Movies like PAWNS (2017)
The best movies like PAWNS (2017) are WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko (2023), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and 36 Hours (1964). If PAWNS hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)8.0/10 from 16,731 votes
- NewestUntold: Chess Mates (2026)Released 2026
WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko (2023)
Set in an alternate WWI reality where a senseless war rages on, two soldiers on opposite sides of the conflict play a joyful game of chess. A heroic carrier pigeon delivers the soldiers' chess moves over the battlefield as the fighting escalates. Neither soldier knows his opponent as the game and the war builds to its climatic final move. Whoever wins the game, one thing is for certain: there are no winners in war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
The Grand Budapest Hotel tells of a legendary concierge at a famous European hotel between the wars and his friendship with a young employee who becomes his trusted protégé. The story involves the theft and recovery of a priceless Renaissance painting, the battle for an enormous family fortune and the slow and then sudden upheavals that transformed Europe during the first half of the 20th century.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like this36 Hours (1964)
Germans kidnap an American major and try to convince him that World War II is over, so that they can get details about the Allied invasion of Europe out of him.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisUntold: Chess Mates (2026)
Magnus Carlsen, widely regarded as the greatest chess player of all time, is challenged by Hans Niemann, a rising star who capitalizes on the meteoric growth of online chess. Niemann’s ascension culminated in an epic, controversy-shrouded victory over Carlsen at the 2022 Sinquefield Cup, which eventually led to allegations and revelations of cheating. Determined to clear his name, Niemann fights his way back to the top of the chess world, setting the stage for a high-stakes rematch with Carlsen in 2024.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Charge of the Light Brigade (1936)
In 1853, as the British and Russian empires compete to gain and maintain their place in the dreadful Great Game of political intrigues and alliances whose greatest prize is the domination of India and the border territories, Major Geoffrey Vickers must endure several betrayals and misfortunes before he can achieve his revenge at the Balaclava Heights, on October 25, 1854, the most glorious day of the Crimean War.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPawn Sacrifice (2015)
During the height of the Cold War, American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer finds himself caught between two superpowers when he challenges the Soviet Empire.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLittle Boy (2015)
An eight-year-old boy is willing to do whatever it takes to end World War II so he can bring his father home. The story reveals the indescribable love a father has for his little boy and the love a son has for his father.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIt's Always Fair Weather (1955)
Three World War II buddies promise to meet at a specified place and time 10 years after the war. They keep their word only to discover how far apart they've grown. But the reunion sparks memories of youthful dreams that haven't been fulfilled -- and slowly, the three men reevaluate their lives and try to find a way to renew their friendship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Lucky One (2012)
A Marine travels to Louisiana after serving three tours in Iraq and searches for the unknown woman he believes was his good luck charm during the war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBeneath Hill 60 (2010)
The true story of Australia's cat-and-mouse underground mine warfare—one of the most misunderstood, misrepresented and mystifying conflicts of WW I. It was secret struggle BENEATH the Western Front that combined daring engineering, technology and science. Few on the surface knew of the brave, claustrophobic and sometimes barbaric work of these tunnellers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll Quiet on the Western Front (1979)
At the start of World War I, Paul Baumer is a young German patriot, eager to fight. Indoctrinated with propaganda at school, he and his friends eagerly sign up for the army soon after graduation. But when the horrors of war soon become too much to bear, and as his friends die or become gravely wounded, Paul questions the sanity of fighting over a few hundreds yards of war-torn countryside.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlyboys (2006)
The adventures of the Lafayette Escadrille, young Americans who volunteered for the French military before the U.S. entered World War I, and became the country's first fighter pilots.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChimes at Midnight (1965)
Henry IV usurps the English throne, sets in motion the factious War of the Roses and now faces a rebellion led by Northumberland scion Hotspur. Henry's heir, Prince Hal, is a ne'er-do-well carouser who drinks and causes mischief with his low-class friends, especially his rotund father figure, John Falstaff. To redeem his title, Hal may have to choose between allegiance to his real father and loyalty to his friend.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe English Patient (1996)
In the 1930s, Count Almásy is a Hungarian map maker employed by the Royal Geographical Society to chart the vast expanses of the Sahara Desert along with several other prominent explorers. As World War II unfolds, Almásy enters into a world of love, betrayal, and politics.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTobruk (1967)
In September 1942, the German Afrika Korps under Rommel have successfully pushed the Allies back into Egypt. A counter-attack is planned, for which the fuel dumps at Tobruk are a critical impediment. In order to aid the attack, a group of British commandos and German Jews make their way undercover through 800 miles of desert, to destroy the fuel dumps starving the Germans of fuel.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWaterloo Bridge (1940)
On the eve of World War II, a British officer revisits Waterloo Bridge and recalls the young man he was at the beginning of World War I and the young ballerina he met just before he left for the front.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Exception (2017)
Nothing is as it seems in this riveting World War 2 thriller as a wary soldier goes to investigate a mysterious German monarch at his secluded mansion, leading him into a web of deceit and a dangerous love affair with a local Jewish woman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Duellists (1977)
In 1800, as Napoleon Bonaparte rises to power in France, a rivalry erupts between Armand and Gabriel, two lieutenants in the French Army, over a perceived insult. For over a decade, they engage in a series of duels amidst larger conflicts, including the failed French invasion of Russia in 1812, and shifts in the political and social systems of Europe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStalag 17 (1953)
After two American prisoners are killed by guards in the act of escaping from a German POW camp in World War II, barracks black marketeer J.J. Sefton is suspected of being an informer.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHornblower: The Even Chance (1998)
Portsmouth, 1794. Under thundery skies and in lashing rain, 17-year-old midshipman Horatio Hornblower takes the first tentative steps of his naval career, but a feud with a shipmate causes complications.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like PAWNS?
The closest matches to PAWNS are WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko (2023), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and 36 Hours (1964). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after PAWNS?
Start with WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko (2023), the closest match to PAWNS.
What is the highest-rated movie like PAWNS?
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), rated 8.0/10 by 16,731 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like PAWNS?
Untold: Chess Mates (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like PAWNS?
Yes: WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko (2023), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) and 36 Hours (1964).
How are movies similar to PAWNS chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside PAWNS, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.