Movies like Basketball Headliners (1956)
The best movies like Basketball Headliners (1956) are Blue Chips (1994), The Air Up There (1994) and Chang Can Dunk (2023). If Basketball Headliners hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Basketball Headliners
Quick picks
- Highest ratedFar from the Tree (2021)8.1/10 from 395 votes
- NewestOWL: The Virginia Gallagher Story (2025)Released 2025
Blue Chips (1994)
Pete Bell, a college basketball coach is under a lot of pressure. His team isn't winning and he cannot attract new players. The stars of the future are secretly being paid by boosters. This practice is forbidden in the college game, but Pete is desperate and has pressures from all around.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Air Up There (1994)
Jimmy Dolan is a college basketball coach who wants a big promotion. To get it, he needs to make a dramatic find. He ends up deep in Africa, hoping to recruit Saleh, a huge basketball prodigy Jimmy glimpsed in a home movie. But Saleh is the chief's son and has responsibilities at home, since the tribe's land is threatened by a mining company with its own hotshot basketball team.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChang Can Dunk (2023)
Chang, a 16-year-old, Asian American, bets the high school basketball star that he can dunk by Homecoming. The bet leads 5' 8" Chang on a quest to learn to dunk—not only to impress his crush, Kristy, but to gain the respect of his high school peers too. But before he can rise up and truly throw one down, he'll have to reexamine everything he knows about himself, his friendships and his family.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeau Hunks (1931)
Stan and Ollie join the French Foreign Legion after Ollie's sweetheart rejects him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSpace Jam: A New Legacy (2021)
When LeBron and his young son Dom are trapped in a digital space by a rogue A.I., LeBron must get them home safe by leading Bugs, Lola Bunny and the whole gang of notoriously undisciplined Looney Tunes to victory over the A.I.'s digitized champions on the court. It's Tunes versus Goons in the highest-stakes challenge of his life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWinnie the Pooh: A Valentine for You (1999)
After Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Rabbit see Christopher Robin making a valentine for -- gasp! -- a girl, they find he's been bitten by a "Smitten" and is lovesick! Worried that he'll no longer have time for them, and hoping a second bite from the love bug will cure him, they set out on a wild adventure to capture the Smitten. This wonderful story, filled with magic and whimsy, and sweetened with three new songs, reminds us all that the heart is big and always has plenty of room for friends -- old and new.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStephen Curry: Underrated (2023)
The remarkable coming-of-age story of Stephen Curry—one of the most influential, dynamic, and unexpected players in basketball history—and his rise from an undersized college player to a four-time NBA champion.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisScooby-Doo! Haunted Holidays (2012)
Scooby-Doo and the gang participate in a toy store's holiday parade where they discover the abandoned haunted clock tower with a troubled past. A sinister snowman haunts the streets and accompanied with a large blizzard, threatens to close down the toy store for good.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisShanghaied (1915)
A shipowner intends to scuttle his ship on its last voyage to get the insurance money. Charlie, a tramp in love with the owner's daughter, is grabbed by the captain and promises to help him shanghai some seamen. The daughter stows away to follow Charlie. Charlie assists in the galley and attempts to serve food during a gale.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFar from the Tree (2021)
On an idyllic beach in the Pacific Northwest, curiosity gets the better of a young raccoon whose frustrated parent attempts to keep them both safe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisGlory Road (2006)
In 1966, Texas Western coach Don Haskins led the first all-black starting line-up for a college basketball team to the NCAA national championship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMore than a Game (2008)
This documentary follows NBA superstar LeBron James and four of his talented teammates through the trials and tribulations of high school basketball in Ohio and James' journey to fame.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMe and My Pal (1933)
On the morning of his wedding to oil baron Peter Cucumber's daughter, Ollie receives a jigsaw puzzle from Stan as a wedding gift. The boys soon become absorbed in the puzzle. A taxi driver, butler, policeman and messenger boy join in as well.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947)
Teenager Susan Turner, with a severe crush on playboy artist Richard Nugent, sneaks into his apartment to model for him and is found there by her sister Judge Margaret Turner. Threatened with jail, Nugent agrees to date Susan until the crush abates.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMonster High: Friday Night Frights (2012)
After Monster High’s roller skating team is defeated at the Skulltimate Roller Maze tournament, the ghouls team up to face an all-boys league, with the hope of winning back the school crest and restoring school spirit.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Fixer Uppers (1935)
Stan and Ollie are greeting card salesmen who agree to help a woman put a spark in her loveless marriage by making her husband jealous.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDrumline (2002)
A talented street drummer from Harlem enrolls in a Southern university, expecting to lead its marching band's drumline to victory. He initially flounders in his new world, before realizing that it takes more than talent to reach the top.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this1000 to 1 (2014)
