Movies like Breakout (2007)
The best movies like Breakout (2007) are Notorious (2009), Suburbia (1984) and To Write Love on Her Arms (2015). If Breakout hooked you with its music and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Protector (2005)7.2/10 from 972 votes
- NewestMexicali (2026)Released 2026
- In GermanAnna Goldin, the Last Witch (1991)Also in German
Notorious (2009)
"Notorious" is the story of Christopher Wallace. Through raw talent and sheer determination, Wallace transforms himself from Brooklyn street hustler (once selling crack to pregnant women) to one of the greatest rappers of all time: The Notorious B.I.G. Follow his meteoric rise to fame and his refusal to succumb to expectations - redefining our notion of "The American Dream."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSuburbia (1984)
When household tensions and a sense of worthlessness overcome Evan, he finds escape when he clings with the orphans of a throw-away society. The runaways hold on to each other like a family until a tragedy tears them apart.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTo Write Love on Her Arms (2015)
The story follows 19-year-old Renee who has always loved fairy tales: the idea of a princess, a hero and a happily ever after. But Renee’s life is that of a darker tale: she’s a young woman battling addiction, depression and self-injury. In a creative blend of artistic fantasy balanced with harsh reality, the movie follows Renee on her courageous journey towards recovery.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Doors (1991)
The story of the famous and influential 1960s rock band and its lead singer and composer, Jim Morrison.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both music & drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWild Style (1982)
Legendary New York graffiti artist Lee Quinones plays the part of Zoro, the city's hottest and most elusive graffiti writer. The actual story of the movie concerns the tension between Zoro's passion for his art and his personal life, particularly his strained relationship with fellow artist Rose.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAl Capone (1959)
In this unusually accurate biography, small-time hood Al Capone comes to Chicago at the dawn of Prohibition to be the bodyguard of racketeer Johnny Torrio. Capone's rise in Chicago gangdom is followed through murder, extortion, and political fraud. He becomes head of Chicago's biggest "business," but moves inexorably toward his downfall and ignominious end.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMexicali (2026)
A former special forces contractor is forced out of retirement as an avocado farmer in Mexico when local gangsters try to force him and his family off their farm.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSwitchblade Sisters (1975)
The leader of an inner city girl gang is challenged when a new girl moves into the neighborhood.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisConvict (2014)
Set in the dark and old Parramatta prison built by the original convicts our lead character Ray a war veteran finds himself serving 18 months for manslaughter after defending his fiance. He soon realizes that the prison boss has it in for him and does everything possible to break Ray even going after his fiance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Krays (1990)
Twins Ronnie and Reggie Kray are raised in east London, under the influence of their hateful but doting mother Violet. As they grow up, Ronnie's violent nature takes over, and Reggie follows his brother's lead. The two become notorious crime lords who rule over the East End club scene. But at the height of their power, the brothers veer into different lives, giving the older crime bosses a chance to reclaim what the Krays took from them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisEl padrino: The Latin Godfather (2004)
In the streets of East Los Angeles, Manny is a formidable drug dealer. Impressed by his extravagant lifestyle and prowess, his young son, Kilo, yearns to follow in his footsteps. Kilo resolves to learn how to prosper in the drug world, and his new life as a dealer begins. In a world where a man wants everything, he may end up with nothing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Valachi Papers (1972)
When Joe Valachi has a price put on his head by Don Vito Genovese, he must take desperate steps to protect himself while in prison. An unsuccessful attempt to slit his throat puts him over the edge to break the sacred code of silence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIll Manors (2012)
Ensemble film revolving around characters living in Forest Gate, London. Over the course of a few days, six inter-linking stories explore issues of drug use, prostitution and urban poverty.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPimp (2018)
An urban love story set on the hard streets of the Bronx. A struggling female pimp, named Wednesday, grows up learning the game from her dad. Once he's gone she's left to look out for her prostitute mother and girlfriend Nikki.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeath Wish 3 (1985)
Architect/vigilante Paul Kersey arrives back in New York City and is forcibly recruited by a crooked police chief to fight street crime caused by a large gang terrorizing the neighborhoods.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Born Losers (1967)
A biker gang incites a reign of terror in a California coastal town that culminates in four teenage girls being raped. Vietnam veteran Billy Jack has had enough, however, and takes on the depraved bikers single-handedly. He rescues young Vicky Barrington from their clutches, but then has to contend with not only the thugs, but also the ineffectual and racist local lawmen, who have it out for the half-Native American Billy.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLuckiest Girl Alive (2022)
A successful woman in New York City finds her life upended when she is forced to confront a dark truth that threatens to unravel her meticulously crafted life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCoffy (1973)
