Best Teen and Youth Movies of 2024: Must-Watch Films for Young Audiences

2024 brings an exciting lineup of teen and youth movies filled with stories about friendship, first love, self-discovery, and unforgettable adventures. With fresh plots, relatable characters, and themes that resonate with young audiences, this year’s films capture the spirit and energy of growing up.

In our list, you’ll find the best teen and youth movies of 2024 — from emotional coming-of-age dramas to heartwarming comedies and thrilling adventures. These are the must-watch films that will inspire, entertain, and stay with you long after the credits roll.

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30 Time Cut

Lucy, a modern high school senior and amateur inventor, accidentally finds a time machine and travels back to 2003, the year her sister was murdered by an unknown serial killer. Now torn between solving the mystery that has undone her parents and her hometown, saving the sister that she never knew, and irreparably altering the future — and her own existence — Lucy must decide how to stop the slasher, save her family, and blend into 2003.

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29 How to Date Billy Walsh

Follows a pair of childhood friends: Amelia and Archie. Archie has always kept his love for her a secret, but just as he builds up the courage to declare his feelings, Amelia falls for Billy Walsh, the new transfer student.

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28 Mean Girls

From the comedic mind of Tina Fey comes a new twist on the modern classic, MEAN GIRLS. New student Cady Heron is welcomed into the top of the social food chain by the elite group of popular girls called «The Plastics,» ruled by the conniving queen bee Regina George and her minions Gretchen and Karen . However, when Cady makes the major misstep of falling for Regina’s ex-boyfriend Aaron Samuels, she finds herself prey in Regina’s crosshairs. As Cady sets to take down the group’s apex predator with the help of her outcast friends Janis and Damian, she must learn how to stay true to herself while navigating the most cutthroat jungle of all: high school.

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27 Uglies

In a future post scarcity dystopian world in which everyone is considered an «ugly,» but then turned «Pretty» by extreme cosmetic surgery when they reach the age of 16. It tells the story of teenager Tally Youngblood who rebels against society’s enforced conformity.

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26 Harold and the Purple Crayon

Inside of his book, adventurous Harold can make anything come to life simply by drawing it. After he grows up and draws himself off the book’s pages and into the physical world, Harold finds he has a lot to learn about real life — and that his trusty purple crayon may set off more hilarious hijinks than he thought possible. When the power of unlimited imagination falls into the wrong hands, it will take all of Harold and his friends’ creativity to save both the real world and his own.

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25 The Tearsmith (Fabbricante di lacrime)

Within the walls of the Grave, the orphanage where Nica grew up, a legend has always been told: that of the maker of tears, a mysterious craftsman, guilty of crafting all the fears and anxieties that inhabit the hearts of men. But at seventeen years old, the time has come for Nica to leave fairy tales behind. Her biggest dream is about to come true. Mr and Mrs Milligan have started the adoption process and are ready to give her the family she has always wanted. In her new home, however, Nica is not alone. Along with her, Rigel, a restless and mysterious orphan, the last person in the world Nica would want as an adoptive brother, is also taken from the Grave. Rigel is intelligent, smart, plays the piano like an enchanting demon and has a beauty that can enchant, but his angelic appearance conceals a dark nature. Even though Nica and Rigel are united by a common past of pain and hardship, living together seems impossible, but kindness and anger are two different ways of fighting pain to stay alive and to conceal the emotions that devastate their hearts, becoming for each other that tears-maker of legend. To the maker of tears you cannot lie: and they will have to find the courage to accept that desperate force that attract them towards each other called love.

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24 Cuckoo

Reluctantly, 17-year-old Gretchen leaves her American home to live with her father, who has just moved into a resort in the German Alps with his new family. Arriving at their future residence, they are greeted by Mr. König, her father’s boss, who takes an inexplicable interest in Gretchen’s mute half-sister Alma. Something doesn’t seem right in this tranquil vacation paradise. Gretchen is plagued by strange noises and bloody visions until she discovers a shocking secret that also concerns her own family.

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23 I Saw the TV Glow

Teenager Owen is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs, when his classmate introduces him to a mysterious late-night TV show-one which conveys a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own. In the pale glow of the television, Owen’s view of reality begins to crack.

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22 Incoming

Four freshmen navigate the terrors of adolescence at their first-ever high school party.

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21 Lisa Frankenstein

A coming of RAGE love story about a teenager and her crush, who happens to be a corpse. After a set of horrific circumstances bring him back to life, the two embark on a journey to find love, happiness — and a few missing body parts.

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20 Descendants: The Rise of Red

The expansive new story finds polar opposites Red and Chloe crossing paths at a momentous celebration in Auradon when unexpected chaos breaks out. In order to prevent an impending coup, they must join forces to travel back in time, via a magical pocket watch created by the Mad Hatter’s son, to stop an event that would lead to grave consequences.

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19 Abigail

After a group of would-be criminals kidnap the 12-year-old ballerina daughter of a powerful underworld figure, all they have to do to collect a $50 million ransom is watch the girl overnight. In an isolated mansion, the captors start to dwindle, one by one, and they discover, to their mounting horror, that they’re locked inside with no normal little girl.

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18 Autumn and the Black Jaguar (Le dernier jaguar)

After years in New York City, 14-year-old Autumn returns to the Amazon rainforest to save her childhood village and beloved jaguar friend.

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17 Damsel

A young woman, Elodie, meets a handsome prince and they fall in love. At their wedding it is revealed that the prince had more sinister reasons for courting her: she is to be sacrificed to a dragon that has been terrorising the kingdom. Elodie now has to fight for her survival.

