Movies like The Running Man (2025)
The best movies like The Running Man (2025) are The Running Man (1987), The Book of Eli (2010) and Spectral (2016). If The Running Man hooked you with its action and thriller, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Terminator (1984)7.7/10 from 15,412 votes
- NewestThe Long Walk (2025)Released 2025
The Running Man (1987)
By 2017, the global economy has collapsed and U.S. society has become a totalitarian police state, censoring all cultural activity. The government pacifies the populace by broadcasting a number of game shows in which convicted criminals fight for their lives, including the gladiator-style The Running Man, hosted by the ruthless Damon Killian, where “runners” attempt to evade “stalkers” and certain death for a chance to be pardoned and set free.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Book of Eli (2010)
A post-apocalyptic tale, in which a lone man fights his way across America in order to protect a sacred book that holds the secrets to saving humankind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSpectral (2016)
A special-ops team is dispatched to fight supernatural beings that have taken over a European city.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhat Happened to Monday (2017)
In a world where families are limited to one child due to overpopulation, a set of identical septuplets must avoid being put to a long sleep by the government and dangerous infighting while investigating the disappearance of one of their own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisEquilibrium (2002)
In a dystopian future, a totalitarian regime maintains peace by subduing the populace with a drug, and displays of emotion are punishable by death. A man in charge of enforcing the law rises to overthrow the system.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBoss Level (2021)
A former special forces agent is trapped in a time loop and relives his death over and over again. To escape the terrible situation, he must track down those responsible and stop them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Omega Man (1971)
Due to an experimental vaccine, Dr. Robert Neville is the only human survivor of an apocalyptic war waged with biological weapons. Besides him, only a few hundred deformed, nocturnal people remain; sensitive to light, and homicidally psychotic.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeath Race 2 (2010)
In the world's most dangerous prison, a new game is born: Death Race. The rules of this adrenaline-fueled blood sport are simple, drive or die. When repentant convict Carl Lucas discovers there's a price on his head, his only hope is to survive a twisted race against an army of hardened criminals and tricked-out cars.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Last Survivors (2014)
In the near future, society collapses and water becomes scarce. When a greedy water baron starts violently clearing out survivors, Kendal, a 17-year-old teenager, fights the baron's henchman to keep a well open.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisChildren of Men (2006)
In 2027, in a chaotic world in which humans can no longer procreate, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea, where her child's birth may help scientists save the future of humankind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Terminator (1984)
In the post-apocalyptic future, reigning tyrannical supercomputers teleport a cyborg assassin known as the "Terminator" back to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, whose unborn son is destined to lead insurgents against 21st century mechanical hegemony. Meanwhile, the human-resistance movement dispatches a lone warrior to safeguard Sarah. Can he stop the virtually indestructible killing machine?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Hunt (2020)
Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. They don't know where they are—or how they got there. In the shadow of a dark internet conspiracy theory, ruthless elitists gather at a remote location to hunt humans for sport. But their master plan is about to be derailed when one of the hunted turns the tables on her pursuers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDeath Race 2000 (1975)
In a boorish future, the government sponsors a popular, but bloody, cross-country race in which points are scored by mowing down pedestrians. Five teams, each comprised of a male and female, compete using cars equipped with deadly weapons. Frankenstein, the mysterious returning champion, has become America's hero, but this time he has a passenger from the underground resistance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisARQ (2016)
Two old friends living in a dystopic future become trapped in a mysterious time loop — one that may have something to do with an ongoing battle between an omnipotent corporation and a ragtag band of rebels.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Purge: Election Year (2016)
Seventeen years after choosing not to kill the man who killed his son, former police sergeant Leo Barnes has become head of security for Senator Charlene Roan, the front runner in the next Presidential election due to her vow to eliminate the Purge. On the night of what should be the final Purge, a betrayal from within the government forces Barnes and Roan out onto the street where they must fight to survive the night.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLand of the Dead (2005)
The living dead have taken over the world, and the remaining humans live in a walled city to protect themselves as they cope with the situation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Long Walk (2025)
In a dystopian America, fifty teenage boys take part in a deadly annual walking contest, forced to maintain a minimum pace or be executed, until only one survivor remains.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisExtinction (2015)
And suddenly, overnight, the world came to a halt. Two men, two survivors, one kid, and hatred that separates them. A place forgotten by everyone, including the creatures that inhabit the Earth... until now.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGold (2022)
