Movies like The Blue Lagoon (1980)
The best movies like The Blue Lagoon (1980) are Blue Lagoon: The Awakening (2012), The Beach (2000) and Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925). If The Blue Lagoon hooked you with its adventure and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMutiny on the Bounty (1935)7.4/10 from 420 votes
- NewestBatt Koch (2025)Released 2025
Blue Lagoon: The Awakening (2012)
Two high school students become stranded on a tropical island and must rely on each other for survival. They learn more about themselves and each other while falling in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Beach (2000)
Twenty-something Richard travels to Thailand and finds himself in possession of a strange map. Rumours state that it leads to a solitary beach paradise, a tropical bliss - excited and intrigued, he sets out to find it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBen-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)
Judah Ben-Hur, a wealthy Jewish prince in Jerusalem, is betrayed by his childhood friend, Roman tribune Messala, and wrongfully sent to the galley slaves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRobinson Crusoe (1997)
Robinson Crusoe flees Britain on a ship after killing his friend over the love of Mary. A fierce ocean storm wrecks his ship and leaves him stranded by himself on an uncharted island. Left to fend for himself, Crusoe seeks out a tentative survival on the island, until he meets Friday, a tribesman whom he saves from being sacrificed. Initially, Crusoe is thrilled to finally have a friend, but he has to defend himself against the tribe who uses the island to sacrifice tribesman to their gods. During time their relationship changes from master-slave to a mutual respected friendship despite their difference in culture and religion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChina Seas (1935)
Captain Alan Gaskell sails the perilous waters between Hong Kong and Singapore with a secret cargo: a fortune in British gold. That's not the only risky cargo he carries; both his fiery mistress and his refined fiancee are aboard!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmmonite (2020)
In 1840s England, palaeontologist Mary Anning and a young woman sent by her husband to convalesce by the sea develop an intense relationship. Despite the chasm between their social spheres and personalities, Mary and Charlotte discover they can each offer what the other has been searching for: the realisation that they are not alone. It is the beginning of a passionate and all-consuming love affair that will defy all social bounds and alter the course of both lives irrevocably.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisQuerelle (1982)
French sailor Querelle arrives in Brest and starts frequenting a strange whorehouse. He discovers that his brother Robert is the lover of the lady owner, Lysiane. Here, you can play dice with Nono, Lysiane's husband: if you win, you are allowed to make love with Lysiane; if you lose, you have to make love with Nono... Querelle loses on purpose.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTanna (2015)
In a traditional tribal society in the South Pacific, a young girl, Wawa, falls in love with her chief’s grandson, Dain. When an inter-tribal war escalates, Wawa is unknowingly betrothed as part of a peace deal. The young lovers run away, refusing her arranged fate. They must choose between their hearts and the future of the tribe, while the villagers must wrestle with preserving their traditional culture and adapting it to the increasing outside demands for individual freedom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLord of the Flies (1990)
When their plane crashes, 25 schoolboys find themselves trapped on a tropical island, miles from civilization.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlood Alley (1955)
An American Merchant Marine captain, rescued from a Chinese Communist jail by local villagers, is "shanghaied" into transporting the entire village to Hong Kong on an ancient paddle steamer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLord Jim (1965)
After being discredited as a coward, a 19th century seaman lives for only one purpose: to redeem himself. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment in 2000.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll of You (2025)
Laura and Simon have been best friends since college. Over the years, they've realized their bond is more than platonic. Can they—and should they—risk everything to explore a love that has existed all along?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMutiny on the Bounty (1935)
Fletcher Christian successfully leads a revolt against the ruthless Captain Bligh on the HMS Bounty. However, Bligh returns one year later, hell bent on revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both adventure & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Piano (1993)
When an arranged marriage brings Ada and her spirited pre-teen daughter Flora to the wilderness of 19th-century New Zealand, she finds herself locked in a battle of wills with both her controlling husband and a rugged frontiersman to whom she develops a forbidden attraction.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Letter to Three Wives (1949)
A letter is addressed to three wives from their 'best friend', announcing that she's running away with one of their husbands – but she doesn't specify which one.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEnd of Sentence (2019)
Newly widowed Frank Fogle embarks on a journey to Ireland to scatter his late wife’s ashes. His estranged son, Sean, recently released from prison, agrees to join only when his father promises that they’ll never see each other again following the trip. After revelations surface about an old flame of Frank’s wife and a charming hitchhiker with plans of her own intervenes, father and son find themselves drawn together in unexpected ways.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & adventure
