Despite a killer concept and the star power of Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, director Doug Liman’s Edge of Tomorrow was not an instant hit when it was released in 2014. Luckily, the story of a soldier reliving the same day over and over amid a war with an extraterrestrial enemy is now regarded as one of the best sci-fi movies of its time.
Despite its enduring popularity (right now, it is one of the most-viewed great movies on Netflix), it looks like our long wait for Edge of Tomorrow 2 is not going to end anytime soon. Luckily, there are plenty of other fun movies with similar themes available to stream now, which should make the wait a little more tolerable.
Groundhog Day (1993)
A selfish TV weather reporter (played by Bill Murray in one of his funniest roles) finds himself reliving February 2nd over and over again while covering Punxsutawney’s annual celebration.
Why it is a great movie to watch if you are a fan of Edge of Tomorrow: Obviously, we cannot talk about great time loop movies like Edge of Tomorrow without talking about the most oft-referenced film in the genre, director Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day, even if it is a far lighter take on the subject.
Rent or buy Groundhog Day on Amazon.
Buy Groundhog Day on Blu-ray on Amazon.
Happy Death Day (2017)
A selfish college student (played by Jessica Rothe) must relive her murder over and over again to figure out who is trying to kill her.
Why it is a great movie to watch if you are a fan of Edge of Tomorrow: A much darker take on the subject of time loops is writer and director Christopher Landon’s acclaimed horror-comedy movie, Happy Death Day, which managed to spawn a sequel, Happy Death 2U, only two years later.
Stream Happy Death Day on Peacock.
Rent or buy Happy Death Day on Amazon.
Buy Happy Death Day on Blu-ray on Amazon.
Boss Level (2020)
Former special forces agent Ray Pulver (Frank Grillo) tries to piece together the secret behind his murder while mysteriously repeating the day it occurred.
Why it is a great movie to watch if you are a fan of Edge of Tomorrow: Another great action movie that sees the protagonist dying over and over again (and has a sense of humor about it) is director Joe Carnahan’s Boss Level, which also stars Naomi Watts and Mel Gibson.
Stream Boss Level on Hulu.
Tenet (2020)
John David Washington stars as an unnamed CIA operative who is taught a special time-manipulation ability in order to complete a very important mission for a covert organization.
Why it is a great movie to watch if you are a fan of Edge of Tomorrow: An even more earnest and unique take on the subject of time loops (and “time inversion”) is Tenet, which is yet another mind-bending sci-fi thriller from writer and director Christopher Nolan.
Rent or buy Tenet on Amazon.
Buy Tenet on Blu-ray on Amazon.
Source Code (2011)
A U.S. Army captain (played by Academy Award nominee Jake Gyllenhaal) inhabits the body of a train passenger just minutes before a terrorist bombing in order to identify the culprit.
Why it is a great movie to watch if you are a fan of Edge of Tomorrow: While not your traditional time loop movie, director Duncan Jones’ Source Code is a thrilling movie set on a train that does see the protagonist reliving the same moment repeatedly to complete an important task.
Stream Source Code on Hulu.
Stream Source Code on Tubi.
Rent or buy Source Code on Amazon.
Buy Source Code on Blu-ray on Amazon.
Run Lola Run (1998)
A series of 20-minute short films that all follow Lola (Franka Potente) struggling to get ahold of a sum of money to save her boyfriend, with wildly different outcomes each time.
Why it is a great movie to watch if you are a fan of Edge of Tomorrow: While also not a definitive time loop movie (but, perhaps, a multiverse movie, more accurately), Run Lola Run is a classic action thriller that follows our protagonist in multiple attempts at the same task.
Rent or buy Run Lola Run on Amazon.
Buy Run Lola Run on Blu-ray on Amazon.
The Tomorrow War (2021)
Chris Pratt stars as a former Green Beret and family man from the present day enlisted to travel to the year 2051 and join the resistance against a malevolent alien race that has invaded Earth.
Why it is a great movie to watch if you are a fan of Edge of Tomorrow: From director Chris McKay, The Tomorrow War is also not a time loop movie, but a time travel movie that, like Edge of Tomorrow, takes place during a war for mankind in the future.
Stream The Tomorrow War on Amazon Prime.
War Of The Worlds (2005)
A divorced dock worker (played by Tom Cruise) struggles to keep his children (played by Justin Chatwin and Dakota Fanning) safe when Earth comes under attack by otherworldly creatures.
Why it is a great movie to watch if you are a fan of Edge of Tomorrow: Before Rita Vrataski’s (Emily Blunt) training makes Cruise’s Will Cage a badass, he is a helpless coward in the face of the alien invaders, similar to his character in director Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds.
Stream War of the Worlds on Paramount+.
Rent or buy War of the Worlds on Amazon.
Buy War of the Worlds on Blu-ray on Amazon.
Independence Day (1996)
The human race bands together to defend the Earth from tyrannical visitors who came from another planet in gigantic space ships.
Why it is a great movie to watch if you are a fan of Edge of Tomorrow: If Doug Liman hadn’t urged the studio to keep its time loop conceit (according to Yahoo!), Edge of Tomorrow might have turned out a lot like director Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day, which has everything you might expect from an alien invasion thriller.
Stream Independence Day on Hulu.
Stream Independence Day on Max.
Stream Independence Day on Tubi.
Rent or buy Independence Day on Amazon.
Buy Independence Day on Blu-ray on Amazon.
Aliens (1986)
Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver), the sole survivor of a massacre involving a vicious creature attack, joins a mission to help regain contact with a colonized planet, only to face even more monsters.
Why it is a great movie to watch if you are a fan of Edge of Tomorrow: Ask anybody what the ultimate, let alone best, humans vs. aliens epic is, and their answer might be James Cameron’s brilliant second installment of the Alien movies franchise, which even sees our hero fight the enemy in an exo-suit like Will and Rita.
Stream Aliens on Hulu.
Rent or buy Aliens on Amazon.
Buy Aliens on Blu-ray on Amazon.
You could choose to watch Edge of Tomorrow or any of these movies over and over and over again and probably never get tired of them.
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