Movies like Once Upon a Time in America (2020)
The best movies like Once Upon a Time in America (2020) are An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island (1998), Hello, Dolly! (1969) and Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow (2004). If Once Upon a Time in America hooked you, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedNaruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow (2004)7.3/10 from 639 votes
- NewestTu Yaa Main (2026)Released 2026
- In JapaneseNaruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow (2004)Also in Japanese
An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island (1998)
Fievel and his friend Tony Toponi find a map that they believe points to a treasure buried somewhere beneath Old New York, and the plucky rodent is determined to find it. However, what he discovers under the city is a tribe of Native American mice who were driven underground by prejudiced European immigrants.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHello, Dolly! (1969)
Dolly Levi is a strong-willed matchmaker who travels to Yonkers, New York in order to see the miserly "well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire" Horace Vandergelder. In doing so, she convinces his niece, his niece's intended, and Horace's two clerks to travel to New York City.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisNaruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow (2004)
Naruto is thrilled when he is sent on a mission to protect his favorite actress, Yukie Fujikaze, on the set of her new movie, The Adventures of Princess Gale. But when the crew ventures out to film in the icy, foreboding Land of Snow, Yukie mysteriously flees! Naruto and his squad set off to find her... unaware that three Snow Ninja lie in wait, with a sinister purpose that will force Yukie to face her hidden past!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisHe Ran All the Way (1951)
A crook on the run hides out in an innocent girl's apartment.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCrayon Shinchan the Movie: The Storm Called: The Jungle (2000)
The Noharas go on an Action Mask-themed cruise, where all the grown-ups get kidnapped by a gang of monkeys. It's up to the kids to rescue them!
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisStep Up 3D (2010)
A tight-knit group of New York City street dancers, including Luke and Natalie, team up with NYU freshman Moose, and find themselves pitted against the world's best hip-hop dancers in a high-stakes showdown that will change their lives forever.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHunting Ava Bravo (2022)
Billionaire sportsman Buddy King unwinds by hunting human captives on his remote mountain estate. But his latest victim, Ava Bravo, is no easy target.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Kindness of Strangers (2019)
Clara and her two sons escape from her abusive husband with little more than their car and plan to start over in New York. After the car towed away, the family meets Alice, who gets them into an emergency shelter. While stealing food at a Russian restaurant called ‘Winter Palace’, Clara meets Marc, who has been given the chance to help the old eatery regain its former glory. The ‘Winter Palace’ soon becomes a place of unexpected encounters between people who are all undergoing some sort of crisis and whom fate has now brought together.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAnchors Aweigh (1945)
Two sailors on shore leave head out for four days of partying – only to become involved in the affairs of an aspiring singer and her precocious nephew.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie (2022)
When a mysterious stranger arrives from the future with a dire warning, Leo is forced to rise and lead his brothers, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey in a fight to save the world from a terrifying alien species.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Battered Bastards of Baseball (2014)
Hollywood veteran Bing Russell creates the only independent baseball team in the country—alarming the baseball establishment and sparking the meteoric rise of the 1970s Portland Mavericks.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisWrath of Daimajin (1966)
In a mountainous region of Japan, Lord Arakawa kidnaps the men of nearby villages to use as slave labor, producing gunpowder from his sulfur pits. A band of young boys decide to rescue their enslaved fathers on their own.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild (2022)
The fearless one-eyed weasel Buck teams up with mischievous possum brothers Crash & Eddie as they head off on a new adventure into Buck's home: The Dinosaur World.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisI Was Born, But... (1932)
Brothers Keiji and Ryoichi move to a new neighborhood in the Tokyo suburbs after their father, an office clerk, is promoted. The boys join the local gang as lowly new kids and emerge as natural leaders after defeating a bully. While visiting the home of their father's boss, the brothers witness the ridicule their father endures to please his superior. Angry and embarrassed, the boys find their naive ideas about power being challenged.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisFreaky Friday (1976)
School girl Annabel is hassled by her mother, and Mrs. Andrews is annoyed with her daughter, Annabel. They both think that the other has an easy life. On a normal Friday morning, both complain about each other and wish they could have the easy life of their daughter/mother for just one day and their wishes come true as a bit of magic puts Annabel in Mrs. Andrews' body and vice versa. They both have a Freaky Friday.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Christmas to Remember (2016)
A harsh TV personality, Jennifer, needs a break from her own life, so she hops into a car and drives to a small town mountain retreat. On her way there a blizzard veers off the road and she crashes. When she comes to she has complete amnesia and a friendly passerby takes her in. As time passes she still doesn’t remember who she is and the friendly passerby, a widower himself with three kids, assimilates her into his family. But as she slowly starts remembering who she is, she prefers the new life she’s built in the small town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTarzan & Jane (2002)
