Movies like Sparkle (2012)
The best movies like Sparkle (2012) are Dreamgirls (2006), Honey (2003) and Sparkle (1976). If Sparkle hooked you with its music and drama, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedPitch Perfect (2012)7.3/10 from 7,064 votes
- NewestOn the Come Up (2022)Released 2022
Dreamgirls (2006)
A trio of female soul singers cross over to the pop charts in the early 1960s, facing their own personal struggles along the way.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHoney (2003)
Honey Daniels dreams of making a name for herself as a hip-hop choreographer. When she's not busy hitting downtown clubs with her friends, she teaches dance classes at a nearby community center in Harlem, N.Y., as a way to keep kids off the streets. Honey thinks she's hit the jackpot when she meets a hotshot director casts her in one of his music videos. But, when he starts demanding sexual favors from her, Honey makes a decision that will change her life.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both music & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSparkle (1976)
Three sisters start out singing in their church choir in Harlem in the late 1950s and become a successful girl group in the 1960s.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & music
Carmen: A Hip Hopera (2001)
An engaged Philadelphia policeman falls in love with a beautiful woman while dealing with a corrupt superior.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisWhitney (2015)
Chronicles Whitney Houston's rise to fame and turbulent relationship with husband Bobby Brown.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
SnoozefestMovies like thisStep Up Revolution (2012)
Emily arrives in Miami with aspirations to become a professional dancer. She sparks with Sean, the leader of a dance crew whose neighborhood is threatened by Emily's father's development plans.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both music & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBurlesque (2010)
Ali leaves behind a troubled life and follows her dreams to Los Angeles, where she lands a job as a cocktail waitress at the Burlesque Lounge, a once-majestic theater that houses an inspired musical revue. Vowing to perform there, she makes the leap from bar to stage, helping restore the club's former glory.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisMake It Happen (2008)
Embarking on a journey to fulfill her dreams as a dancer, a young girl discovers a new style of dance that will prove to be the source of both conflict and self-discovery.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both music & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBazodee (2016)
Set in beautiful Trinidad and Tobago, BAZODEE is a Bollywood style Caribbean musical about being true to yourself and honest in love at all costs.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
The High Note (2020)
Set in the dazzling world of the LA music scene comes the story of Grace Davis, a superstar whose talent, and ego, have reached unbelievable heights. Maggie is Grace’s overworked personal assistant who’s stuck running errands, but still aspires to her childhood dream of becoming a music producer. When Grace’s manager presents her with a choice that could alter the course of her career, Maggie and Grace come up with a plan that could change their lives forever.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & music
Worth the HypeMovies like thisOn the Come Up (2022)
Sixteen-year-old Brianna Jackson is a gifted rapper who plans to take the battle rap scene by storm to lift up her family and do right by the legacy of her father, a local hip-hop legend whose career was cut short by gang violence. However, when her first hit song goes viral for all the wrong reasons, she finds herself torn between the authenticity that got her this far and the false persona that the industry wants to impose on her.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & music
Begin Again (2014)
Gretta, a budding songwriter, finds herself alone after her boyfriend Dave ditches her. Her life gains purpose when Dan, a record label executive, notices her talent.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both music & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisAaliyah: The Princess of R&B (2014)
The story of R&B singer and actress Aaliyah; namely, the highs and lows of her career, her romantic pursuits, and the events leading up to her death in 2001 at the age of 22.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fighting Temptations (2003)
Darrin Hill, a slick-talking but down-on- his-luck NYC advertising exec, returns to his hometown in Georgia to claim the inheritance his aunt left him. But before Darrin can collect the money, he must fulfill his aunt's final wish -- to create a local choir.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both music & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisHoney 3: Dare to Dance (2016)
While attending college in Cape Town, Melea Martin feels constrained by the school's strict policies, and decides to set out on her own. Searching for a way to use her talents as a dancer and inspire the community around her, Melea rents a failing theater in order to put on a Hip-Hop Romeo and Juliet performance. But much like the Capulets and Montagues, conflicts between cast members threaten to bring the whole performance to a halt...
