Movies like Drive Thru Japan (2002)
The best movies like Drive Thru Japan (2002) are Chasing Mavericks (2012), The Endless Summer (1966) and Riding Giants (2004). If Drive Thru Japan hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)7.4/10 from 1,709 votes
- NewestNirvanna the Band the Show the Movie (2026)Released 2026
Chasing Mavericks (2012)
Surfer Jay Moriarity sets out to ride the Northern California break known as Mavericks.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Endless Summer (1966)
Documentary filmmaker Bruce Brown, himself a competition-level surfer, follows surfers Michael Hynson and Robert August on an around-the-world surfing adventure. With Brown's wry, sardonic narration and a twangy, guitar-driven instrumental soundtrack by The Sandals playing over the silent footage, Mike and Rob leave their California home to visit Hawaii, Australia, South Africa and other secluded surfing spots in a search for the surfer's holy grail that Brown dubs "The Perfect Wave.”
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisRiding Giants (2004)
Riding Giants is story about big wave surfers who have become heroes and legends in their sport. Directed by the skateboard guru Stacy Peralta.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNirvanna the Band the Show the Movie (2026)
When their plan to book a show at the Rivoli goes horribly wrong, Matt and Jay accidentally travel back to the year 2008.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBig Wednesday (1978)
Three 1960s California surfers fool around, drift apart and reunite years later to ride epic waves.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMalibu Rescue: The Next Wave (2020)
It’s summer again, and everyone’s favorite Junior Rescuers, The Flounders, are back at Tower 2. With the International Junior Rescue Championships headed to Southern California, the eyes of the entire planet are on Malibu Beach. But when Team USA falls victim to a bout of food poisoning, it’s up to Tyler, Dylan, Eric, Lizzie and Gina to represent their country in the world's most extreme lifeguard challenge!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOne Week (2008)
Ben Tyler has been diagnosed with cancer. With a grim chance of survival in the best case scenario even if he immediately begins treatment, he instead decides to take a motorcycle trip from Toronto through the Canadian prairies to British Columbia.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisiCarly: iGo to Japan (2008)
Carly, Sam and Freddie kick off their adventure in Japan on a tin can of a plane packed with caged possums and piloted by Spencer's odd acquaintance.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)
A down-on-his-luck crab fisherman embarks on a journey to get a young man with Down syndrome to a professional wrestling school in rural North Carolina and away from the retirement home where he’s lived for the past two and a half years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisVacation (2015)
Hoping to bring his family closer together and to recreate his childhood vacation for his own kids, a grown up Rusty Griswold takes his wife and their two sons on a cross-country road trip to the coolest theme park in America, Walley World. Needless to say, things don't go quite as planned.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)
The eccentric and childish Pee-wee Herman embarks on a big adventure when his beloved bicycle is stolen. Armed with information from a fortune-teller and a relentless obsession with his prized possession, Pee-wee encounters a host of odd characters and bizarre situations as he treks across the country to recover his bike.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWild Hogs (2007)
Restless and ready for an adventure, four suburban bikers leave the safety of their subdivision and head out on the open road. But complications ensue when they cross paths with an intimidating band of New Mexico bikers known as the Del Fuegos.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLords of Dogtown (2005)
The radical true story behind three teenage surfers from Venice Beach, California, who took skateboarding to the extreme and changed the world of sports forever. Stacy Peralta, Tony Alva and Jay Adams are the Z-Boys, a bunch of nobodies until they create a new style of skateboarding that becomes a worldwide phenomenon. But when their hobby becomes a business, the success shreds their friendship.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisScarecrow (1973)
Two drifters bum around, visit earthy women and discuss opening a car wash in Pittsburgh.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisKodachrome (2017)
Matt Ryder is convinced to drive his estranged and dying father Benjamin Ryder cross country to deliver four old rolls of Kodachrome film to the last lab in the world that can develop them before it shuts down for good. Along with Ben's nurse Zooey, the three navigate a world changing from analogue to digital while trying to put the past behind them.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSmokey and the Bandit (1977)
A race car driver tries to transport an illegal beer shipment from Texas to Atlanta in under 28 hours, picking up a reluctant bride-to-be on the way.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisSacramento (2025)
When free-spirited Rickey suddenly reappears in father-to-be Glenn’s life, the two former best friends embark on a spontaneous road trip from LA to Sacramento.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeach Party (1963)
Anthropology Professor Robert Orwell Sutwell and his secretary Marianne are studying the sex habits of teenagers. The surfing teens led by Frankie and Dee Dee don't have much sex but they sing, battle the motorcycle rats and mice led by Eric Von Zipper and dance to Dick Dale and the Del Tones.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSaving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie (2024)
When Bikini Bottom is scooped from the ocean, scientific squirrel Sandy Cheeks and her pal SpongeBob SquarePants saddle up for Texas to save their town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCar Wash (1976)
This day-in-the-life cult comedy focuses on a group of friends working at Sully Boyar's Car Wash in the Los Angeles ghetto. The team meets dozens of eccentric customers -- including a smooth-talking preacher, a wacky cab driver and an ex-convict -- while cracking politically incorrect jokes to a constant soundtrack of disco and funk. Some of the workers find romance as the day moves along, but most are just happy to get through another shift.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
Like Drive Thru Japan and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Drive Thru Japan?
The closest matches to Drive Thru Japan are Chasing Mavericks (2012), The Endless Summer (1966) and Riding Giants (2004). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Drive Thru Japan?
Start with Chasing Mavericks (2012), the closest match to Drive Thru Japan.
What is the highest-rated movie like Drive Thru Japan?
The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019), rated 7.4/10 by 1,709 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Drive Thru Japan?
Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Drive Thru Japan?
Yes: Chasing Mavericks (2012), The Endless Summer (1966) and Riding Giants (2004).
How are movies similar to Drive Thru Japan chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Drive Thru Japan, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.