Movies like The Box (2016)
The best movies like The Box (2016) are Pear Cider and Cigarettes (2016), Strings (2004) and The Breadwinner (2017). If The Box hooked you with its animation and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Breadwinner (2017)7.8/10 from 969 votes
- NewestSnoopy Presents: There's No Place Like Home, Snoopy (2026)Released 2026
Pear Cider and Cigarettes (2016)
The brutally honest story of Robert's turbulent relationship with a self-destructive, yet charismatic friend from childhood, who cries out for help from a military hospital in China and sets Rob on a wild ride to get him home to Vancouver.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStrings (2004)
The story of Prince Hal who sets out to avenge his dead father against the city's rivals, the Zeriths, little knowing it was his wicked uncle Nezo who is the real killer, with his own designs on the throne.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Breadwinner (2017)
A headstrong young girl in Afghanistan, ruled by the Taliban, disguises herself as a boy in order to provide for her family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPAW Patrol: Jet to the Rescue (2020)
A royal relative steals a gem with the power to make things fly, the Paw Patrol takes to the skies to stop him and save Barkingburg.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSirocco (1951)
A mysterious American gets mixed up with gunrunners in Syria.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPloey: You Never Fly Alone (2018)
A plover chick has not learned to fly when his family migrates in the fall. He must survive the arctic winter, vicious enemies and himself in order to be reunited with his beloved one next spring.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSkater Girl (2021)
Prerna, a teenager growing up in rural India, comes of age when she’s introduced to the sport of skateboarding. As a result, she has to fight the odds to follow her dreams and compete in the national championship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSnoopy Presents: There's No Place Like Home, Snoopy (2026)
When Snoopy's beloved doghouse goes missing, he tries to track it down, and learns what makes a house feel like home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisHoney: Rise Up and Dance (2018)
Street dancer Skyler comes out of the shadow of her trained dancer sister, Tosha, & joins a dance competition with the Honey dance studio; the prize is a college scholarship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlicka (2006)
Katy McLaughlin desires to work on her family's mountainside horse ranch, although her father insists she finish boarding school. Katy finds a mustang in the hills near her ranch. The headstrong 16 year old then sets her mind to tame a mustang and prove to her father she can run the ranch. But when tragedy happens, it will take all the love and strength the family can muster to restore hope.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMelody Time (1948)
In the grand tradition of Disney's great musical classics, Melody Time features seven timeless stories, each enhanced with high-spirited music and unforgettable characters. You'll be sure to tap your toes and clap your hands in this witty feast for the eyes and ears.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 thisThe Good Lie (2014)
A young refugee of the Sudanese Civil War who wins a lottery for relocation to the United States with three other lost boys. Encountering the modern world for the first time, they develop an unlikely friendship with a brash American woman assigned to help them, but the young man struggles to adjust to this new life and his feelings of guilt about the brother he left behind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKahlil Gibran's The Prophet (2014)
Exiled artist and poet Mustafa embarks on a journey home with his housekeeper and her daughter; together the trio must evade the authorities who fear that the truth in Mustafa's words will incite rebellion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies 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 · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHere We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth (2020)
On the eve of Earth Day, a precocious seven-year-old learns about the wonders of the planet from his parents—and a mysterious exhibit at the aptly named Museum of Everything.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Worth the HypeMovies 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 thisMonster High: Welcome to Monster High (2016)
Monsters once lived in hiding—even from each other—because they were afraid they would be in danger if humans knew they existed. But Draculaura, the daughter of Dracula, along with her best ghoulfriends, dreamt of a school where everyone was welcome and accepted for who they are. Determined to make their dream come true, the ghouls travel the world on an epic adventure to recruit new students. But even in this amazing place, there's drama: a villainess zombie is spreading trouble rather than friendship, and every student must live with the fear that their secret will be revealed. Now the ghouls must save their school so that every monster has a place where they belong and their uniqueness is celebrated!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAngela's Christmas Wish (2020)
A determined Angela makes a wish to reunite her family in time for Christmas, then launches a plan to find her way from Ireland to Australia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both animation
Popcorn FlickMovies like this40 Acres (2025)
Hailey Freeman and her family are the last descendants of African American farmers who settled in rural Canada after the Civil War. In a famine-decimated near future, they now struggle to safeguard their farm, as they make one last stand against a vicious militia hell-bent on taking their 40 Acres.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAporia (2022)
Aporia tells the story of someone caught in the midst of cultural, religious, ethnic, and national conflict. After fleeing Syria, Haleem hopes to bring his wife and children and settle in Germany. During a layover in South Korea, he is found in possession of a fake passport. Haleem then finds himself struggling in an unfamiliar country, taking illegal and illicit work in the hopes of being reunited with his family…
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Refuge (2017)
Refugees are captured by border patrol officers as one woman escapes to find herself surviving on her own in a foreign land.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Nowhere Boy (TBA)
On the way to Europe, teenage refugee Ahmed's father dies. As an orphan alone in Brussels, his dream of reaching England fades. Instead, he finds himself hiding in a house where, upstairs, an American family — including a 13-year-old boy named Max — lives. Max finds Ahmed, and the two become friends, giving the latter new direction.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Jacir (2023)
A glance at the divided U.S. political system through the eyes of a young Syrian refugee on the streets of Memphis, TN, as he faces the harsh realities of chasing the American dream.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Saeed (2019)
Even though Sami is safe in the United States with his 9-year-old daughter, Aya, the injures sustained during the war in Syria are making his life difficult. When news breaks that the rest of his family will arrive from a refugee camp, he should be as elated as Aya. But as Aya grows more eager to see her brother Saeed, Sami grows more anxious.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Moment in the Reeds (2018)
Having moved to Paris for university, Leevi returns to his native Finland for the summer to help his estranged father renovate the family lake house so it can be sold. Tareq, a recent asylum seeker from Syria, has been hired to help with the work, and when Leevi's father has to return to town on business, the two young men establish a connection and embark on a romance set against the idyllic Finnish summer. However, looming over this chance encounter, is the father's imminent return to the lake house, the continuation of Leevi's studies abroad as well as Tareq's complex relationship with his family in Syria.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFacing Mecca (2017)
Pensioner Roli comes to Fareed's assistance when the Syrian refugee is faced with the burial of his Muslim wife. Together they stumble into a bewildering forest of Swiss bureaucracy to which Roli finds beautifully simple answer.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
I Don't Like You (2022)
Azat is a Syrian refugee who is trying to get to Germany. While passing through Bulgaria, he is accused of attempted manslaughter over a child and goes to jail. There he meets The Boss - Koko. The friendship between them changes both their destinies.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Escape (2016)
Cabir believes he killed a man while fleeing the police in the Turkish-Greek-Bulgarian border area. His feelings of guilt pursue him like a ghost. But is his victim actually the husband of Aliyes, the woman Cabir takes in, hiding, protecting him? Atmospherically dense, Turkish love drama about a refugee from Syria.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Broken Keys (2022)
In a war-torn Middle Eastern city where music has been banned by Islamic extremists, Karim, a brilliant musician, struggles to rebuild his destroyed piano while trying to escape to Europe.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Box?
The closest matches to The Box are Pear Cider and Cigarettes (2016), Strings (2004) and The Breadwinner (2017). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Box?
Start with Pear Cider and Cigarettes (2016), the closest match to The Box.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Box?
The Breadwinner (2017), rated 7.8/10 by 969 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Box?
Snoopy Presents: There's No Place Like Home, Snoopy (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Box?
Yes: Pear Cider and Cigarettes (2016), Strings (2004) and The Breadwinner (2017).
How are movies similar to The Box chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Box, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.