Movies like On The Run (1987)
The best movies like On The Run (1987) are The True Adventures of Wolfboy (2019), I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977) and Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003). If On The Run hooked you with its drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedHeaven Knows What (2015)6.4/10 from 206 votes
- Newest500 Miles (2026)Released 2026
The True Adventures of Wolfboy (2019)
Follows a young boy who runs away from home in the search of his estranged mother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisI Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977)
A disturbed and institutionalized 16-year-old girl struggles between fantasy and reality.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisHomeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003)
Based on a true story. Liz Murray is a young girl who is taken care of by her loving, but drug-addicted parents. Liz becomes homeless at 15 and after a tragedy comes upon her, she begins her work to finish high school.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTimes Square (1980)
When a 13-year-old girl befriends a defiant antisocial child of the streets, the mismatched runaways set off to the Big Apple to find their own adventure.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKisses (2008)
Two kids, Dylan and Kylie, run away from home on Christmas Day and spend a night of magic and terror on the streets of inner-city Dublin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOmaha (2025)
A young girl and her brother are awoken by their father and loaded into the car on an early morning in 2008. As they road trip across the American West, she discovers the truth about their seemingly spontaneous journey.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisImperial Dreams (2014)
A 21-year-old reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHounddog (2008)
A drama set in the American South, where a precocious, troubled girl finds a safe haven in the music and movement of Elvis Presley.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLady Driver (2020)
When a rebellious teen embarks on a solo summer journey to connect with her roots, she finds herself in a new world, geared up for the ride of her life, and discovers she had the drive in her all along.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMammal (2016)
After Margaret, a divorcée living in Dublin, loses her teenage son, she develops an unorthodox relationship with Joe, a homeless youth. Their tentative trust is threatened by his involvement with a violent gang and the escalation of her ex-husband's grieving rage.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSky (2016)
A woman embarks on a journey alone across the United States after fleeing from her violent husband.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Rain People (1969)
When a housewife finds out she is pregnant, she runs out of town looking for freedom to reevaluate her life decisions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTigertail (2020)
A man reflects on the lost love of his youth and his long-ago journey from Taiwan to America as he begins to reconnect with his estranged daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHeaven Knows What (2015)
A young heroin addict roams the streets of New York to panhandle and get her next fix, while her unstable boyfriend drifts in and out of her life at random.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIt Always Rains on Sunday (1947)
During a rainy Sunday afternoon, an escaped prisoner tries to hide out at the home of his ex-fiance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTeen Spirit (2019)
A shy teenager living on the Isle of Wight dreams of pop stardom. With the help of an unlikely mentor, she enters a singing competition that will test her integrity, talent, and ambition.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOut of the Blue (1981)
A young girl whose father is an ex-convict and whose mother is a junkie finds it difficult to conform and tries to find comfort in a quirky combination of Elvis and the punk scene.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisGirl in the Box (2016)
The true story of 20-year-old Colleen Stan, a hitchhiking woman abducted by a young couple and held captive for seven years, during which time she's tortured and forced to live as a slave to her captors.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete (2013)
Coming of age story about two inner city youths, who are left to fend for themselves over the summer after their mothers are taken away by the authorities.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like thisDear Zoe (2022)
Tess enlists her biological father – a lovable slacker from the wrong side of the tracks – and the charming juvenile delinquent next door to help her come to grips with the death of her little sister.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDog Run (2001)
In 1995, teen runaways Eddie and Miles are sent to New York City to deliver on a drug deal with the promise of easy money and a place to live. But when the deal falls through, they find themselves penniless in Tompkins Square Park in the East Village on the Lower East Side. They discover a vast underworld of abandoned buildings where kids live and are drawn into a world of sex, drugs, and survival.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Missing at 17 (2013)
A woman tries to save her adopted daughter from a criminal, with help from the girl's biological mother.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Donde Corre el Agua (2024)
Teenage orphan Luca leaves his hometown Chipilo for Mexico City, seeking fortune. There, he meets 24 year old trapeze artist Paulina, who teaches him love and life in the circus.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Girl Lost (2018)
Girl Lost tackles the issue of underage prostitution as told through the eyes of a wayward teen. Groomed by her own mother to work in the underbelly of Los Angeles, the young girl struggles to survive in this dark world.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisChasing June (2025)
Dakota's attempt to escape trouble leads her and Liam on a runaway adventure, leaving behind the ordinary. What begins as a pursuit of freedom becomes a quest for love, identity, and the unknown.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Noriko's Dinner Table (2005)
A teenager named Noriko Shimabara runs away from her family in Toyokawa, to meet Kumiko, the leader of an Internet BBS, Haikyo.com. She becomes involved with Kumiko's family circle, which grows darker after the mass suicide of 54 high school girls.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Worth the HypeMovies like this500 Miles (2026)
A broken family is forced to come together when 16-year-old Finn and his livewire younger brother Charlie run away from trouble at home in England to reach their estranged grandfather on Ireland’s stunning and wild west coast.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Freeway (1996)
Following the arrest of her mother, Ramona, young Vanessa Lutz decides to go in search of her estranged grandmother. On the way, she is given a ride by school counselor Bob Wolverton. During the journey, Lutz begins to realize that Bob is the notorious I-5 Killer and manages to escape by shooting him several times. Wounded but still very much alive, Bob pursues Lutz across the state in this modern retelling of Little Red Riding Hood.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBound (2025)
To escape her overprotective drug-dealing stepfather, an introvert flees to NYC with her pet flying squirrel. After successfully reinventing herself through the help of some "found family," she realizes she must return home and confront her dark past, to truly be free.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
The Doo Dah Man (2015)
A New Jersey college student running away from home finds himself travelling through the back roads of Texas with a con man who's just escaped from prison.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both drama
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like On The Run?
The closest matches to On The Run are The True Adventures of Wolfboy (2019), I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977) and Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (2003). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after On The Run?
Start with The True Adventures of Wolfboy (2019), the closest match to On The Run.
What is the highest-rated movie like On The Run?
Heaven Knows What (2015), rated 6.4/10 by 206 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like On The Run?
500 Miles (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to On The Run chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside On The Run, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.