Movies like The Newcomer (2017)
The best movies like The Newcomer (2017) are Dangerous Liaisons (2012), Lucky (2017) and Fearless (2006). If The Newcomer hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedFearless (2006)7.5/10 from 1,482 votes
- NewestA Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025)Released 2025
- In ChineseDangerous Liaisons (2012)Also in Chinese
Dangerous Liaisons (2012)
Dangerous Liaisons is a Chinese film by Hur Jin-ho based on the novel with the same title by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLucky (2017)
Follows the journey of a 90-year-old atheist and the quirky characters that inhabit his off-the-map desert town. He finds himself at the precipice of life, thrust into a journey of self-exploration.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFearless (2006)
After going through a series of tragic events in his life, martial arts master Huo Yuanjia returns to Tianjin and must fight four international soldiers, in order to safeguard his nation's pride.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958)
All her life, Englishwoman Gladys Aylward knew that China was where she belonged. Unqualified to be sent as a missionary, Gladys works as a domestic to earn to send herself to a poor, remote village. There, she eventually lives a full and happy life: running the inn, acting as 'foot inspector', advising the local Mandarin, and even winning the heart of mixed-race Captain Lin Nan. Gladys discovers her real destiny when the country is invaded by Japan and the Chinese children need her to save their lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFlowers of Shanghai (1998)
At the end of the 19th century, Shanghai is divided into several foreign concessions. In the British concession, a number of luxurious “flower houses” are reserved for the male elite of the city. Since Chinese dignitaries are not allowed to frequent brothels, these establishments are the only ones that these men can visit. They form a self-contained world, with its own rites, traditions and even its own language. The men don’t only visit the houses to frequent the courtesans but also to dine, smoke opium, play mahjong and relax. The women working there are known as the “flowers of Shanghai”.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Last Tycoon (2012)
Cheng, a young man who is set up by the chief of police, must leave the life he knows and Qiu, the woman he loves, to start again. After escaping prison Cheng quickly and violently moves his way up the ladder of Shanghais criminal underworld to become on the most powerful mob bosses in Shanghais history. But fame and notoriety take their toll when Cheng finds himself stuck between the looming Japanese army and the scheming local secret service. Matters are only made worse when he bumps into the love of his life QIU, along with her writer husband. Will love re-kindle in the dusk of an era?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOnce Upon a Time in Shanghai (2014)
A laborer moves to Shanghai in the hope of becoming rich. But ends up using his kung fu skills to survive. Remake of The Boxer From Shantung.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShanghai Triad (1995)
Shanghai, China, 1930. When young Shuisheng arrives from the countryside, his uncle Liushu puts him at the service of Bijou, the mistress of Laoda, supreme boss of the Tang Triad, constantly threatened by his enemies, both those he knows and those lurking in the shadows.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe White Countess (2005)
In 1930s Shanghai, 'The White Countess' is both Sofia, a fallen member of the exiled Russian aristocracy, and a nightclub created by a blind American diplomat who asks Sofia to be the centerpiece of the world he wants to create.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCabrini (2024)
Italian immigrant Francesca Cabrini arrives in 1889 New York City and is greeted by disease, crime, and impoverished children. Cabrini sets off on a daring mission to convince the hostile mayor to secure housing and healthcare for society's most vulnerable. With broken English and poor health, Cabrini uses her entrepreneurial mind to build an empire of hope unlike anything the world had ever seen.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisShanghai (2010)
An American man returns to a corrupt, Japanese-occupied Shanghai four months before Pearl Harbor and discovers his friend has been killed. While he unravels the mysteries of the death, he falls in love and discovers a much larger secret that his own government is hiding.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025)
Sarah and David are single strangers who meet at a mutual friend’s wedding and soon, through a surprising twist of fate, find themselves on a funny, fantastical, sweeping adventure together where they get to re-live important moments from their respective pasts, illuminating how they got to where they are in the present... and possibly getting a chance to alter their futures.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933)
Shanghai, China, the 1920s. In the midst of a bloody civil war, General Yen, a ruthless warlord, rescues Megan Davis —who was about to marry a missionary— from certain death amid the chaos.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Left Hand of God (1955)
A man in priestly robes, seemingly the long-awaited Father O'Shea, arrives at a little-frequented Catholic mission in 1947 China. Though the man seems curiously uncomfortable with his priestly duties, his tough tactics prove very successful in the Seven Villages, as around them China disintegrates in civil war and revolution. But he has a secret, and his friendship with mission nurse Anne (an attractive war widow) seems to be taking on an unpriestly tone.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Razor's Edge (1984)
An American WWI veteran undertakes a spiritual quest that takes him from Paris to Nepal to the Himalayas and back to his hometown. Upon his return, he discovers he is not the only one who has changed.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Boxer from Shantung (1972)
Leaving the poverty of his life in Shantung to seek fortune in Shanghai, The Boxer is instead drawn into a world of corruption, gang warfare and evil... Where his only protection is his famed fighting technique.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIn the Heat of the Sun (1994)
Beijing, 1970s. The Cultural Revolution has driven most adults to the provinces leaving 14-year-old Monkey and his pals with free rein over the city. They hang around, get up to no good, and discover that unsolvable mystery known as "girls."
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBlack Box (2020)
After losing his wife and his memory in a car accident, a single father undergoes an experimental treatment that causes him to question who he really is.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Wasted Times (2016)
Shanghai gangsters grapple with lust and loyalty on the eve of war with Japan as they try to navigate an alliance with the enemy's army.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSight (2023)
Ming Wang is an impoverished Chinese prodigy who flees Communist China to become a pioneering eye surgeon in America. When tasked with restoring the sight of an orphan in India, who was blinded by her stepmother, Wang must confront the trauma of living through the violent uprising in his youth, the Cultural Revolution.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Newcomer?
The closest matches to The Newcomer are Dangerous Liaisons (2012), Lucky (2017) and Fearless (2006). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Newcomer?
Start with Dangerous Liaisons (2012), the closest match to The Newcomer.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Newcomer?
Fearless (2006), rated 7.5/10 by 1,482 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Newcomer?
A Big Bold Beautiful Journey (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Chinese movies like The Newcomer?
Yes: Dangerous Liaisons (2012), Fearless (2006) and Flowers of Shanghai (1998).
How are movies similar to The Newcomer chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Newcomer, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.