Best movies like The 5th Wave
Last updated March 2024
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Plot Summary:
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.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 116000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 112 min
Plot tags: exciting, suspenseful, apocalyptic, futuristic, absurd, serious, teen, suspense, romantic, freeze frame
Best tv shows and movies like The 5th Wave (2016):
Similar in 89%
Tomorrow, When the War Began (2010)
Plot Summary:
Ellie Linton, a teen from an Australian coastal town, leads her friends on an excursion to a camp deep in the woods, dubbed "Hell." Upon their return, the youths find that their town has been overrun by an enemy army, and their friends and family have been imprisoned. When the hostile invaders become alerted to their presence, Ellie and her friends band together to escape -- and strike back against -- this mysterious enemy.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 32000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi, Thriller, War
Country: Australia
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: exciting, suspenseful, realistic, serious, apocalyptic, enigmatic, brutal, absurd, relaxing, fast
Similar in 90%
Skyline (2010)
Plot Summary:
When strange lights descend on the city of Los Angeles, people are drawn outside like moths to a flame where an extraterrestrial force threatens to swallow the entire human population off the face of the Earth. Now the band of survivors must fight for their lives as the world unravels around them.
IMDB Rating: 4.5
IMDB Votes: 92000
Genere: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min
Plot tags: suspense, futuristic, apocalyptic, exciting, serious, suspenseful, scary, thought provoking, intellectual, epic
Similar in 90%
Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)
Plot Summary:
We always knew they were coming back. Using recovered alien technology, the nations of Earth have collaborated on an immense defense program to protect the planet. But nothing can prepare us for the aliens’ advanced and unprecedented force. Only the ingenuity of a few brave men and women can bring our world back from the brink of extinction.
IMDB Rating: 5.2
IMDB Votes: 187000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, Russia
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: futuristic, exciting, entertaining, suspense, saga, apocalyptic, action adventure, parody, romantic, epic
Similar in 77%
The Darkest Hour (2011)
Plot Summary:
In Moscow, five young people lead the charge against an alien race which has attacked Earth via our power supply.
IMDB Rating: 4.9
IMDB Votes: 63000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: Russia, USA
Duration: 89 min
Plot tags: suspense, futuristic, serious, suspenseful, exciting, tense, stylized, absurd, scary, philosophical
Similar in 89%
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015)
Plot Summary:
With the nation of Panem in a full scale war, Katniss confronts President Snow in the final showdown. Teamed with a group of her closest friends – including Gale, Finnick, and Peeta – Katniss goes off on a mission with the unit from District 13 as they risk their lives to stage an assassination attempt on President Snow who has become increasingly obsessed with destroying her. The mortal traps, enemies, and moral choices that await Katniss will challenge her more than any arena she faced in The Hunger Games.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 361000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, Germany, Canada, France
Duration: 137 min
Plot tags: exciting, teen, futuristic, suspenseful, entertaining, suspense, saga, action adventure, intellectual, brutal
Similar in 89%
I Am Number Four (2011)
Plot Summary:
A teenage fugitive with an incredible secret races to stay one step ahead of the mysterious forces seeking destroy him in this sci-fi action thriller. With three dead and one on the run, the race to find the elusive Number Four begins. Outwardly normal teen John Smith never gets too comfortable in the same identity, and along with his guardian, Henri, he is constantly moving from town to town. With each passing day, John gains a stronger grasp on his extraordinary new powers, and his bond to the beings that share his fantastic fate grows stronger.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 244000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, India
Duration: 111 min
Plot tags: exciting, teen, romantic, touching, suspenseful, serious, emotional, scenic, apocalyptic, action adventure
Similar in 82%
Allegiant (2016)
Plot Summary:
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.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 131000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 120 min
Plot tags: futuristic, apocalyptic, surprise ending, suspense, captivating, saga, suspenseful, disturbing, thought provoking, intellectual
Similar in 83%
Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)
Plot Summary:
Thomas leads his group of escaped Gladers on their final and most dangerous mission yet. To save their friends, they must break into the legendary Last City, a WCKD-controlled labyrinth that may turn out to be the deadliest maze of all. Anyone who makes it out alive will get answers to the questions the Gladers have been asking since they first arrived in the maze.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 157000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 143 min
Plot tags: captivating, apocalyptic, action adventure, exciting, tense, disturbing, fairy tale, intellectual, saga, novela
Similar in 90%
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015)
Plot Summary:
Thomas and his fellow Gladers face their greatest challenge yet: searching for clues about the mysterious and powerful organization known as WCKD. Their journey takes them to the Scorch, a desolate landscape filled with unimaginable obstacles. Teaming up with resistance fighters, the Gladers take on WCKD’s vastly superior forces and uncover its shocking plans for them all.
IMDB Rating: 6.3
IMDB Votes: 269000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: exciting, futuristic, suspense, serious, absurd, intense, apocalyptic, tense, psychotronic, action adventure
Similar in 82%
War of the Worlds (2005)
Plot Summary:
Ray Ferrier is a divorced dockworker and less-than-perfect father. Soon after his ex-wife and her new husband drop of his teenage son and young daughter for a rare weekend visit, a strange and powerful lightning storm touches down.
