Movies like year zero (2020)
The best movies like year zero (2020) are Songbird (2020), THX 1138 (1971) and Angels & Demons (2009). If year zero hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedMr. Nobody (2009)7.8/10 from 6,439 votes
- NewestThe Assessment (2025)Released 2025
Songbird (2020)
During a pandemic lockdown, Nico, a young man with rare immunity, must overcome martial law, murderous vigilantes and a powerful family to reunite with his love, Sara.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTHX 1138 (1971)
People in the future live in a totalitarian society. A technician named THX 1138 lives a mundane life between work and taking a controlled consumption of drugs that the government uses to make puppets out of people. As THX is without drugs for the first time he has feelings for a woman and they start a secret relationship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAngels & Demons (2009)
Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is recruited by the Vatican to investigate the apparent return of the Illuminati – a secret, underground organization – after four cardinals are kidnapped on the night of the papal conclave.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisUpstream Color (2013)
A man and woman are drawn together, entangled in the lifecycle of an ageless organism. Identity becomes an illusion as they struggle to assemble the loose fragments of wrecked lives.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStar Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
The surviving Resistance faces the First Order once again as the journey of Rey, Finn and Poe Dameron continues. With the power and knowledge of generations behind them, the final battle begins.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Assessment (2025)
In a climate change-ravaged world, a utopian society optimizes life, including parenthood assessments. A successful couple faces scrutiny by an evaluator over seven days to determine their fitness for childbearing.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPhantom of the Opera (1943)
Following a tragic accident that leaves him disfigured, crazed composer Erique Claudin transformed into a masked phantom who schemes to make beautiful young soprano Christine Dubois the star of the opera and wreak revenge on those who stole his music.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSalomé (2013)
After the lewd and frenetic Dance of the Seven Veils, and with the solemn pledge from the very lips of Herod himself that she could have whatever her heart desires up to half his kingdom, wanton and proud young Salomé comes before her king with an unreasonable demand. Beguiled by John the Baptist, and then scorned for the sake of his god, lascivious Salomé—encouraged by her mother, the vindictive, Herodias—commands that John be executed and his head delivered on a silver platter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAltered States (1980)
A research scientist explores the boundaries and frontiers of human consciousness. Using sensory deprivation and hallucinogenic mixtures from Native American shamans, he explores these altered states of cognizance and finds that memory, time, and reality itself are states of mind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMr. Nobody (2009)
Nemo Nobody leads an ordinary existence with his wife and 3 children; one day, he wakes up as a mortal centenarian in the year 2092.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)
Victor Frankenstein is a promising young doctor who, devastated by the death of his mother during childbirth, becomes obsessed with bringing the dead back to life. His experiments lead to the creation of a monster, which Frankenstein has put together with the remains of corpses. It's not long before Frankenstein regrets his actions.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAttack on Titan (2022)
As viable water is depleted on Earth, a mission is sent to Saturn's moon Titan to retrieve sustainable H2O reserves from its alien inhabitants. But just as the humans acquire the precious resource, they are attacked by Titan rebels, who don't trust that the Earthlings will leave in peace.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisInferno (2016)
After waking up in a hospital with amnesia, professor Robert Langdon and a doctor must race against time to foil a deadly global plot.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOblivion (2013)
Jack Harper is one of the last few drone repairmen stationed on Earth. Part of a massive operation to extract vital resources after decades of war with a terrifying threat known as the Scavs, Jack’s mission is nearly complete. His existence is brought crashing down when he rescues a beautiful stranger from a downed spacecraft. Her arrival triggers a chain of events that forces him to question everything he knows and puts the fate of humanity in his hands.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFrequencies (2013)
The story of the forbidden relationship between a 'low born' boy and a 'high born' girl in an alternate reality where every person's relationships and life worth are determined by their innate 'frequencies'.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Scanner Darkly (2006)
An undercover cop in a not-too-distant future becomes involved with a dangerous new drug and begins to lose his own identity as a result.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Giver (2014)
In a seemingly perfect community, without war, pain, suffering, differences or choice, a young boy is chosen to learn from an elderly man about the true pain and pleasure of the "real" world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Game (1997)
In honor of his birthday, San Francisco banker Nicholas Van Orton, a financial genius and a cold-hearted loner, receives an unusual present from his younger brother, Conrad: a gift certificate to play a unique kind of game. In nary a nanosecond, Nicholas finds himself consumed by a dangerous set of ever-changing rules, unable to distinguish where the charade ends and reality begins.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisElstree 1976 (2015)
A documentary about ten very different lives connected by having appeared onscreen wearing masks or helmets in Star Wars.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like year zero and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like year zero?
The closest matches to year zero are Songbird (2020), THX 1138 (1971) and Angels & Demons (2009). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after year zero?
Start with Songbird (2020), the closest match to year zero.
What is the highest-rated movie like year zero?
Mr. Nobody (2009), rated 7.8/10 by 6,439 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like year zero?
The Assessment (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like year zero?
Yes: Songbird (2020), THX 1138 (1971) and Angels & Demons (2009).
How are movies similar to year zero chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside year zero, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.