In the not-too-distant future, two drifters traveling through the desert stumble across the biggest gold nugget ever found and the dream of immense wealth and greed takes hold. They hatch a plan to excavate their bounty, with one man leaving to secure the necessary tools while the other remains with the gold. The man who remains must endure harsh desert elements, ravenous wild dogs, and mysterious intruders, while battling the sinking suspicion that he has been abandoned to his fate.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThese Final Hours (2014)
With the end of the world only hours away, self-absorbed James heads to the ultimate party-to-end-all-parties. On his way there, he saves the life of a young girl named Rose who is searching desperately for her missing father. This simple act sets James on a path to redemption.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like this28 Weeks Later (2007)
Twenty-eight weeks after the spread of a deadly rage virus, the inhabitants of the British Isles have lost their battle against the onslaught, as the virus has killed everyone there. Six months later, a group of Americans dare to set foot on the Isles, convinced the danger has passed. But it soon becomes all too clear that the scourge continues to live, waiting to pounce on its next victims.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLive Free or Die Hard (2007)
John McClane is back and badder than ever, and this time he calls on the services of a young hacker in his bid to stop a ring of Internet terrorists intent on taking control of America's computer infrastructure.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDie Hard 2 (1990)
One year after his heroics in Los Angeles, John McClane is an off-duty cop who is the wrong guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. On a snowy Christmas Eve, as he waits for his wife's plane to land at Washington Dulles International Airport, terrorists take over the air traffic control system in a plot to free a South American army general and drug smuggler being flown into the US to face drug charges. It's now up to McClane to take on the terrorists, while coping with an inept airport police chief, an uncooperative anti-terrorist squad, and the life of his wife and everyone else trapped in planes circling overhead.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisResident Evil (2002)
When a virus leaks from a top-secret facility, turning all resident researchers into ravenous zombies and their lab animals into mutated hounds from hell, the government sends in an elite military task force to contain the outbreak.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisResident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)
As the city is locked down under quarantine, Alice finds out that the people that died from the previous incident at the Umbrella Corporation have turned into zombies. She then joins a small band of elite soldiers, who are enlisted to rescue the missing daughter of the creator of the mutating T-virus. Once lack of luck and resources happen, they begin to wage an exhilarating battle to survive and escape before the Umbrella Corporation erases its experiment from the face of the earth.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlong Came a Spider (2001)
After the harrowing death of his partner, forensic psychologist and best-selling author Alex Cross cannot forgive himself and has retreated to the peace of retirement. But when a brilliant criminal kidnaps a senator's young daughter, he is lured back into action as the kidnapper wants to deal with Alex personally. Teamed with Jezzie Flanigan, the Secret Service agent assigned to protect the missing girl, Alex follows a serpentine trail of clues that leads him to a stunning discovery - the kidnapper wants more than just ransom.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI, Robot (2004)
In 2035, where robots are commonplace and abide by the three laws of robotics, a technophobic cop investigates an apparent suicide. Suspecting that a robot may be responsible for the death, his investigation leads him to believe that humanity may be in danger.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHannibal Rising (2007)
The story of the early, murderous roots of the cannibalistic killer, Hannibal Lecter – from his hard-scrabble Lithuanian childhood, where he witnesses the repulsive lengths to which hungry soldiers will go to satiate themselves, through his sojourn in France, where as a medical student he hones his appetite for the kill and learnt sword skills from his Japanese girlfriend, who happened to have similar fate
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLetters from Iwo Jima (2006)
The story of the battle of Iwo Jima between the United States and Imperial Japan during World War II, as told from the perspective of the Japanese who fought it.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMeet the Robinsons (2007)
Lewis, a brilliant young inventor, is keen on creating a time machine to find his mother, who abandoned him in an orphanage. Things take a turn when he meets Wilbur Robinson and his family.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Running Man?
The closest matches to The Running Man are The Running Man (1987), The Book of Eli (2010) and Spectral (2016). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Running Man?
Start with The Running Man (1987), the closest match to The Running Man.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Running Man?
The Terminator (1984), rated 7.7/10 by 15,412 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Running Man?
The Long Walk (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like The Running Man?
Yes: The Running Man (1987), The Book of Eli (2010) and Spectral (2016).
How are movies similar to The Running Man chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Running Man, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.