Sort by Popularity - Most Popular Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword "child-protagonist"
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1. Abigail (2024)
R | 109 min | Horror, Thriller
After a group of criminals kidnap the ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, they retreat to an isolated mansion, unaware that they're locked inside with no normal little girl.
Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett | Stars: Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Alisha Weir, William Catlett
Votes: 6,719
2. Young Sheldon (2017–2024)
TV-PG | 30 min | Comedy
Meet a child genius named Sheldon Cooper (already seen as an adult in The Big Bang Theory (2007)) and his family. Some unique challenges face Sheldon, who is socially impaired.
Stars: Iain Armitage, Zoe Perry, Jim Parsons, Lance Barber
Votes: 101,885
3. Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005–2008)
TV-Y7-FV | 23 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
In a war-torn world of elemental powers, a young boy reawakens to undertake a dangerous mystic quest to fulfill his destiny as the Avatar, and bring peace to the world.
Stars: Dee Bradley Baker, Zach Tyler Eisen, Mae Whitman, Jack De Sena
Votes: 372,198
4. Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021)
PG-13 | 124 min | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
When a single mom and her two kids arrive in a small town, they begin to discover their connection to the original Ghostbusters and the secret legacy their grandfather left behind.
Director: Jason Reitman | Stars: Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace
Votes: 218,205 | Gross: $129.36M
5. South Park (1997– )
TV-MA | 22 min | Animation, Comedy
Follows the misadventures of four irreverent grade-schoolers in the quiet, dysfunctional town of South Park, Colorado.
Stars: Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Isaac Hayes, Mona Marshall
Votes: 405,733
6. The Blue Lagoon (1980)
R | 104 min | Adventure, Drama, Romance
In the Victorian period, two children are shipwrecked on a tropical island in the South Pacific. With no adults to guide them, the two make a simple life together, unaware that sexual maturity will eventually intervene.
Director: Randal Kleiser | Stars: Brooke Shields, Christopher Atkins, Leo McKern, William Daniels
Votes: 76,506 | Gross: $58.85M
7. Baywatch (1989–2001)
TV-PG | 60 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
At a Los Angeles beach, a team of lifeguards led by Lieutenant Mitch Buchannon save lives, deal with personal dramas, fight crime and participate in over the top adventures on a daily basis.
Stars: David Hasselhoff, Pamela Anderson, Yasmine Bleeth, Jeremy Jackson
Votes: 30,304
8. Stand by Me (1986)
R | 89 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
A writer recounts a childhood journey with his friends to find the body of a missing boy.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O'Connell
Votes: 441,385 | Gross: $52.29M
9. Inside Out (I) (2015)
PG | 95 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
After young Riley is uprooted from her Midwest life and moved to San Francisco, her emotions - Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness - conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house, and school.
Directors: Pete Docter, Ronnie Del Carmen | Stars: Amy Poehler, Bill Hader, Lewis Black, Mindy Kaling
Votes: 784,792 | Gross: $356.46M
10. Spirited Away (2001)
PG | 125 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
During her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches and spirits, and where humans are changed into beasts.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Daveigh Chase, Suzanne Pleshette, Miyu Irino, Rumi Hiiragi
Votes: 848,619 | Gross: $10.06M
11. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
PG | 115 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
Charlie, a young boy from an impoverished family, and four other kids win a tour of an amazing chocolate factory run by an imaginative chocolatier, Willy Wonka, and his staff of Oompa-Loompas.
Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Johnny Depp, Freddie Highmore, David Kelly, Helena Bonham Carter
Votes: 528,981 | Gross: $206.46M
12. Adventure Time (2010–2018)
TV-PG | 23 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
A 12-year-old boy and his best friend, a wise 28-year-old dog with magical powers, go on a series of surreal adventures in a remote future.
Stars: John DiMaggio, Jeremy Shada, Tom Kenny, Hynden Walch
Votes: 112,175
13. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
G | 100 min | Family, Fantasy, Musical
A poor but hopeful boy seeks one of the five coveted golden tickets that will send him on a tour of Willy Wonka's mysterious chocolate factory.
Director: Mel Stuart | Stars: Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson, Peter Ostrum, Roy Kinnear
Votes: 227,183 | Gross: $4.00M
14. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
PG | 161 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Harry Potter lives his second year at Hogwarts with Ron and Hermione when a message on the wall announces that the legendary Chamber of Secrets has been opened. The trio soon realize that, to save the school, it will take a lot of courage.
