Movies like Mysterious Ancient Beasts (2020)
The best movies like Mysterious Ancient Beasts (2020) are The Fountain (2006), Cold Souls (2009) and The Mistress of Spices (2005). If Mysterious Ancient Beasts hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBig Trouble in Little China (1986)7.2/10 from 3,563 votes
- NewestEndless Journey of Love (2025)Released 2025
- In ChineseShaolin Temple (1982)Also in Chinese
The Fountain (2006)
Spanning over one thousand years, and three parallel stories, The Fountain is a story of love, death, spirituality, and the fragility of our existence in this world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCold Souls (2009)
Paul is agonising over his interpretation of 'Uncle Vanya' and, paralysed by anxiety, stumbles upon a solution via a New Yorker article about a high-tech company promising to alleviate suffering by extracting souls. He enlists their services—only to discover that his soul is the shape and size of a chickpea.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Mistress of Spices (2005)
Tilo is an Indian shopkeeper in America with an ability to see the future and a magical connection to powerful spices, which she uses to help her customers satisfy their various needs and desires. One day she falls in love with an American man. But the spices forbid it.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShaolin Temple (1982)
The Tang emperor is betrayed by one of his generals, who installs himself as emperor in the East Capital. The son of one of his slave workers escapes to the Shaolin Temple, learns kung fu, and sets out to kill the traitor who killed his father.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEndless Journey of Love (2025)
In 1930s China, village girl Qian Xiao gains the power to control time, making her a target of powerful forces. As she uncovers the metropolis's hidden secrets, she faces peril and the cost of her gift.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisMagnificent Bodyguards (1978)
Chan is asked by a young, wealthy lady to take her sick brother to a particular doctor in order to be cured. To reach this doctor, Chan and a handful of travelling companions must pass through bandit-infested wild country. They meet and kung-fu-fight several gangs of thugs along the way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIf You Are the One (2008)
Qin Fen, a funny, honest, single inventor, met a girl called Smiley, who was in agony of her boyfriend's betrayal. They traveled to Hokkaido, tried to help Smiley cure her pain in heart, and both of them gradually found their true love and life redemption during the journey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Myth (2005)
When a fellow scientist asks for Jack's help in locating the mausoleum of China's first emperor, the past collides violently with the present as Jack discovers his amazing visions are based in fact.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisXiu Xiu: The Sent-Down Girl (1998)
Young teen girl Xiu Xiu is sent away to a remote corner of the Sichuan steppes for manual labor in 1975 (sending young people to there was a part of Cultural Revolution in China). A year later, she agrees to go to even more remote spot with a Tibetan saddle tramp Lao Jin to learn horse herding.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies 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
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJust Before I Go (2015)
Ted Morgan has been treading water for most of his life. After his wife leaves him, Ted realizes he has nothing left to live for. Summoning the courage for one last act, Ted decides to go home and face the people he feels are responsible for creating the shell of a person he has become. But life is tricky. The more determined Ted is to confront his demons, to get closure, and to withdraw from his family, the more Ted is yanked into the chaos of their lives. So, when Ted Morgan decides to kill himself, he finds a reason to live.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisJade Dynasty (2019)
After the massacre of his village, Zhang Xiaofan is taken in by the Qing Yun Sect where he begins his journey of cultivation. When he finds out the truth behind the deaths of his parents, he succumbs to his rage and demonic tendencies and becomes the enemy of Qing Yun Sect.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Golden Child (1986)
After a Tibetan boy, the mystical Golden Child, is kidnapped by the evil Sardo Numspa, humankind's fate hangs in the balance. On the other side of the world in Los Angeles, the priestess Kee Nang seeks the Chosen One, who will save the boy from death. When Nang sees social worker Chandler Jarrell on television discussing his ability to find missing children, she solicits his expertise, despite his skepticism over being "chosen."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisOdd Thomas (2013)
In a California desert town, a short-order cook with clairvoyant abilities encounters a mysterious man with a link to dark, threatening forces.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Map of Tiny Perfect Things (2021)
Two teenagers trapped in an endless time loop set out to find all the tiny things that make that one day perfect.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRuby Sparks (2012)
Calvin is a young novelist who achieved phenomenal success early in his career but is now struggling with his writing – as well as his romantic life. Finally, he makes a breakthrough and creates a character named Ruby who inspires him. When Calvin finds Ruby, in the flesh, sitting on his couch about a week later, he is completely flabbergasted that his words have turned into a living, breathing person.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCorruption (1968)
A surgeon discovers that he can restore the beauty to his girlfriend's scarred face by murdering other women and extracting fluids from their pituitary gland. However, the effects only last for a short time, so he has to kill more and more women. It is ultimately a killing spree which ends with considerable death and disaster.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisCome Drink with Me (1966)
Golden Sparrow is a fighter-for-hire who has been contracted by the local government to retrieve the governor's kidnapped son. Holding him is a group of rebels who are demanding that their leader be released from prison in return for the captured son. After a brief encounter with the gang at a local restaurant, Golden Sparrow is joined by an inebriated wanderer Drunken Cat who aids her in her mission.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOnce Upon a Time (2017)
Bai Qian, a goddess and monarch from the Heavenly Realms, is sent to the mortal world to undergo a trial to become a High Goddess. There, she meets Ye Hua, with whom she falls in love and marries. When an old enemy reappears in her life, everything she holds dear is threatened.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisIf You Are the One 2 (2010)
The odd-couple courtship saga continues of wealthy, middle-aged retiree Qin Fen and serious-minded young air hostess Xiaoxiao. After an amusing prelude in which Qin presides over a lavish divorce ceremony for an amicably splitting married couple, he and Xiaoxiao decide to address their own relationship barriers - her youth and beauty, his cynical, childish sense of humor — by entering into a trial marriage while on a trip to the country's tropical southeast.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like this
Like Mysterious Ancient Beasts and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Mysterious Ancient Beasts?
The closest matches to Mysterious Ancient Beasts are The Fountain (2006), Cold Souls (2009) and The Mistress of Spices (2005). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Mysterious Ancient Beasts?
Start with The Fountain (2006), the closest match to Mysterious Ancient Beasts.
What is the highest-rated movie like Mysterious Ancient Beasts?
Big Trouble in Little China (1986), rated 7.2/10 by 3,563 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Mysterious Ancient Beasts?
Endless Journey of Love (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Chinese movies like Mysterious Ancient Beasts?
Yes: Shaolin Temple (1982), Endless Journey of Love (2025) and Magnificent Bodyguards (1978).
How are movies similar to Mysterious Ancient Beasts chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Mysterious Ancient Beasts, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.