Movies like Once Upon a Time (1944)
The best movies like Once Upon a Time (1944) are My Science Project (1985), The Monster Squad (1987) and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958). If Once Upon a Time hooked you with its family and fantasy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedViolent Night (2022)7.2/10 from 2,700 votes
- NewestPizza Movie (2026)Released 2026
My Science Project (1985)
His high school teacher issues an ultimatum: turn in a science project or flunk. So Mike Harlan scavenges a military base's junk pile for a suitable gizmo. He finds one... and unwittingly unleashes the awesome power and energy of the unknown. Twisted dimensions. Time warps. A fantastic realm where the past, present, and future collide in a whirling vortex of startling adventure and superlative special effects.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Monster Squad (1987)
Count Dracula returns to the world of humans accompanied by Frankenstein's Monster, the Wolfman, the Mummy, and the Gillman. The uglies are in search of a powerful amulet that will grant them the ability to rule the world. A group of horror-loving heroes are the only ones daring to stand in their way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
When the lovely Princess Parisa is shrunken by wicked Sokurah the Magician, Sinbad must embark on a quest to an island of monsters to cure her and prevent a war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both family & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLast Action Hero (1993)
After his father's death, a young boy finds solace in action movies featuring an indestructible cop. Given a magic ticket by a theater manager, he is transported into the film and teams up with the cop to stop a villain who escapes into the real world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDogma (1999)
An abortion clinic worker with a special heritage is called upon to save the existence of humanity from being negated by two renegade angels trying to exploit a loophole and re-enter Heaven.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Brass Teapot (2012)
When a couple discovers that a brass teapot makes them money whenever they hurt themselves, they must come to terms with how far they are willing to go.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisR.I.P.D. 2: Rise of the Damned (2022)
When Sheriff Roy Pulsipher finds himself in the afterlife, he joins a special police force and returns to Earth to save humanity from the undead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTenacious D in The Pick of Destiny (2006)
In Venice Beach, naive Midwesterner JB bonds with local slacker KG and they form the rock band Tenacious D. Setting out to become the world's greatest band is no easy feat, so they set out to steal what could be the answer to their prayers... a magical guitar pick housed in a rock-and-roll museum some 300 miles away.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSorry to Bother You (2018)
In an alternate present-day version of Oakland, black telemarketer Cassius Green discovers a magical key to professional success – which propels him into a macabre universe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDark Shadows (2012)
Vampire Barnabas Collins is inadvertently freed from his tomb and emerges into the very changed world of 1972. He returns to Collinwood Manor to find that his once-grand estate and family have fallen into ruin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeau Is Afraid (2023)
Following the sudden death of his mother, a mild-mannered but anxiety-ridden man confronts his darkest fears as he embarks on an epic odyssey back home.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisViolent Night (2022)
When a team of mercenaries breaks into a wealthy family compound on Christmas Eve, taking everyone inside hostage, the team isn’t prepared for a surprise combatant: Santa Claus is on the grounds, and he’s about to show why this Nick is no saint.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJabberwocky (1977)
After the death of his father, young Dennis Cooper goes to town where he has to pass several adventures. The town and the whole kingdom is threatened by a terrible monster called 'Jabberwocky'. Will Dennis make his fortune? Is anyone brave enough to defeat the monster?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both fantasy & comedy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBig Trouble in Little China (1986)
Truck driver Jack Burton gets embroiled in a supernatural battle when his best friend Wang Chi's green-eyed fiancée is kidnapped by henchmen of the sorcerer Lo Pan, who must marry a girl with green eyes in order to return to the human realm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & fantasy
Worth the HypeMovies like thisPizza Movie (2026)
A group of college students go downstairs to their dorm lobby to get a delivery pizza. There's only one issue: They're insanely high on a homemade drug, turning their simple journey down two sets of stairs into a mind-bendingly transformative quest.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters (2007)
An action epic that explores the origins of the Aqua Teen Hunger Force (better known as Master Shake, Frylock, and Meatwad,) who somehow become pitted in a battle over an immortal piece of exercise equipment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWonder Man (1945)
Boisterous nightclub entertainer Buzzy Bellew was the witness to a murder committed by gangster Ten Grand Jackson. One night, two of Jackson's thugs kill Buzzy and dump his body in the lake at Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Buzzy comes back as a ghost and summons his bookworm twin, Edwin Dingle, to Prospect Park so that he can help the police nail Jackson.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDream Scenario (2023)