Director: Chris Columbus | Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Richard Harris
Votes: 691,985 | Gross: $261.99M
15. Jojo Rabbit (2019)
PG-13 | 108 min | Comedy, Drama, War
A young German boy in the Hitler Youth whose hero and imaginary friend is the country's dictator is shocked to discover that his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their home.
Director: Taika Waititi | Stars: Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie, Scarlett Johansson, Taika Waititi
Votes: 441,028 | Gross: $33.37M
16. E.T. (1982)
PG | 115 min | Adventure, Family, Sci-Fi
A troubled child summons the courage to help a friendly alien escape from Earth and return to his home planet.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Peter Coyote, Dee Wallace
Votes: 437,298 | Gross: $435.11M
17. Coco (I) (2017)
PG | 105 min | Animation, Adventure, Drama
Aspiring musician Miguel, confronted with his family's ancestral ban on music, enters the Land of the Dead to find his great-great-grandfather, a legendary singer.
Directors: Lee Unkrich, Adrian Molina | Stars: Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Alanna Ubach
Votes: 589,817 | Gross: $209.73M
18. Matilda (1996)
PG | 102 min | Comedy, Family, Fantasy
A girl gifted with a keen intellect and psychic powers uses both to get even with her callous family and free her kindly schoolteacher from the tyrannical grip of a sadistic headmistress.
Director: Danny DeVito | Stars: Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman, Mara Wilson, Embeth Davidtz
Votes: 174,465 | Gross: $33.08M
19. Room (I) (2015)
R | 118 min | Drama, Thriller
A little boy is held captive in a room with his mother since his birth, so he has never known the world outside.
Director: Lenny Abrahamson | Stars: Brie Larson, Jacob Tremblay, Sean Bridgers, Wendy Crewson
Votes: 450,273 | Gross: $14.68M
20. The NeverEnding Story (1984)
PG | 102 min | Adventure, Drama, Family
A troubled boy dives into a wondrous fantasy world through the pages of a mysterious book.
Director: Wolfgang Petersen | Stars: Noah Hathaway, Barret Oliver, Tami Stronach, Gerald McRaney
Votes: 156,857 | Gross: $20.16M
21. Home Alone (1990)
PG | 103 min | Comedy, Family
An eight-year-old troublemaker, mistakenly left home alone, must defend his home against a pair of burglars on Christmas Eve.
Director: Chris Columbus | Stars: Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard
Votes: 652,571 | Gross: $285.76M
22. Cobweb (2023)
R | 88 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
An eight-year-old boy tries to investigate the mysterious knocking sounds that are coming from inside the walls of his house, unveiling a dark secret that his sinister parents have kept hidden from him.
Director: Samuel Bodin | Stars: Lizzy Caplan, Antony Starr, Cleopatra Coleman, Woody Norman
Votes: 31,604
23. Up (2009)
PG | 96 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
78-year-old Carl Fredricksen travels to Paradise Falls in his house equipped with balloons, inadvertently taking a young stowaway.
Directors: Pete Docter, Bob Peterson | Stars: Edward Asner, Jordan Nagai, John Ratzenberger, Christopher Plummer
Votes: 1,124,178 | Gross: $293.00M
24. Pokémon (1997–2023)
TV-Y7 | 24 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
Covering the continuing adventures of series protagonist Ash Ketchum and Pikachu, and his best friend Brock, the two meet a new coordinator named Dawn, who travels with them through Sinnoh and enters Pokemon Contests.
Stars: Veronica Taylor, Rachael Lillis, Eric Stuart, Ikue Ôtani
Votes: 47,836
25. The Fabelmans (2022)
PG-13 | 151 min | Drama
Growing up in post-World War II era Arizona, young Sammy Fabelman aspires to become a filmmaker as he reaches adolescence, but soon discovers a shattering family secret and explores how the power of films can help him see the truth.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Michelle Williams, Gabriel LaBelle, Paul Dano, Judd Hirsch
Votes: 116,709
26. Close (I) (2022)
PG-13 | 104 min | Drama
The intense friendship between two thirteen-year old boys Leo and Remi suddenly gets disrupted. Struggling to understand what has happened, Léo approaches Sophie, Rémi's mother. "Close" is a film about friendship and responsibility.
