Movies like The King and I (2018)
The best movies like The King and I (2018) are Battle of the Year (2013), Beyond the Sea (2004) and Grace Unplugged (2013). If The King and I hooked you with its drama and music, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedWhiplash (2014)8.4/10 from 17,382 votes
- NewestHamilton (2025)Released 2025
Battle of the Year (2013)
A down-on-his-luck coach is hired to prepare a team of the best American dancers for an international tournament that attracts all the best crews from around the world, but the Americans haven't won in fifteen years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeyond the Sea (2004)
Based on the life and career of legendary entertainer, Bobby Darin, the biopic moves back and forth between his childhood and adulthood, to tell the tale of his life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGrace Unplugged (2013)
A talented young singer and aspiring songwriter’s Christian faith and family ties are tested when she defies her worship-pastor father and pursues pop-music stardom in GRACE UNPLUGGED, a moving and inspiring new film that explores the true meaning of success.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhiplash (2014)
Under the direction of a ruthless instructor, a talented young drummer begins to pursue perfection at any cost, even his humanity.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisTake the Lead (2006)
A former professional dancer volunteers to teach dance in the New York public school system and, while his background first clashes with his students' tastes, together they create a completely new style of dance. Based on the story of ballroom dancer, Pierre Dulane.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 music & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMusic of the Heart (1999)
After Roberta Guaspari separates from her husband, she receives encouragement from her mother to take up a job of a music teacher at the Central Park East School in East Harlem.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mambo Kings (1992)
The Mambo Kings tells the story of César and Nestor Castillo, brothers and aspiring musicians who flee from Cuba to America in search of the American Dream.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMo' Better Blues (1990)
Talented but self-centered trumpeter Bleek Gilliam is obsessed with his music and indecisiveness about his girlfriends Indigo and Clarke. But when he is forced to come to the aid of his manager and childhood friend, Bleek finds his world more fragile than he ever imagined.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlame (2018)
A drama teacher's taboo relationship with an unstable student strikes a nerve in her jealous classmate, sparking a vengeful chain of events within their suburban high school that draws parallels to "The Crucible".
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Never Sang for My Father (1970)
A man living in the towering shadow of his aging father finds it difficult to start a new chapter in his life by marrying his girlfriend and moving to California.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHamilton (2025)
Presenting the tale of American founding father Alexander Hamilton, this filmed version of the original Broadway smash hit is the story of America then, told by America now.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTea and Sympathy (1956)
A sensitive young man recalls his time in boarding school when the only person who seemed compassionate towards him was his housemaster's wife.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Browning Version (1951)
Andrew Crocker-Harris has been forced from his position as the classics master at an English public school due to poor health. As he winds up his final term, he discovers not only that his wife, Millie, has been unfaithful to him with one of his fellow schoolmasters, but that the school's students and faculty have long disdained him. However, an unexpected act of kindness causes Crocker-Harris to re-evaluate his life's work.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMansfield Park (2007)
Fanny Price is sent to live with her wealthy relatives, the Bertrams, where she is treated poorly by most except her cousin Edmund. Her life is complicated by the arrival of the worldly Mary and Henry Crawford
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRunning on Empty (1988)
The Popes are a family who haven't been able to use their real identity for years. In the late sixties, the parents set a weapons lab afire in an effort to hinder the government's Vietnam war campaign. Ever since then, the Popes have been on the run with the authorities never far behind. Their survival is threatened when their eldest son falls in love with a girl, and announces his wish to live his life on his own terms.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHamlet (2009)
David Tennant stars in a film of the Royal Shakespeare Company's award-winning production of Shakespeare's great play. Director Gregory Doran's modern-dress production was hailed by the critics as thrilling, fast-moving and, in parts, very funny.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOthello (1995)
The evil Iago pretends to be friend of Othello in order to manipulate him to serve his own end in the film version of this Shakespeare classic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisClapham Junction (2007)
Set in the Clapham district of south London, England, the film is inspired by true events. The paths of several men intersect during a dramatic thirty-six hours in which their lives are changed forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Corn Is Green (1945)
When a teacher reads an essay written by Morgan Evans, one of the boys, moved by his rough poetry she decides to hold classes in her house and believes that Morgan is smart enough to attend Oxford.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisInu-Oh (2022)
A cursed dancer and a blind musician — both ostracized by society — become business partners and inseparable friends as their larger-than-life concerts propel them to stardom in 14th century Japan.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPorgy and Bess (1959)
In the early 1900s, the fictional Catfish Row section of Charleston, South Carolina serves as home to a black fishing community. Crippled beggar Porgy, who travels about in a goat-drawn cart, loves the drug-addicted Bess, who lives with stevedore Crown, the local bully.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both music & drama
Bang Bang Baby (2014)
A small town teenager in the 1960s believes her dreams of becoming a famous singer will come true when her rock star idol gets stranded in town. But a leak in a nearby chemical plant that is believed to be causing mass mutations threatens to turn her dream into a nightmare.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & music
National Theatre Live: King Lear (2014)
An aged king decides to divide his kingdom between his three daughters, according to which of them is most eloquent in praising him. His favourite, Cordelia, says nothing. Simon Russell Beale, whose recent appearances at the National include Timon of Athens and Collaborators, takes the title role in Shakespeare’s tragedy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Pandora's Box (1929)
The rise and inevitable fall of an amoral but naive young woman whose insouciant eroticism inspires lust and violence in those around her.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Three from the Filling Station (1930)
Willy, Kurt and Hans are broke, so they sell their car and open a filling station. Then, they all fall in love with the same girl.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
The life of a Russian physician and poet who, although married to another, falls in love with a political activist's wife and experiences hardship during World War I and then the October Revolution.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMeet Me in St. Louis (1944)
A year in the life of a turn-of-the-century middle class family, leading up to the opening of the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMother India (1957)
A poverty-stricken woman raises her sons through many trials and tribulations. But no matter the struggles, always sticks to her own moral code.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Few Good Men (1992)
When cocky military lawyer Lt. Daniel Kaffee and his co-counsel, Lt. Cmdr. JoAnne Galloway, are assigned to a murder case, they uncover a hazing ritual that could implicate high-ranking officials such as shady Col. Nathan Jessep.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The King and I?
The closest matches to The King and I are Battle of the Year (2013), Beyond the Sea (2004) and Grace Unplugged (2013). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The King and I?
Start with Battle of the Year (2013), the closest match to The King and I.
What is the highest-rated movie like The King and I?
Whiplash (2014), rated 8.4/10 by 17,382 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The King and I?
Hamilton (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The King and I?
Yes: Battle of the Year (2013), Beyond the Sea (2004) and Grace Unplugged (2013).
How are movies similar to The King and I chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The King and I, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.