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16 Podrostki. Pervaya lyubov (Подростки. Первая любовь)

Oleg is a high school student who trades petty thefts with his friends. Olga is the daughter of a military man who controls her every move. Lovers cannot be together, because Olga’s father believes that she has no future with Oleg. Forbidden love, faith in the best, crazy decisions and their consequences… Will yesterday’s students be able to keep their love alive, or is this just one of the life stages that they will have to overcome on the way to adulthood?

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15 Turtles All the Way Down

Aza Holmes. It’s not easy being Aza, but she’s trying… trying to be a good daughter, a good friend, and a good student, all while navigating an endless barrage of invasive, obsessive thoughts that she cannot control. When she reconnects with Davis, her childhood crush, Aza is confronted with fundamental questions about her potential for love, happiness, friendship, and hope in the face of her mental illness.

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14 Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle (劇場版ハイキュー!! ゴミ捨て場の決戦 | Haikyuu!! Movie: Gomisuteba no Kessen)

Despite a strong field, the Karasuno High volleyball team advances past the preliminary round of the Harutaka tournament in Miyagi prefecture to reach the third round.

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13 Guest from the Future (Сто лет тому вперёд)

Kolya Gerasimov is an ordinary guy: video games, rap and hanging out with friends. The last thing he cares about is the future. Until one day he gets into the future himself. And everything is not easy there. The Earth coalition won the intergalactic war and lives quite happily, only the leaders of the defeated pirate forces are secretly preparing a new offensive. To do this, they need to go back in time and change the course of history, and Kolya unwittingly becomes their tool for time travel. But most importantly, Kolya meets Alisa in the future — a girl who is unlike anyone else and who needs help so much, even though she does not admit it.

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12 Upgraded

Ana, an ambitious intern at an art auction house in New York City, misrepresents herself to a handsome wealthy man as the director. As their romance develops, her deception creates challenges that threaten her career and relationship.

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11 It Ends with Us

IT ENDS WITH US, the first Colleen Hoover novel adapted for the big screen, tells the compelling story of Lily Bloom, a woman who overcomes a traumatic childhood to embark on a new life in Boston and chase a lifelong dream of opening her own business. A chance meeting with charming neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid sparks an intense connection, but as the two fall deeply in love, Lily begins to see sides of Ryle that remind her of her parents’ relationship. When Lily’s first love, Atlas Corrigan, suddenly reenters her life, her relationship with Ryle is upended, and Lily realizes she must learn to rely on her own strength to make an impossible choice for her future.

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10 Suncoast

SUNCOAST, inspired by Chinn’s life experience from the early 2000s, follows a teenager living with her strong-willed mother, who must take her brother to live at a specialized facility. There, she strikes up an unlikely friendship with an eccentric activist amidst protests surrounding one of the most landmark medical cases of all time.

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9 Through My Window: Looking at You (A través de tu mirada)

After the events of the summer, Ares and Raquel can’t find a way to carry on their relationship and decide to go their separate ways. When they see each other again in winter, the love and attraction they feel for each other is undeniable.

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8 Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

After a family tragedy, three generations of the Deetz family return home to Winter River. Still haunted by Beetlejuice, Lydia’s life is turned upside down when her teenage daughter, Astrid, accidentally opens the portal to the Afterlife.

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7 Beating Hearts (L’amour ouf)

Raised in a troublesome neighbourhood, local rebellious teenager Clotaire falls for his schoolmate Jackie, charmed by her fearless spirit and sharp wit. As powerful first love blossoms between the two, rampant gang violence entices him into a much darker path and ultimately destroys all they have built when he is charged with a crime he didn’t commit. After many years apart, now leading profoundly different lives, the star-crossed lovers discover that every path they’ve taken leads them back together, but will love triumph over Clotaire’s quest for revenge?

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6 The Idea of You

Solène, a 40-year-old single mom, begins an unexpected romance with 24-year-old Hayes Campbell, the lead singer of August Moon, the hottest boy band on the planet.

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5 Adam the First

Adam sets out on a cross country adventure to track down a series of men who could be his estranged father, each one with a different life that could become his own.

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4 Out of My Mind

Melody Brooks is navigating sixth grade as a nonverbal wheelchair user who has cerebral palsy. With the help of some assistive technology and her devoted allies, Melody shows that what she has to say is more important than how she says it.

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3 Challengers

From visionary filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, «Challengers» stars Zendaya as Tashi Duncan, a former tennis prodigy turned coach and a force of nature who makes no apologies for her game on and off the court. Married to a champion on a losing streak, Tashi’s strategy for her husband’s redemption takes a surprising turn when he must face off against the washed-up Patrick his former best friend and Tashi’s former boyfriend. As their pasts and presents collide, and tensions run high, Tashi must ask herself what winning will cost.

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2 Dìdi (弟弟)

A 13-year-old Taiwanese American boy named Chris as he navigates the summer before high school. He grapples with his cultural identity, experiences the joys and awkwardness of first love, and strengthens his bonds with friends while navigating the complexities of his relationship with his hardworking, single mother. Through skateboarding, online interactions, and everyday experiences, Chris begins to understand himself and his place in the world better. This coming-of-age story explores themes of family, identity, and self-discovery.

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1 Inside Out 2

A sequel that features Riley entering puberty and experiencing brand new, more complex emotions as a result. As Riley tries to adapt to her teenage years, her old emotions try to adapt to the possibility of being replaced.

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