Cory Weissman is a college basketball player who suffers a devastating stroke. He perseveres to find new meaning in his life both on, and more importantly, off the court.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Jetsons & WWE: Robo-WrestleMania (2017)
Blast off to adventure in this animated feature where our favorite space-age family, The Jetsons, meet the superstars of WWE! When George unearths WWE’s Big Show, who has been frozen for 100 years, the futuristic face-off begins! Once thawed, Big Show wastes no time in taking the WWE belt from the current robot champ as well as taking total control of Orbit City. It’s up to The Jetsons to travel back in time and enlist help from WWE’s brightest stars: Sheamus, Alicia Fox, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and the Uso brothers. Can this cosmic tag-team prevail and set this twisted time-warp straight? Tune in and see with The Jetsons and WWE!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisA Second Chance: Rivals! (2019)
As Maddy takes on coaching a team of young twelve-year-old gymnasts, she faces up to intense city versus country rivalry, racism, cyberbullying and her own self-doubt but eventually takes the challenge head on.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMan in the Glass: The Dale Brown Story (2012)
Born on Halloween, 1935, Dale Brown's fight for justice began the day his father walked out - two days before he was born. About how an overachiever from tiny Minot, North Dakota relentlessly fought his way to the top.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Mind/Game: The Unquiet Journey of Chamique Holdsclaw (2015)
Women's college basketball player Chamique Holdsclaw battles mental illness.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Class That Saved Coach K (2019)
The Class That Saved Coach K is a 90-minute documentary that tells the story of Duke Basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski, and how his 1982 recruiting class overcame a bumpy start to change the narrative -- turning the Blue Devils around and setting its coach on an historic course.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Playing for the Mob (2014)
The story of how mobster Henry Hill - played by Ray Liotta in Martin Scorsese 1990 classic, Goodfellas - helped orchestrate the fixing of Boston College basketball games in the 1978-79 season. The details of that point-shaving scandal are revealed for the first time on film through the testimony of the players, the federal investigators and the actual fixers. Playing For The Mob may be set in the seemingly golden world of college basketball, but like Goodfellas, this is a tale of greed, betrayal and reckoning. Ultimately, they both share the same message: With that much money at stake, you can't trust anybody.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
OWL: The Virginia Gallagher Story (2025)
When a woman in her 70s abruptly moves to Philadelphia, she faces unexpected struggles—but finds hope and belonging through Temple University Men's Basketball.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Divided We Stand: Michigan vs. Michigan State (2019)
An in-depth look at one of college sports' fiercest rivalries, Michigan-Michigan State, and how this in-state battle has only grown to new heights over the past decade in both football and basketball.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Dead Period (2024)
Two best friends find out they're competing for the same scholarship to play college basketball.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Other Hurley (2025)
From the shadows of his own family to the pinnacle of college basketball, including personal struggles he reveals in exclusive and candid interviews, the ascension of UConn Men’s head basketball coach Dan Hurley is examined in a new edition of ESPN E60.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals (2010)
An exploration of the fierce rivalry between NBA superstars Larry Bird and Magic Johnson during their decade of dominance.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Guru of Go (2010)
By the mid-1980s Paul Westhead had worn out his welcome in the NBA. The best offer he could find came from an obscure small college with little history of basketball. In the same city where he had won an NBA championship with Magic and Kareem, Westhead was determined to perfect his non-stop run-and-gun offensive system at Loyola Marymount. His shoot-first offense appeared doomed to fail until Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble, two talented players from Westhead’s hometown of Philadelphia, arrived gift-wrapped at his doorstep. With Gathers and Kimble leading a record scoring charge, Westhead’s system suddenly dazzled the world of college basketball and turned conventional thinking on its head. But then, early in the 1989-90 season, Gathers collapsed during a game and was diagnosed with an abnormal heartbeat. Determined to play, Gathers returned three games later, but less than three months later, he tragically died on the court.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Basketball Headliners?
The closest matches to Basketball Headliners are Blue Chips (1994), The Air Up There (1994) and Chang Can Dunk (2023). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Basketball Headliners?
Start with Blue Chips (1994), the closest match to Basketball Headliners.
What is the highest-rated movie like Basketball Headliners?
Far from the Tree (2021), rated 8.1/10 by 395 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Basketball Headliners?
OWL: The Virginia Gallagher Story (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Basketball Headliners?
Yes: Blue Chips (1994), The Air Up There (1994) and Chang Can Dunk (2023).
How are movies similar to Basketball Headliners chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Basketball Headliners, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.