IMDB Rating: 6.5
IMDB Votes: 469000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, Russia
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: exciting, suspenseful, suspense, tense, futuristic, bleak, entertaining, scary, serious, apocalyptic
Similar in 88%
Insurgent (2015)
Plot Summary:
Beatrice Prior must confront her inner demons and continue her fight against a powerful alliance which threatens to tear her society apart.
IMDB Rating: 6.2
IMDB Votes: 251000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: exciting, futuristic, intense, teen, apocalyptic, entertaining, romantic, saga, thought provoking, intellectual
Similar in 90%
Mortal Engines (2018)
Plot Summary:
Set in a world many thousands of years in the future. Earth’s cities now roam the globe on huge wheels, devouring each other in a struggle for ever diminishing resources. On one of these massive Traction Cities, Tom Natsworthy has an unexpected encounter with a mysterious young woman from the Outlands who will change the course of his life forever.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 136000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, New Zealand, Japan, China
Duration: 128 min
Plot tags: exciting, futuristic, captivating, dark fantasy, apocalyptic, action adventure, psychotronic, fairy tale, philosophical, atmospheric
Similar in 84%
Battleship (2012)
Plot Summary:
When mankind beams a radio signal into space, a reply comes from ‘Planet G’, in the form of several alien crafts that splash down in the waters off Hawaii. Lieutenant Alex Hopper is a weapons officer assigned to the USS John Paul Jones, part of an international naval coalition which becomes the world's last hope for survival as they engage the hostile alien force of unimaginable strength. While taking on the invaders, Hopper must also try to live up to the potential his brother, and his fiancée's father, Admiral Shane, expect of him.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 255000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, Japan
Duration: 131 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, entertaining, futuristic, apocalyptic, action packed, psychotronic, inspirational, mockbuster, anamorphic
Similar in 84%
Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Plot Summary:
In a universe where human genetic material is the most precious commodity, an impoverished young Earth woman becomes the key to strategic maneuvers and internal strife within a powerful dynasty….
IMDB Rating: 5.3
IMDB Votes: 193000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, Australia
Duration: 127 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, fairy tale, suspenseful, visually stunning, psychotronic, light, disturbing, mystic, futuristic
Similar in 80%
After Earth (2013)
Plot Summary:
One thousand years after cataclysmic events forced humanity's escape from Earth, Nova Prime has become mankind's new home. Legendary General Cypher Raige returns from an extended tour of duty to his estranged family, ready to be a father to his 13-year-old son, Kitai. When an asteroid storm damages Cypher and Kitai's craft, they crash-land on a now unfamiliar and dangerous Earth. As his father lies dying in the cockpit, Kitai must trek across the hostile terrain to recover their rescue beacon. His whole life, Kitai has wanted nothing more than to be a soldier like his father. Today, he gets his chance.
IMDB Rating: 4.8
IMDB Votes: 207000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min
Plot tags: futuristic, exciting, suspenseful, tense, apocalyptic, inspirational, captivating, intense, teen, suspense
Similar in 79%
Ender's Game (2013)
Plot Summary:
Based on the classic novel by Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game is the story of the Earth's most gifted children training to defend their homeplanet in the space wars of the future.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 251000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: futuristic, serious, exciting, entertaining, intense, suspenseful, teen, inspirational, intellectual, apocalyptic
Similar in 90%
The Host (2013)
Plot Summary:
A parasitic alien soul is injected into the body of Melanie Stryder. Instead of carrying out her race's mission of taking over the Earth, "Wanda" (as she comes to be called) forms a bond with her host and sets out to aid other free humans.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 118000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, Switzerland
Duration: 125 min
Plot tags: futuristic, exciting, romantic, suspenseful, teen, stylized, apocalyptic, cute, thrilling, tense
Similar in 84%
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
Plot Summary:
Katniss Everdeen has returned home safe after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark. Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a "Victor's Tour" of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) - a competition that could change Panem forever.
IMDB Rating: 7.5
IMDB Votes: 706000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 146 min
Plot tags: futuristic, captivating, teen, entertaining, touching, apocalyptic, sad, visual, action packed, visually stunning
Similar in 80%
Falling Skies (2011)
Plot Summary:
Survivors of an alien attack on earth gather together to fight for their lives and fight back.
IMDB Rating: 7.1
IMDB Votes: 92000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada
Duration: 42 min
Plot tags: exciting, apocalyptic, serious, stylized, heroic, epic, bleak, futuristic, saga, mind blowing
Similar in 89%
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014)
Plot Summary:
Katniss Everdeen reluctantly becomes the symbol of a mass rebellion against the autocratic Capitol.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 490000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA, Canada, France
Duration: 123 min
Plot tags: futuristic, suspense, entertaining, teen, apocalyptic, saga, bleak, slasher, action adventure, serious
Similar in 87%
The Tomorrow War (2021)
Plot Summary:
An ordinary man is recruited by time travellers from 30 years in the future to fight in a war against deadly aliens.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 222000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 138 min
Plot tags: suspense, futuristic, exciting, apocalyptic, anamorphic, action adventure, tense, captivating, retro, entertaining
Similar in 85%
Greenland (2020)
Plot Summary:
A detached married couple must get their son and themselves to safety after being randomly selected to enter an underground bunker, as a massive object from space threatens to destroy the world in less than 48 hours.
