A Glean movie guide
Dystopian Arenas & Rebellions
Fight for survival
High-stakes survival and gritty sci-fi worlds inspired by The Hunger Games.
Handpicked for this guide
The movie list
- 01
The Hunger Games
Teens are forced to compete in a televised death match within a ruthless post-apocalyptic society.
In a dystopian society where the Capitol forces each district to send two young tributes to fight to the death in a televised spectacle, a girl volunteers to take her sister’s place, setting the stage for a struggle of survival and defiance.
- 02
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
Past victors are forced back into the arena for a high-stakes anniversary Quarter Quell.
After surviving the Hunger Games, Katniss and Peeta struggle with the consequences of their victory as unrest spreads across Panem. Forced back into the spotlight, they become symbols of hope and resistance while the Capitol prepares a new and deadly challenge that will change the future of the nation forever.
- 03
Battle Royale
Totalitarian rulers force high school students to fight each other to the death on an isolated island.
In the future, the Japanese government captures a class of ninth-grade students and forces them to kill each other under the revolutionary "Battle Royale" act.
- 04
Divergent
A young woman uncovers a dangerous conspiracy in a rigidly faction-divided futuristic society.
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.
- 05
The Maze Runner
Youths wake up trapped in a massive lethal maze governed by unseen authorities.
A teenager with no memory of his past finds himself among a group of boys living in a walled enclosure surrounded by a massive, ever-changing maze. As he struggles to adapt to their rules and society, he begins to uncover clues that may lead to escape and the truth behind their confinement.
- 06
Snowpiercer
The surviving remnants of humanity wage class warfare aboard a continuously moving train.
In a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off most life on the planet, a class system evolves aboard the Snowpiercer; a train that travels around the globe via a perpetual-motion engine.
- 07
In Time
People must trade time like currency to survive in a starkly class-stratified futuristic world.
In the not-too-distant future, the aging gene has been switched off. To avoid overpopulation, time has become the currency and the way people pay for luxuries and necessities. The rich can live forever, while the rest struggle to negotiate for their immortality. A poor young man who suddenly comes into a fortune of time finds himself on the run from a corrupt police force known as the "time keepers".
- 08
The Running Man
A wrongly convicted man fights for his life on a lethal futuristic television game show.
By 2017, the global economy has collapsed and U.S. society has become a totalitarian police state, censoring all cultural activity. The government pacifies the populace by broadcasting a number of game shows in which convicted criminals fight for their lives, including the gladiator-style The Running Man, hosted by the ruthless Damon Killian, where “runners” attempt to evade “stalkers” and certain death for a chance to be pardoned and set free.
- 09
The Island
Facility residents discover their entire secure existence is a lie serving wealthy sponsors.
In 2019, Lincoln Six-Echo is a resident of a seemingly "Utopian" but contained facility. Like all of the inhabitants of this carefully-controlled environment, Lincoln hopes to be chosen to go to The Island — reportedly the last uncontaminated location on the planet. But Lincoln soon discovers that everything about his existence is a lie.