Director: Lukas Dhont | Stars: Eden Dambrine, Gustav De Waele, Émilie Dequenne, Léa Drucker
Votes: 34,655
27. Matilda: The Musical (II) (2022)
PG | 117 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
An adaptation of the Tony and Olivier award-winning musical. Matilda tells the story of an extraordinary girl who, armed with a sharp mind and a vivid imagination, dares to take a stand to change her story with miraculous results.
Director: Matthew Warchus | Stars: Alisha Weir, Emma Thompson, Lashana Lynch, Stephen Graham
Votes: 28,246
28. Capernaum (2018)
R | 126 min | Drama
While serving a five-year sentence for a violent crime, a 12-year-old boy sues his parents for neglect.
Director: Nadine Labaki | Stars: Zain Al Rafeea, Yordanos Shiferaw, Boluwatife Treasure Bankole, Kawsar Al Haddad
Votes: 105,282 | Gross: $1.66M
29. Coraline (2009)
PG | 100 min | Animation, Drama, Family
Wandering her rambling old house in her boring new town, an 11-year-old Coraline discovers a hidden door to a strangely idealized version of her life. In order to stay in the fantasy, she must make a frighteningly real sacrifice.
Director: Henry Selick | Stars: Dakota Fanning, Teri Hatcher, John Hodgman, Jennifer Saunders
Votes: 263,596 | Gross: $75.29M
30. Luca (2021)
PG | 95 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
On the Italian Riviera, an unlikely but strong friendship grows between a human being and a sea monster disguised as a human.
Director: Enrico Casarosa | Stars: Jacob Tremblay, Jack Dylan Grazer, Emma Berman, Saverio Raimondo
Votes: 194,074
31. The Visit (I) (2015)
PG-13 | 94 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Two siblings become increasingly frightened by their grandparents' disturbing behavior while visiting them on vacation.
Director: M. Night Shyamalan | Stars: Olivia DeJonge, Ed Oxenbould, Deanna Dunagan, Peter McRobbie
Votes: 151,322 | Gross: $65.21M
32. The Jungle Book (2016)
PG | 106 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
After a threat from the tiger Shere Khan forces him to flee the jungle, a man-cub named Mowgli embarks on a journey of self discovery with the help of panther Bagheera and free-spirited bear Baloo.
Director: Jon Favreau | Stars: Neel Sethi, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba
Votes: 291,953 | Gross: $364.00M
33. The Florida Project (2017)
R | 111 min | Drama
Set over one summer, the film follows precocious six-year-old Moonee as she courts mischief and adventure with her ragtag playmates and bonds with her rebellious but caring mother, all while living in the shadows of Walt Disney World.
Director: Sean Baker | Stars: Brooklynn Prince, Bria Vinaite, Willem Dafoe, Christopher Rivera
Votes: 128,245 | Gross: $5.90M
34. My Neighbor Totoro (1988)
G | 86 min | Animation, Comedy, Family
When two girls move to the country to be near their ailing mother, they have adventures with the wondrous forest spirits who live nearby.
Director: Hayao Miyazaki | Stars: Hitoshi Takagi, Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto, Shigesato Itoi
Votes: 379,900 | Gross: $1.11M
35. The Amazing World of Gumball (2011–2019)
TV-Y7-FV | 11 min | Animation, Short, Adventure
The life of a twelve-year-old boy who happens to be a blue cat as he lives with his family and other strange creatures.
Stars: Dan Russell, Teresa Gallagher, Kerry Shale, Kyla Rae Kowalewski
Votes: 41,020
36. Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022)
PG | 87 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
The untold story of one twelve-year-old's dream to become the world's greatest supervillain.
Directors: Kyle Balda, Brad Ableson, Jonathan del Val | Stars: Steve Carell, Pierre Coffin, Alan Arkin, Taraji P. Henson
Votes: 85,298 | Gross: $369.70M
37. Lilo & Stitch (2002)
PG | 85 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
A young and parentless girl adopts a 'dog' from the local pound, completely unaware that it's supposedly a dangerous scientific experiment that's taken refuge on Earth and is now hiding from its creator and those who see it as a menace.
Directors: Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders | Stars: Daveigh Chase, Chris Sanders, Tia Carrere, David Ogden Stiers
Votes: 211,499 | Gross: $145.79M
38. Diary of a Wimpy Kid (2010)
PG | 94 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
Greg Heffley is a 12 year old who is fresh out of elementary and transitions to middle school, where he has to learn the consequences and responsibility to survive the year.
