Movies like The Bureau (2020)
The best movies like The Bureau (2020) are Bunker Palace Hotel (1989), Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 (2013) and RoboCop (2014). If The Bureau hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
The Bureau
Quick picks
- Highest ratedTerminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)8.2/10 from 15,173 votes
- NewestAfterburn (2025)Released 2025
- In FrenchBunker Palace Hotel (1989)Also in French
Bunker Palace Hotel (1989)
In an imaginary dictature of a futuristic world, rebellion has broken out. The men in power scramble to the Bunker Palace Hotel, a bunker built long ago for just this kind of contingency. But a rebel spy sneaks in, and although her nature is very quickly suspected, she is left to observe the raving of the decadent power class, who keeps wondering what happened to their leader, who has failed to show up.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBatman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 (2013)
Batman has stopped the reign of terror that The Mutants had cast upon his city. Now an old foe wants a reunion and the government wants The Man of Steel to put a stop to Batman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisRoboCop (2014)
In RoboCop, the year is 2028 and multinational conglomerate OmniCorp is at the center of robot technology. Overseas, their drones have been used by the military for years, but have been forbidden for law enforcement in America. Now OmniCorp wants to bring their controversial technology to the home front, and they see a golden opportunity to do it. When Alex Murphy – a loving husband, father and good cop doing his best to stem the tide of crime and corruption in Detroit – is critically injured, OmniCorp sees their chance to build a part-man, part-robot police officer. OmniCorp envisions a RoboCop in every city and even more billions for their shareholders, but they never counted on one thing: there is still a man inside the machine.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies 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 thisMen in Black 3 (2012)
Agents J and K are back...in time. J has seen some inexplicable things in his 15 years with the Men in Black, but nothing, not even aliens, perplexes him as much as his wry, reticent partner. But when K's life and the fate of the planet are put at stake, Agent J will have to travel back in time to put things right. J discovers that there are secrets to the universe that K never told him - secrets that will reveal themselves as he teams up with the young Agent K to save his partner, the agency, and the future of humankind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTRON: Legacy (2010)
Sam Flynn, the tech-savvy and daring son of Kevin Flynn, investigates his father's disappearance and is pulled into The Grid. With the help of a mysterious program named Quorra, Sam quests to stop evil dictator Clu from crossing into the real world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBatman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 1 (2012)
Batman has not been seen for ten years. A new breed of criminal ravages Gotham City, forcing 55-year-old Bruce Wayne back into the cape and cowl. But, does he still have what it takes to fight crime in a new era?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHarrison Bergeron (1995)
"All men are not created equal. It is the purpose of the Government to make them so." This is the premise of the Showtime film adaption of Kurt Vonnegut's futuristic short story Harrison Bergeron. The film centers around a young man (Harrison) who is smarter than his peers, and is not affected by the usual "Handicapping" which is used to train all Americans so everyone is of equal intelligence.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this1984 (1956)
In a totalitarian future society, a man whose daily work is rewriting history tries to rebel by falling in love.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisValerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)
In the 28th century, Valerian and Laureline are special operatives charged with keeping order throughout the human territories. On assignment from the Minister of Defense, the two undertake a mission to Alpha, an ever-expanding metropolis where species from across the universe have converged over centuries to share knowledge, intelligence, and cultures. At the center of Alpha is a mysterious dark force which threatens the peaceful existence of the City of a Thousand Planets, and Valerian and Laureline must race to identify the menace and safeguard not just Alpha, but the future of the universe.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAllegiant (2016)
Beatrice Prior and Tobias Eaton venture into the world outside of the fence and are taken into protective custody by a mysterious agency known as the Bureau of Genetic Welfare.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTerminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
Ten years after the events of the original, a reprogrammed T-800 is sent back in time to protect young John Connor from the shape-shifting T-1000. Together with his mother Sarah, he fights to stop Skynet from triggering a nuclear apocalypse.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBatman: The Dark Knight Returns (2013)
Batman has not been seen for ten years. A new breed of criminal ravages Gotham City, forcing fifty-five-year-old Bruce Wayne back into the cape and cowl, but does he still have what it takes to fight crime in a new era?
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisAfterburn (2025)
Set against the backdrop of a postapocalyptic Earth whose Eastern Hemisphere was destroyed by a massive solar flare, leaving what life remains mutated from radiation and fallout. The story revolves around a group of treasure hunters who extract such objects as the Mona Lisa, the Rosetta Stone and the Crown Jewels while facing rival hunters, mutants and pirates.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)
The sole survivor of an interplanetary rescue mission lands on the planet of the apes, and uncovers a horrible secret beneath the surface.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Island (2005)
In 2019, Lincoln Six-Echo is a resident of a seemingly "Utopian" but contained facility. Like all of the inhabitants of this carefully-controlled environment, Lincoln hopes to be chosen to go to The Island — reportedly the last uncontaminated location on the planet. But Lincoln soon discovers that everything about his existence is a lie.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBrazil (1985)
Low-level bureaucrat Sam Lowry escapes the monotony of his day-to-day life through a recurring daydream of himself as a virtuous hero saving a beautiful damsel. Investigating a case that led to the wrongful arrest and eventual death of an innocent man instead of wanted terrorist Harry Tuttle, he meets the woman from his daydream, and in trying to help her gets caught in a web of mistaken identities, mindless bureaucracy and lies.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLa Jetée (1962)
A man confronts his past during an experiment that attempts to find a solution to the problems of a post-apocalyptic world caused by a world war.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNineteen Eighty-Four (1984)
Winston Smith is a government employee whose job involves the rewriting of history in a manner that casts his fictional country's leaders in a charitable light. His trysts with Julia provide his only measure of enjoyment, but lawmakers frown on the relationship -- and in this closely monitored society, there is no escape from Big Brother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAdvantageous (2015)
In a near-future city where soaring opulence overshadows economic hardship, Gwen and her daughter, Jules, do all they can to hold on to their joy, despite the instability surfacing in their world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like The Bureau and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like The Bureau?
The closest matches to The Bureau are Bunker Palace Hotel (1989), Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 (2013) and RoboCop (2014). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after The Bureau?
Start with Bunker Palace Hotel (1989), the closest match to The Bureau.
What is the highest-rated movie like The Bureau?
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), rated 8.2/10 by 15,173 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like The Bureau?
Afterburn (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there French movies like The Bureau?
Yes: Bunker Palace Hotel (1989) and La Jetée (1962).
How are movies similar to The Bureau chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside The Bureau, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.