arloGet the appMovies like City of Ember
2008 · Movie · PG · your starting pointIf you want that specific blend of claustrophobic underground desperation with a ticking-clock pace and young protagonists decoding their world's secrets, you'd probably get the closest match with Blackout (2014) or Sparks of Tomorrow (2026)—both lean hard into the resourcefulness-against-collapsing-infrastructure tension that makes Ember work. The City and the City (2018) might scratch a different itch if you're more drawn to the mystery of decoding an enclosed world's hidden rules, though it trades some of Ember's breathless pacing for a slower, more cerebral unraveling of uncomfortable truths.
Movies like City of Ember, ranked
1. The City and the City (2018)
The layered mystery unfolds through protagonists decoding the rules and hidden geography of their enclosed world, revealing uncomfortable truths about how their society was constructed to keep them separated from reality.
2. City Of Lost Things (Clean Version) (2020)
The crumbling infrastructure and race-against-time stakes mirror Ember's urgency, while both films anchor their world-building through a young protagonist discovering hidden truths about their mysterious surroundings.
3. Sparks of Tomorrow (2026)
A grieving boy's quest to decode cryptic blueprints and uncover hidden truths about a mysterious power source echoes the puzzle-solving urgency that drives two teenagers through a doomed underground city.
4. The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (2013)
Clary's discovery of a hidden supernatural world beneath New York mirrors the teenage protagonists' race to uncover their city's secrets, with both films using elaborate urban environments as central mysteries to decode.
5. An Electric Sleep (2023)
The crumbling infrastructure and race-against-time stakes that drive Ember's descent into darkness return here as a teenager must navigate a claustrophobic, high-stakes environment where every moment counts before external forces close in permanently.
6. City on Fire (1987)
The ticking-clock desperation that drives both narratives—where protagonists must navigate a corrupt system while racing against inevitable collapse—creates the same breathless tension as the generator's final countdown.
Tell me what kind of night it is — I'll pick the one for you.