With the first anniversary of her wedding to Tarzan beckoning, Jane ponders how to make it the perfect English celebration.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Pornographers (1966)
A former Buddhist monk turned erotic filmmaker, Subuyan lives with hairdresser Haru and her two teenage children. Shooting two skin flicks per day, he somehow manages to stay out of the clutches of the yakuza, but real trouble starts when Haru discovers him lusting after her daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like this13 (2010)
A naive young man assumes a dead man's identity and finds himself embroiled in an underground world of power, violence, and chance where men gamble behind closed doors on the lives of other men.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like thisHero (1992)
Bernie Laplante is having a rough time. He's divorced, his ex-wife hates him and has custody of their son, the cops are setting a trap for him, then to top it all, he loses a shoe whilst rescuing passengers of a crashed jet. Being a thief who is down on his luck, Bernie takes advantage of the crash, but then someone else claims credit for the rescue.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRevue Starlight: Rondo Rondo Rondo (2020)
The franchise centers on "Starlight," a dance and dance troupe beloved the world over. Karen and Hikari promised each other when they were little that one day they would perform together on that stage. Time passes and now they are both 16 years old. Karen is very excited about the dance lessons she takes every day, keeping her promise close to her heart. Hikari changed schools and now lives far away from Karen. But the gears of fate bring them together again, destined to meet again. The two, along with other hopefuls, will compete in a mysterious audition to become part of this great company.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Flight of the Phoenix (2004)
When an oil rig in the Gobi Desert of Mongolia proves unproductive, an aircraft crew are sent to shut the operation down and fly them out. On the flight out over the desert on the way to Beijing, Capt. Frank Towns and co-pilot A.J. are unable to keep their cargo plane, a C-119 Flying Boxcar, in the air when a violent sandstorm strikes. Crash-landing in a remote uncharted part of the desert, the two pilots and their passengers -- a crew of oil workers and a drifter -- must work together to survive by rebuilding the aircraft. Soon, low supplies and a band of merciless smugglers add even greater urgency to their task.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMimi (2021)
An aspiring actress in a small town in Rajasthan agrees to bear a child for a visiting couple seeking a surrogate mother, but her experience takes an unexpected turn when they refuse to have the child anymore.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Woman in Red (1984)
When a happily married family man, who would never consider an affair, meets a beautiful woman in red, he is totally infatuated and desperate to make her acquaintance. However, as he tries out various schemes to sneak out to meet her, he realizes that adultery is not quite as easy as it looks.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Scarlet Pimpernel (2010)
Takarazuka Revue Moon Troupe 2010 production based on Baroness Orczy's novel 'The Scarlet Pimpernel'
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Chilean Soul (1918)
A Chilean version of the 1915 Argentinian film "Nobleza gaucha".
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Tu Yaa Main (2026)
A wannabe rapper from the outskirts of Mumbai and an affluent influencer elope to a coastal town, only to find themselves trapped in the pool of a derelict resort fighting for survival against the wrath of a ferocious crocodile.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisE. T., an Emotional Blockbuster (2022)
E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Steven Spielberg's endearing movie released in 1982, achieved the triple feat of bringing to life one of the most iconic characters in pop culture, revolutionizing science fiction cinema and establishing itself as one of the highest-grossing family movies in the history of cinema, capable of making the whole world laugh and cry.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
The Yagyu Ninja Scrolls (2021)
Futaro Yamada’s novel “The Yagyu Ninja Scrolls” is a historical epic that masterfully weaves fiction into fact: Takarazuka will take on the challenge of adapting this work for the stage for the very first time.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
Dongaata (1997)
A thief boards a train intending to steal a young woman’s necklace, but after she’s betrayed by her lover, he unexpectedly becomes the one she can rely on.
Why it matches: Similar story and style
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Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Once Upon a Time in America?
The closest matches to Once Upon a Time in America are An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island (1998), Hello, Dolly! (1969) and Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow (2004). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Once Upon a Time in America?
Start with An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island (1998), the closest match to Once Upon a Time in America.
What is the highest-rated movie like Once Upon a Time in America?
Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow (2004), rated 7.3/10 by 639 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Once Upon a Time in America?
Tu Yaa Main (2026) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there Japanese movies like Once Upon a Time in America?
Yes: Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow (2004), Crayon Shinchan the Movie: The Storm Called: The Jungle (2000) and Wrath of Daimajin (1966).
How are movies similar to Once Upon a Time in America chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Once Upon a Time in America, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.