After her younger sister gets involved in drugs and is severely injured by contaminated heroin, a nurse sets out on a mission of vengeance and vigilante justice, killing drug dealers, pimps, and mobsters who cross her path.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWalking Tall: Lone Justice (2007)
In Dallas, witnesses against a drug-lord are murdered in a safe-house.The testimony of FBI agents becomes the only chance to keep him in prison. They are lodged in another safe-house, but the place is invaded and the agents are executed. However, Kate is only wounded, and her boyfriend Nick believes there is a traitor in the agency and takes her to his ranch to protect her life.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisJawbone (2017)
A former youth boxing champion, Jimmy McCabe is a man in search of hope but looking in all the wrong places. When he hits rock bottom he turns to his childhood boxing club and the only family he has left: gym owner Bill corner man Eddie and promoter Joe. Back in training, years after anyone thought he was a contender, he risks his life, as he tries to stand tall and regain his place in the world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like this8 Mile (2002)
For Jimmy Smith, Jr., life is a daily fight just to keep hope alive. Feeding his dreams in Detroit's vibrant music scene, Jimmy wages an extraordinary personal struggle to find his own voice - and earn a place in a world where rhymes rule, legends are born and every moment… is another chance.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Protector (2005)
A young fighter named Kham must go to Australia to retrieve his stolen elephant. With the help of a Thai-born Australian detective, Kham must take on all comers, including a gang led by an evil woman and her two deadly bodyguards.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGomorrah (2008)
An inside look at Italy's modern-day crime families, the Camorra in Naples and Caserta. Based on a book by Roberto Saviano. Power, money and blood: these are the "values" that the residents of the Province of Naples and Caserta have to face every day. They hardly ever have a choice and are forced to obey the rules of the Camorra. Only a lucky few can even think of leading a normal life.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Call of the Mountain (1923)
In The Call of the Mountain (L’appel de la montagne) a couple are childhood sweethearts who are separated, she marries a rich man and he becomes an alpine guide. The woman’s husband dies, and she returns home to Switzerland, her wealth and beauty drawing interest from a foreign rake, rogue, and roué named Billinsky. He talks her into a mountain ascension that meets with disaster when some of the climbers fall to their deaths. Her loyal friend the alpine guide rescues his sweetheart, and saves her again.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Anna Goldin, the Last Witch (1991)
A native of Sennwald, Anna Göldi arrived in Glarus in 1765. For seventeen years, she worked as a maidservant for Johann Jakob Tschudi, a physician. Tschudi reported her for having put needles in the bread and milk of one of his daughters, apparently through supernatural means. Göldi at first escaped arrest, but the authorities of the Canton of Glarus advertised a reward for her capture in the Zürcher Zeitung on February 9, 1782. Göldi was arrested and under torture, admitted to entering in a pact with the Devil, who had appeared to her as a black dog. She withdrew her confession after the torture ended, but was sentenced on June 18, 1782 to execution by decapitation. The charges were officially of "poisoning" rather than witchcraft, even though the law at the time did not impose the death penalty for non-lethal poisoning.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
alaska.de (2000)
A female teenager witnesses a murder in a desolate high density housing area on the outskirts of Berlin and is henceforth in danger.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Big Easy (1986)
Remy McSwain is a New Orleans police lieutenant who investigates the murder of a local mobster. His investigation leads him to suspect that fellow members of the police force may be involved.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFireflies in the Garden (2008)
The semi-autobiographical story centers on the complexities of love and commitment in a family torn apart when faced with an unexpected tragedy.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCity of Men (2007)
Best buddies Acerola and Laranjinha, about to turn 18, discover things about their missing fathers' pasts which will shatter their solid friendship, in the middle of a war between rival drug gangs from Rio's favelas.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Day Hollywood Died (2012)
He just woke up. He's in a hospital. He can't move. He can't remember who he is. Memories begin to flood back to him as he regains consciousness. He was part of a heist gone wrong. One of a crew of six asked to steal a briefcase from a secret vault. But that's all he can remember. He will combat the drugs and the pain and the solitude in a desperate effort to remember what happened to him and why. But once he finally reaches the end of his quest for answers he will wish he never began.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Like Breakout and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Breakout?
The closest matches to Breakout are Notorious (2009), Suburbia (1984) and To Write Love on Her Arms (2015). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Breakout?
Start with Notorious (2009), the closest match to Breakout.
What is the highest-rated movie like Breakout?
The Protector (2005), rated 7.2/10 by 972 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Breakout?
Mexicali (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there German movies like Breakout?
Yes: Anna Goldin, the Last Witch (1991) and alaska.de (2000).
How are movies similar to Breakout chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Breakout, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.