IMDB Rating: 6.4
IMDB Votes: 129000
Genere: Action, Thriller
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 119 min
Plot tags: suspense, apocalyptic, exciting, scenic, psychotronic, psychological, tense, sentimental, serious, suspenseful
Similar in 85%
San Andreas (2015)
Plot Summary:
In the aftermath of a massive earthquake in California, a rescue-chopper pilot makes a dangerous journey across the state in order to rescue his estranged daughter.
IMDB Rating: 6.1
IMDB Votes: 252000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Thriller
Country: USA, Australia
Duration: 114 min
Plot tags: exciting, suspenseful, suspense, absurd, intense, serious, apocalyptic, romantic, breathtaking, scenic
Similar in 83%
2012 (2009)
Plot Summary:
Dr. Adrian Helmsley, part of a worldwide geophysical team investigating the effect on the earth of radiation from unprecedented solar storms, learns that the earth's core is heating up. He warns U.S. President Thomas Wilson that the crust of the earth is becoming unstable and that without proper preparations for saving a fraction of the world's population, the entire race is doomed. Meanwhile, writer Jackson Curtis stumbles on the same information. While the world's leaders race to build "arks" to escape the impending cataclysm, Curtis struggles to find a way to save his family. Meanwhile, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes of unprecedented strength wreak havoc around the world.
IMDB Rating: 5.8
IMDB Votes: 393000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 158 min
Plot tags: exciting, suspense, futuristic, suspenseful, apocalyptic, tense, sentimental, serious, bad ending, entertaining
Similar in 81%
The Darkest Minds (2018)
Plot Summary:
After a disease kills 98% of America's children, the surviving 2% develop superpowers and are placed in internment camps. A 16-year-old girl escapes her camp and joins a group of other teens on the run from the government.
IMDB Rating: 5.7
IMDB Votes: 35000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 104 min
Plot tags: exciting, captivating, romantic, suspenseful, suspense, semi serious, saga, apocalyptic, mystic, smart
Similar in 80%
The Maze Runner (2014)
Plot Summary:
Set in a post-apocalyptic world, young Thomas is deposited in a community of boys after his memory is erased, soon learning they're all trapped in a maze that will require him to join forces with fellow “runners” for a shot at escape.
IMDB Rating: 6.8
IMDB Votes: 498000
Genere: Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 113 min
Plot tags: exciting, suspense, tense, suspenseful, serious, futuristic, surprise ending, enigmatic, apocalyptic, entertaining
Similar in 79%
World War Z (2013)
Plot Summary:
Life for former United Nations investigator Gerry Lane and his family seems content. Suddenly, the world is plagued by a mysterious infection turning whole human populations into rampaging mindless zombies. After barely escaping the chaos, Lane is persuaded to go on a mission to investigate this disease. What follows is a perilous trek around the world where Lane must brave horrific dangers and long odds to find answers before human civilization falls.
IMDB Rating: 7.0
IMDB Votes: 706000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Horror, Sci-Fi
Country: USA, UK, Malta
Duration: 116 min
Plot tags: apocalyptic, suspenseful, scary, serious, tense, epic, splatter, suspense, entertaining, action packed
Similar in 77%
The Hunger Games (2012)
Plot Summary:
Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger Games. Part twisted entertainment, part government intimidation tactic, the Hunger Games are a nationally televised event in which “Tributes” must fight with one another until one survivor remains. Pitted against highly-trained Tributes who have prepared for these Games their entire lives, Katniss is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts as well as the mentorship of drunken former victor Haymitch Abernathy. If she’s ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love. The world will be watching.
IMDB Rating: 7.2
IMDB Votes: 981000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 142 min
Plot tags: exciting, futuristic, suspenseful, disturbing, serious, teen, thought provoking, apocalyptic, suspense, action packed
Similar in 75%
Divergent (2014)
Plot Summary:
In a world divided into factions based on personality types, Tris learns that she's been classified as Divergent and won't fit in. When she discovers a plot to destroy Divergents, Tris and the mysterious Four must find out what makes Divergents dangerous before it's too late.
IMDB Rating: 6.6
IMDB Votes: 482000
Genere: Action, Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 139 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, teen, suspenseful, futuristic, entertaining, romantic, intense, apocalyptic, action packed
Similar in 86%
The 100 (2014)
Plot Summary:
Based on the books by Kass Morgan, this show takes place 100 years in the future, when the Earth has been abandoned due to radioactivity. The last surviving humans live on an ark orbiting the planet — but the ark won't last forever. So the repressive regime picks 100 expendable juvenile delinquents to send down to Earth to see if the planet is still habitable.
IMDB Rating: 7.6
IMDB Votes: 270000
Genere: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Country: USA
Duration: 43 min
Plot tags: exciting, serious, suspenseful, futuristic, stylized, intellectual, humorous, sitcom, juvenile, action packed