
Movies that feel likeMaze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015)
If you loved Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, the closest films we have are Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024), Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014). All three share Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials' cerebral and epic feel, which is what we rank on before quality.
Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is War of the Worlds (2005).
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If Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials hit the spot, these will too
Looking for the series itself? Also in this series: The Maze Runner (2014) · Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)

The same director's ruined-world trek, scaled up from Gladers to apes
The difference: Slower and more solemn — a saga chapter, not a sprint

Relentless pursuit across a world the machines already broke
The difference: Legacy-franchise baggage — its heart is with the older heroes

YA rebellion shifting from survival story into open resistance
The difference: Mostly setup and speeches — the action is saved for Part 2

One dangerous route across a lawless wasteland, threats at every stop
The difference: A lone drifter's slow burn — faith parable, not group escape

Common ground: dystopia
The difference: Goes its own way on the tension

Both keep coming back to the same thing: dystopia
The difference: Critics rated this one higher still

Teens surviving an apocalypse that keeps changing its rules
The difference: Weaker execution — the ideas outrun the filmmaking

A slick corporate dystopia where the system is the villain
The difference: Urban satire locked to one city — no wasteland, no escape plot

The same mix in both: ideas, then momentum

Both land tension and bleakness at once

Both lean on ideas more than on science fiction

Action built on momentum, twice over
In the mood for more cerebral?
all cerebral movies →The best-reviewed films that share Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials’ defining feeling.









