Movies like Via Lactea (2021)
The best movies like Via Lactea (2021) are Vesper (2022), Songbird (2020) and Landscape with Invisible Hand (2023). If Via Lactea hooked you with its science fiction and fantasy, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedBlade Runner (1982)7.9/10 from 15,616 votes
- NewestAfterburn (2025)Released 2025
Vesper (2022)
After the collapse of Earth's ecosystem, Vesper, a 13-year-old girl struggling to survive with her paralyzed Father, meets a mysterious Woman with a secret that forces Vesper to use her wits, strength and bio-hacking abilities to fight for the possibility of a future.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction & fantasy
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSongbird (2020)
During a pandemic lockdown, Nico, a young man with rare immunity, must overcome martial law, murderous vigilantes and a powerful family to reunite with his love, Sara.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLandscape with Invisible Hand (2023)
Years into a benevolent alien occupation, mankind is still adjusting to its new overlords. Their technology initially held promise for global prosperity, but rendered most human jobs – and steady income – obsolete. When two teenagers discover the aliens are fascinated with human love and will pay for access to it, they decide to livestream their romance to make extra cash for their families.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDoomsday (2008)
The lethal Reaper virus spreads throughout Britain—infecting millions and killing hundreds of thousands. Authorities brutally and successfully quarantine the country but, three decades later, the virus resurfaces in a major city. An elite group of specialists is urgently dispatched into the still-quarantined country to retrieve a cure by any means necessary. Shut off from the rest of the world, the unit must battle through a landscape that has become a waking nightmare.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisSlash/Back (2022)
In a remote Arctic community, a group of Inuit girls fight off an alien invasion, all while trying to make it to the coolest party in town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisInvasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
The residents of San Francisco are becoming drone-like shadows of their former selves, and as the phenomenon spreads, two Department of Health workers uncover the horrifying truth.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisCode 8 Part II (2024)
In a world where superpowered people are heavily policed by robots, an ex-con teams up with a drug lord he despises to protect a teen from a corrupt cop.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDie Alone (2024)
Lost in a world reclaimed by nature and overrun by mysterious creatures, Ethan, a young man with amnesia navigates the dangerous landscape in search of his lost love Emma. His journey takes an unexpected turn when he encounters Mae, a hardened and eccentric survivor. Together, Ethan and Mae face threats both human and otherwise before a fateful encounter with Kai unravels a secret that lies just beyond Ethan's fractured memory.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMonsters of Man (2020)
A robotics company vying to win a lucrative military contract team up with a corrupt CIA agent to conduct an illegal live field test. They deploy four weaponized prototype robots into a suspected drug manufacturing camp in the Golden Triangle, assuming they'd be killing drug runners that no one would miss. Six doctors on a humanitarian mission witness the brutal slaughter and become prime targets.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisOccupation: Rainfall (2020)
Two years into an intergalactic invasion of Earth, survivors in Sydney, Australia, fight back in a desperate ground war. As casualties mount by the day, the resistance and their unexpected allies, uncover a plot that could see the war come to a decisive end. With the Alien invaders hell-bent on making earth their new home, the race is on to save mankind.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies 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 · both science fiction
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
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPredators (2010)
A group of cold-blooded killers find themselves trapped on an alien planet to be hunted by extraterrestrial Predators.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlade Runner (1982)
In the smog-choked dystopian Los Angeles of 2019, blade runner Rick Deckard is called out of retirement to terminate a quartet of replicants who have escaped to Earth seeking their creator for a way to extend their short life spans.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe 5th Wave (2016)
16-year-old Cassie Sullivan tries to survive in a world devastated by the waves of an alien invasion that has already decimated the population and knocked mankind back to the Stone Age.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisIck (2025)
Science teacher Hank’s life changes when he reconnects with his first love and suspects that a new student may be his daughter—all while facing an alien threat in their town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisBlade Runner 2049 (2017)
Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K, unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what's left of society into chaos. K's discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard, a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTimescape (1992)
Before they can complete renovations on their new country inn, a widowed father and his young daughter are visited by a strange group of tourists. He soon makes a chilling discovery: they are disaster junkies from the future who visit the past to witness history's greatest catastrophes—and his small town is their next stop.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPredator 2 (1990)
A police chief in the war-torn streets of Los Angeles discovers that an extraterrestrial creature is hunting down residents - and that he is the next target.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAlien: Covenant (2017)
The crew of the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy, discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise but is actually a dark, dangerous world.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both science fiction
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Recall (2017)
When five friends vacation at a remote lake house, they expect nothing less then a good time, unaware that Earth is under attack by an alien invasion and mass-abductions.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisFlesh Gordon (1974)
Emperor Wang (the Perverted) is leader of the planet Porno and sends his mighty "Sex Ray" towards Earth, turning everyone into sex-mad fiends. Only one man can save the Earth, football player Flesh Gordon. Along with his girlfriend Dale Ardor and Professor Flexi-Jerkoff, they set off towards the source of the Sex Ray, unaware of the perils that face them!
