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)
Thomas Jerome Newton is an alien who has come to Earth in search of water to save his home planet. Aided by lawyer Oliver Farnsworth, Thomas uses his knowledge of advanced technology to create profitable inventions. While developing a method to transport water, Thomas meets Mary-Lou, a quiet hotel clerk, and begins to fall in love with her. Just as he is ready to leave Earth, Thomas is intercepted by the U.S. government, and his entire plan is threatened.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMickey 17 (2025)
Unlikely hero Mickey Barnes finds himself in the extraordinary circumstance of working for an employer who demands the ultimate commitment to the job… to die, for a living.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTitan A.E. (2000)
A young man finds out that he holds the key to restoring hope and ensuring survival for the human race, while an alien species called the Drej are bent on mankind's destruction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStormageddon (2015)
What happens when you ask the most powerful computer program, run by the most powerful computers, to follow, listen and predict human behavior? The program learns, becomes sentient and begins to behave like a human. When a master computer program, Echelon, takes over America's entire online system, our country is threatened to be brought to its knees. Hacking into DARPA, Echelon gains the ability to manipulate the weather, create earthquakes, and cause a level of destruction unlike anything the country could ever imagine. But how do you stop a computer program when it has control over any and every defense you have?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRobot Monster (1953)
Ro-Man, an alien robot who greatly resembles a gorilla in a diving helmet, is sent to earth to destroy all human life. Ro-Man falls in love with one of the last six remaining humans, and struggles to understand how his programming can instruct him to kill her while his heart demands that he can't.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisUpgrade (2018)
A brutal mugging leaves Grey Trace paralyzed in the hospital and his beloved wife dead. A billionaire inventor soon offers Trace a cure — an artificial intelligence implant called STEM that will enhance his body. Now able to walk, Grey finds that he also has superhuman strength and agility — skills he uses to seek revenge against the thugs who destroyed his life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies 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: Similar story and style · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisShinobi (2018)
In the future, Miko, a Japanese psychic warrior is looking to destroy a corporation that mass produces robots called "Shinobi" in order to avenge the death of her loved one.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)
Martians fear their children have become lazy and joyless due to their newfound obsession with Earth TV shows. After ancient Martian leader Chochem suggests that the children of Mars need more fun—including their own Santa Claus—supreme leader Lord Kimar assembles an expedition to Earth. Once there, they kidnap two children who lead them to the North Pole, then capture the real Santa Claus, taking all three back to Mars in an attempt to bring the Martian children happiness.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisRhea Gall Force (1989)
The last remaining human soldiers of a devastated Earth fight against the machines for one last chance for their species to escape and survive.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Invasion of the Space Zombies (2026)
A man finds himself in a dystopian reality, where Earth is invaded by strange creatures. He survives his ordeal by using mind-altering drugs. Co-starring two Swedish underground legends: Stefan Kéry (Subliminal Sounds record label) and Magnus Nilsson (Klubb Sunkit). The film was shot on Super-8 in 1992, and was finally finished in 2026.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Deadly Friend (1986)
When tragedy strikes his remarkable robot and the beautiful girl next door, lonely teenage genius Paul tries to save them by pushing technology beyond its known limits into a terrifying new realm.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like this20th Century Boys 3: Redemption (2009)
The final showdown, and the final reveal. Who is Friend? How can he be stopped?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks (1993)
It has been thirteen years since the Androids began their killing rampage and Son Gohan is the only person fighting back. He takes Bulma's son Trunks as a student and even gives his own life to save Trunks's. Now Trunks must figure out a way to change this apocalyptic future
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Manual?
The closest matches to The Manual are Surrogates (2009), Wifelike (2022) and The Creator (2023). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Manual?
Start with Surrogates (2009), the closest match to The Manual.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Manual?
Finch (2021), rated 7.8/10 by 4,283 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Manual?
Invasion of the Space Zombies (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Manual?
Yes: Surrogates (2009), Wifelike (2022) and The Creator (2023).
How are movies similar to The Manual chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Manual, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.