Director: Thor Freudenthal | Stars: Zachary Gordon, Robert Capron, Rachael Harris, Steve Zahn
Votes: 58,019 | Gross: $64.00M
39. Time Bandits (1981)
PG | 110 min | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
A young boy accidentally joins a band of time travelling dwarves, as they jump from era to era looking for treasure to steal.
Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall, John Cleese, Katherine Helmond
Votes: 68,305 | Gross: $42.37M
40. Belfast (2021)
PG-13 | 98 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A young boy and his working-class Belfast family experience the tumultuous late 1960s.
Director: Kenneth Branagh | Stars: Jude Hill, Lewis McAskie, Caitríona Balfe, Jamie Dornan
Votes: 92,246
41. My Girl (1991)
PG | 102 min | Comedy, Drama, Family
Vada is obsessed with death. Her mother is dead, and her father runs a funeral parlor. When Vada's father hires Shelly, a makeup expert, and begins to fall in love, Vada is outraged and does everything in her power to split them up.
Director: Howard Zieff | Stars: Anna Chlumsky, Macaulay Culkin, Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis
Votes: 88,849 | Gross: $59.85M
42. The Witches (2020)
PG | 106 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
A young boy and his grandmother have a run-in with a coven of witches and their leader.
Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, Stanley Tucci, Chris Rock
Votes: 46,546 | Gross: $0.20M
43. Rookie of the Year (1993)
PG | 103 min | Comedy, Family, Fantasy
When an accident miraculously gives a boy an incredibly powerful pitching arm, he becomes a major league pitcher for the Chicago Cubs.
Director: Daniel Stern | Stars: Thomas Ian Nicholas, Gary Busey, Albert Hall, Amy Morton
Votes: 30,953 | Gross: $53.58M
44. The Babysitter (I) (2017)
TV-MA | 85 min | Comedy, Horror
When Cole stays up past his bedtime, he discovers that his hot baby sitter belongs to a satanic cult that will stop at nothing to keep him quiet.
Director: McG | Stars: Judah Lewis, Samara Weaving, Robbie Amell, Hana Mae Lee
Votes: 108,097
45. The Tree of Life (2011)
PG-13 | 139 min | Drama, Fantasy
The story of a family in Waco, Texas in 1956. The eldest son witnesses the loss of innocence and struggles with his parents' conflicting teachings.
Director: Terrence Malick | Stars: Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain, Hunter McCracken
Votes: 184,073 | Gross: $13.30M
46. Empire of the Sun (1987)
PG | 153 min | Drama, War
A young English boy struggles to survive under Japanese occupation of China during World War II.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Christian Bale, John Malkovich, Miranda Richardson, Nigel Havers
Votes: 134,249 | Gross: $22.24M
47. Peter Pan (2003)
PG | 113 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
The Darling family children receive a visit from Peter Pan, who takes them to Never Never Land where an ongoing war with the evil Pirate Captain Hook is taking place.
Director: P.J. Hogan | Stars: Jeremy Sumpter, Jason Isaacs, Olivia Williams, Lynn Redgrave
Votes: 80,131 | Gross: $48.46M
48. Steven Universe (2013–2019)
TV-PG | 11 min | Animation, Short, Action
A team of intergalactic warriors fights to protect the Earth, but the combination of three highly trained beings and one quirky young boy leaves the team struggling to overcome the dangerous scenarios that are put in front of them.
Stars: Zach Callison, Deedee Magno, Michaela Dietz, Estelle
Votes: 39,665
49. The Iron Giant (1999)
PG | 86 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
A young boy befriends a giant robot from outer space that a paranoid government agent wants to destroy.
Director: Brad Bird | Stars: Eli Marienthal, Harry Connick Jr., Jennifer Aniston, Vin Diesel
Votes: 227,227 | Gross: $23.16M
50. Casper (1995)
PG | 100 min | Comedy, Family, Fantasy
An afterlife therapist and his daughter meet a friendly young ghost when they move into a crumbling mansion in order to rid the premises of wicked spirits.
Director: Brad Silberling | Stars: Bill Pullman, Christina Ricci, Cathy Moriarty, Eric Idle
Votes: 146,797 | Gross: $100.33M