Hapless family man Paul Matthews finds his life turned upside down when millions of strangers suddenly start seeing him in their dreams. But when his nighttime appearances take a nightmarish turn, Paul is forced to navigate his newfound stardom.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Spy The Eternal City (2024)
JJ, a veteran CIA agent, reunites with his protégé Sophie, in order to prevent a catastrophic nuclear plot targeting the Vatican.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Night Before (2015)
In New York City for their annual tradition of Christmas Eve debauchery, three lifelong best friends set out to find the Holy Grail of Christmas parties since their yearly reunion might be coming to an end.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both comedy & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmodini (1994)
Amodini is a rich landowner's daughter. Unable to face social stigma, her father arranges her marriage to a much older person, who fails to turn up on the wedding day. To save the situation, she is forced to marry a 15-year-old boy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & fantasy
Boys On Film 16: Possession (2017)
Golden boys, teen lust, self-conscious dolls, chance encounters, a vengeful creature, holiday romance, hidden sexuality — Boys On Film celebrates it's (not so) sweet sixteen with an astonishing selection of the latest international gay short films. Volume 16: Possession features ten complete films: Kai Stänicke's "Golden" with Christian Tesch and Maximilian Gehrlinger; Christopher Manning's "Jamie" starring Sebastian Christophers and Raphael Verrion; Kai Stänicke's "B." starring Susanne Bormann and Andreas Jähnert; Blake Mawson's "PYOTR495" starring Alex Ozerov; Charlie Francis's "When A Man Loves A Woman" starring Tommy Jay Brennan, Jemima Spence, and Diane Brooks Webster; Anthony Schatteman's "Follow Me" starring Ezra Fieremans and Maarten Ketels; Jake Graf's "Chance" starring 'ABS' and Clifford Hume; Andrew Keenan-Bolger's "Sign" starring John McGinty and Preston Sadleir; Oliver Mason's "Away With Me" starring Chris Polick and Lee Knight; and "We Could Be Parents" by Björn Elgerd.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy & comedy
Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani (2023)
Gym-freak brat Rocky falls in love with Rani, who comes from a well-educated Bengali family. Being from polar opposite worlds, the two decide to switch their families to adjust to each other's cultures and backgrounds and to know if their marriage will survive. Rocky and Rani are trapped in a world where they are united by love but divided by families and the ultimate question is will they fit in?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy & family
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSindoor (1987)
Laxmi is half of a famous singing couple when both her relationship and career are destroyed by the jealous plotting of her husband , Vijay. Years later, Laxmi is widowed and raising a stepdaughter, Lalita, when Vijay returns to the scene to meddle in her new family's affairs and once again threaten her domestic happiness.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both family
Pousse, mais pousse égal (1975)
Conrad is a notorious clumsy person who is struggling to keep his jobs. Luckily, blonde Gisèle, who is madly in love with him, manages to find him a job as a nurse at the very place where his father, Dr. Gagnon, works.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Fanney Khan (2018)
The journey of a struggling singer 'Fanney Khan' who aspires to make his daughter a big name in the music world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
The Atomic Spawn (2021)
On a nuclear test site in 1952, a forsaken worker befriends an irradiated lizard.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
موعد مع الوزير (1986)
(Afifi) is a bossy and violent manager. The employee (Hosnia) tries to delude everyone that her fiancé's cousin is the new minister because of the similarity of names, so the employees turn against (Afifi), but her fiancé's cousin comes out of prison and there are big surprises.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Earthrise (2021)
With our planet positioned at the forefront of the global agenda more than ever before, ‘Earthrise’ explores the splendour of this blue body we call home by circling towards the amalgamated awareness to maintain the grandeur of the turning sphere we traverse along. In parallel to Van Herpen’s drive towards an interconnected approach to fashion, the 19 look collection narrates the circular processes that usher change in our sentient world by weaving a symbiotic thread between artisanal tailoring and organic craftsmanship, derived from the perception of our world as one living and breathing organism.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Gerri Curls (2021)
Gordon joins forces with an unlikely ally to fight his half-sister for the family inheritance and his rightful place among South Florida's curling elite.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both comedy
Like Once Upon a Time and something else?
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Once Upon a Time?
The closest matches to Once Upon a Time are My Science Project (1985), The Monster Squad (1987) and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Once Upon a Time?
Start with My Science Project (1985), the closest match to Once Upon a Time.
What is the highest-rated movie like Once Upon a Time?
Violent Night (2022), rated 7.2/10 by 2,700 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Once Upon a Time?
Pizza Movie (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Once Upon a Time?
Yes: My Science Project (1985), The Monster Squad (1987) and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958).
How are movies similar to Once Upon a Time chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Once Upon a Time, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.