Movies like It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

Name: It's a Wonderful Life
Released: 1946

10 films to watch after It's a Wonderful Life, ranked by how well they match its tone — not just its genre.

George Bailey has spent his entire life giving to the people of Bedford Falls. All that prevents rich skinflint Mr. Potter from taking over the entire town is George's modest building and loan company. But on Christmas Eve the business's $8,000 is lost and George's troubles begin.

1

Scrooge (1951)

Fit 70%

Shares Fantasy and Drama with It's a Wonderful Life.

Ebenezer Scrooge malcontentedly shuffles through life as a cruel, miserly businessman, until he is visited by three spirits on Christmas Eve who show him how his unhappy childhood and adult behavior has left him a selfish, lonely old man.
2

A Christmas Carol (1997)

Fit 69%

Shares Family, Fantasy and Drama with It's a Wonderful Life.

Miser Ebenezer Scrooge is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence, what opportunities he wasted in his youth, his current cruelties, and the dire fate that awaits him if he does not change his ways. Scrooge is faced with his own story of growing bitterness and meanness, and must decide what his own future will hold: death or redemption.
3

FX's A Christmas Carol (2019)

Fit 59%

Shares Drama and Fantasy with It's a Wonderful Life.

London, 1843. Ebenezer Scrooge, a bitter old man, despises the Christmas holiday. Over the course of Christmas Eve night he is visited by three ghosts to show him his past, present and future.
4

Miracles from Heaven (2016)

Fit 59%

Shares Family and Drama with It's a Wonderful Life.

When Christy discovers her 10-year-old daughter Anna has a rare, incurable disease, she becomes a ferocious advocate for her daughter’s healing as she searches for a solution. After Anna has a freak accident and falls three stories, a miracle unfolds in the wake of her dramatic rescue that leaves medical specialists mystified, her family restored and their community inspired.
5

Hereafter (2010)

Fit 56%

Shares Drama and Fantasy with It's a Wonderful Life.

Three people — a blue-collar American, a French journalist and a London school boy — are touched by death in different ways.
6

The Shack (2017)

Fit 53%

Shares Drama and Family with It's a Wonderful Life.

A grieving man receives a mysterious, personal invitation to meet with God at a place called 'The Shack'.
7

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)

Fit 50%

Shares Family and Fantasy with It's a Wonderful Life.

Four kids travel through a wardrobe to the land of Narnia and learn of their destiny to free it with the guidance of a mystical lion.
8

The Secret Life of Bees (2008)

Fit 47%

Shares Family and Drama with It's a Wonderful Life.

Set in South Carolina in 1964, this is the tale of Lily Owens a 14 year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother. To escape her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father, Lily flees with Rosaleen, her caregiver and only friend, to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her mother's past.
9

The Lovely Bones (2009)

Fit 47%

Shares Fantasy and Drama with It's a Wonderful Life.

After being brutally murdered, 14-year-old Susie Salmon watches from heaven over her grief-stricken family -- and her killer. As she observes their daily lives, she must balance her thirst for revenge with her desire for her family to heal.
10

Lost on a Mountain in Maine (2024)

Fit 45%

Shares Drama and Family with It's a Wonderful Life.

When twelve-year-old Donn Fendler gets tired of waiting for his father and brothers to join him on the summit of Maine's highest peak, he decides to find his own way back to camp. But Donn doesn't count on a fast-moving fog that obscures the path. He doesn't count on falling down an embankment that hides him from sight. And he doesn't count on taking a turn that leaves him alone to wander aimlessly for nearly two weeks in the empty mountain wilderness.