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisFlesh Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders (1990)
Space-faring hero and galactically-renowned stud Flesh Gordon is kidnapped by a group of space cheerleaders hoping to use him to save their planet. A being simply known as Evil Presence has been rendering the men of their world impotent, and the women are desperate for some form of relief. Flesh's girlfriend Ardor, meanwhile, is following behind to try to keep him out of trouble, but soon finds herself kidnapped by Evil Presence's henchman who has plans of his own. Can Flesh get the men of this planet standing tall once again?
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe Adventure of Faustus Bidgood (1986)
Faustus is a clerk in St. John's at the Newfoundland Department of Education. He dreams of becoming ruler of Newfoundland and seceding from Canada. In the real world, Faustus' boss Eddie Peddle plans to indoctrinate the citizenry of Newfoundland with a cult-like geometric theory known as Total Education, but Peddle may be foiled by the revelation of a secret from his past career.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
The First Temptation of Christ (2019)
Jesus, who's hitting the big 3-0, brings a surprise guest to meet the family. A Christmas special so wrong it must be from comedians Porta dos Fundos.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
SnoozefestMovies like thisIndústrias Reunidas Machiavelli (2019)
Agripino and Sandoval roam around their workplace, Machiavelli Incorporated, a venture which they plan to expand whatever the costs.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
Tripofobia (2019)
A countdown begins as dark sands of an hourglass fall. Two men in separate, dimly lit rooms are haunted by disturbing visions. A mysterious creature will soon join them.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Spectres of the Spectrum (2000)
In post-apocalyptic 2007 where a government cover-up disseminates via mass media and the history of electromagnetic technologies, from X-rays to the Internet, telepath Boo Boo travels through the history of TV to fight against a corporate-controlled 'New Electromagnetic Order'.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
My Animal (2023)
Tormented by a hidden family curse, Heather lives in seclusion on the outskirts of a small town. When she falls for the rebellious Jonny, their connection threatens to unravel Heather's suppressed desires, tempting her to unleash the animal within.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both fantasy
The Lightning Code (2025)
Teenage inventor Miles Fletcher unlocks the lost secret to limitless energy, catching the attention of Luxos Energy, a corporation posing as heroes. Just as he perfects his invention, they betray him—stealing his work and shutting him out. With nowhere to turn, Miles must decide—give up or trust his friends and fight back. In a high-stakes battle of ingenuity vs. industry, he races to stop Luxos before they turn his discovery into a weapon.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both science fiction
Like Via Lactea and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Via Lactea?
The closest matches to Via Lactea are Vesper (2022), Songbird (2020) and Landscape with Invisible Hand (2023). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Via Lactea?
Start with Vesper (2022), the closest match to Via Lactea.
What is the highest-rated movie like Via Lactea?
Blade Runner (1982), rated 7.9/10 by 15,616 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Via Lactea?
Afterburn (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
How are movies similar to Via Lactea chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Via Lactea, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.