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShip of Fools (1965)
A varied group of passengers aboard a ship bound for pre-WWII Germany represents a microcosm of early-1930s society.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove in the Time of Cholera (2007)
In Colombia just after the Great War, an old man falls from a ladder; dying, he professes great love for his wife. After the funeral, a man calls on the widow - she dismisses him angrily. Flash back more than 50 years to the day Florentino Ariza, a telegraph boy, falls in love with Fermina Daza, the daughter of a mule trader.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFifty Shades Darker (2017)
When a wounded Christian Grey tries to entice a cautious Ana Steele back into his life, she demands a new arrangement before she will give him another chance. As the two begin to build trust and find stability, shadowy figures from Christian’s past start to circle the couple, determined to destroy their hopes for a future together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll of Us Strangers (2023)
One night in his near-empty tower block in contemporary London, Adam has a chance encounter with a mysterious neighbor, which punctures the rhythm of his everyday life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both romance & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Next Karate Kid (1994)
Mr. Miyagi decides to take Julie, a troubled teenager, under his wing after he learns that she blames herself for her parents' demise and struggles to adjust with her grandmother and fellow pupils.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & adventure
SnoozefestMovies like thisNever Been Kissed (1999)
Josie Geller, a baby-faced junior copywriter at the Chicago Sun-Times, must pose as a student at her former high school to research contemporary teenage culture. With the help of her brother, Rob, Josie infiltrates the inner circle of the most popular clique on campus. But she hits a major snag in her investigation -- not to mention her own failed love life -- when she falls for her dreamy English teacher, Sam Coulson.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMohabbatein (2000)
At a prestigious all-male university, three friends seek love outside of the school grounds; at the same time, a newly-hired music teacher seeks to befriend and loosen up the militantly strict headmaster.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisChild of the Danube (1950)
Marika is a cheerful girl who lives on the Danube aboard an old barge she inherited from her father. She works as a waitress in her aunt's inn, entertaining the guests with singing and dancing. Her greatest dream is to save enough money to repair the old barge and sail down the Danube. One day, she meets three young artists, Georg, Oskar, and Christoph, who all fall in love with her. Together, they put on an open-air revue and raise the necessary money. And with Georg, Marika is lucky in love.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
The Thief of Bagdad (1940)
When Prince Ahmad is blinded and cast out of Bagdad by the nefarious Jaffar, he joins forces with the scrappy thief Abu to win back his royal place, as well as the heart of a beautiful princess.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both adventure & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWater Drops on Burning Rocks (2000)
In 1970s Germany, Léopold, a 50-year-old businessman, picks up and seduces 20-year-old Franz, who swiftly moves into his apartment. The dynamic between them intensifies with the sudden arrival of their ex-girlfriends.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRiding in Cars with Boys (2001)
In 1965, a young woman with dreams of becoming a writer has a son at the age of 15 and struggles to make things work with the drug-addicted father.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBatt Koch (2025)
In the heart of a bustling city of Jammu, far from their ancestral homeland, Kashmir, a Kashmiri Pandit family juggles the complexities of modern life while caring for an elderly grandfather who struggles with a memory condition.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
A Cinderella Story (2004)
Routinely exploited by her wicked stepmother, the downtrodden Samantha Montgomery is excited about the prospect of meeting her Internet beau at the school's Halloween dance.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJumbo (2025)
Desperate to prove to his peers that he’s more than a chubby kid that never wins at anything, little Don wishes to win his local talent show by performing a stageplay inspired from a storybook written by his late parents. When unfortunately a bully stole that book, at the same time a little ghost appeared from the spirit world asking for Don’s help to reunite her with her parents’ spirits. The two new friends then embark on an exciting adventure to help each other and learn the true meaning of friendship.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Blue Lagoon?
The closest matches to The Blue Lagoon are Blue Lagoon: The Awakening (2012), The Beach (2000) and Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Blue Lagoon?
Start with Blue Lagoon: The Awakening (2012), the closest match to The Blue Lagoon.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Blue Lagoon?
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), rated 7.4/10 by 420 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Blue Lagoon?
Batt Koch (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Blue Lagoon?
Yes: Blue Lagoon: The Awakening (2012), The Beach (2000) and Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925).
How are movies similar to The Blue Lagoon chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Blue Lagoon, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.