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both music & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Song (2014)
Aspiring singer-songwriter Jed King struggles to catch a break and escape the long shadow of his father, a country music legend. After reluctantly accepting a gig at a local vineyard harvest festival, Jed is love-struck by the vineyard owner’s daughter, Rose, and a romance quickly blooms. Soon after their wedding, Jed writes Rose “The Song,” which becomes a breakout hit. Thrust into a life of stardom and a world of temptation in the form of fellow performer Shelby Bale, Jed’s life and marriage begin to fall apart.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both music & romance
SnoozefestMovies like thisHoney: Rise Up and Dance (2018)
Street dancer Skyler comes out of the shadow of her trained dancer sister, Tosha, & joins a dance competition with the Honey dance studio; the prize is a college scholarship.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both music & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPitch Perfect (2012)
College student Beca knows she does not want to be part of a clique, but that's exactly where she finds herself after arriving at her new school. Thrust in among mean gals, nice gals and just plain weird gals, Beca finds that the only thing they have in common is how well they sing together. She takes the women of the group out of their comfort zone of traditional arrangements and into a world of amazing harmonic combinations in a fight to the top of college music competitions.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both music & romance
Worth the HypeMovies like thisJust Another Girl on the I.R.T. (1993)
Chantel Mitchell, a hip, articulate, black high-school girl in Brooklyn, is determined not to become "just another girl on the IRT" (the IRT is one of NYC's subway lines). She dreams of medical school, a family, and an escape from the generational poverty and street-corner life her friends seem to have accepted as their lot. But personal and sexual challenges confront Chantel on her way to fulfilling these dreams.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Brave New Girl (2004)
Holly has everything it takes to be a star; the voice, the dream and the dedication, but she lacks the means to break away from her humble Texas upbringing. Then she gets the chance to attend an art and music school on the East coast and her future suddenly looks bright. But the road to stardom is a bumpy one.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & music
Step Up (2006)
Delinquent Tyler Gage receives the opportunity of a lifetime after vandalizing a performing arts school, gaining him the chance to earn a scholarship and dance with up-and-coming dancer Nora.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both music & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHoney 2 (2011)
After a brush with the law, Maria has returned to her gritty Bronx roots to rebuild her life with nothing but a talent for street dance and a burning ambition to prove herself.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both music & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTyler Perry's The Family That Preys (2008)
Wealthy socialite Charlotte Cartwright and her dear friend Alice Pratt, a working class woman of high ideals, have enjoyed a lasting friendship throughout several decades. Recently, their lives have become mired in turmoil as their adult children’s extramarital affairs, unethical business practices, and a dark secret threaten to derail family fortunes and unravel the lives of all involved. Charlotte and Alice decide to take a breather from it all by making a cross-country road trip in which they rediscover themselves and possibly find a way to save their families from ruin.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & romance
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisStep Up All In (2014)
All-stars from previous installments convene in glittering Las Vegas, battling for a victory that could define their dreams and their careers.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCrazy Sexy Cool: The TLC Story (2013)
TLC's humble beginnings in Atlanta quickly led to an unprecedented rise to fame in the 1990's as one of the world's most talented, celebrated and highest-selling female groups of all time. Through very public and high profile success, turmoil and tragedy, TLC left an indelible stamp of female empowerment that changed the face of the music industry forever.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & music
Coyote Ugly (2000)
Graced with a velvet voice, 21-year-old Violet Sanford heads to New York to pursue her dream of becoming a songwriter only to find her aspirations sidelined by the accolades and notoriety she receives at her "day" job as a barmaid at Coyote Ugly. The "Coyotes" as they are affectionately called tantalize customers and the media alike with their outrageous antics, making Coyote Ugly the watering hole for guys on the prowl.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSteel Magnolias (2012)
In an updated contemporary version of the beloved stage play and 1989 film, "Steel Magnolias" chronicles the lives and friendship of six women in Louisiana. Supporting each other through their triumphs and tragedies, they congregate at Truvy’s beauty shop to ponder the mysteries of life and death, husbands and children - and hair and nails - all the important topics that truly unite and celebrate women.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDrumline: A New Beat (2014)
A girl from New York attends a college in Atlanta to join their once-famous marching band.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both music & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBeyond the Lights (2014)
Noni Jean is a hot new rising star. But not all is what it seems, and the pressure causes Noni to nearly fall apart - until she meets Kaz Nicol, a promising young cop and aspiring politician who's been assigned to her detail. Can Kaz's love give Noni the courage to find her own voice and break free to become the artist she was meant to be?
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both romance & drama
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPure Country 2: The Gift (2010)
Three angels bestow the gift of song to a young girl, who must follow a series of rules in order hold on to it during her rise to fame and fortune.
Why it matches: Fans watch both · both drama & music
Popcorn FlickMovies like this
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Sparkle?
The closest matches to Sparkle are Dreamgirls (2006), Honey (2003) and Sparkle (1976). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Sparkle?
People who watched Sparkle most often go on to Dreamgirls (2006), Honey (2003) and Sparkle (1976).
What is the highest-rated movie like Sparkle?
Pitch Perfect (2012), rated 7.3/10 by 7,064 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Sparkle?
On the Come Up (2022) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Sparkle?
Yes: Dreamgirls (2006), Honey (2003) and Sparkle (1976).
How are movies similar to Sparkle chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Sparkle, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.