Deciding What to Watch Next? Let ChatGPT Guide You

Movies offer an entertaining way to spend your free time, but zeroing in on the perfect flick that suits your mood and taste can sometimes feel like finding a needle in a haystack. We’ve all been there, endlessly navigating through a sea of titles, hounding friends for recommendations, but still falling short of that ‘aha’ moment.

Wouldn’t it be great if ChatGPT could step in as your trusty sidekick, curating the ideal movie selection for you? Sounds interesting? Well, here’s a thrilling guide on how to use ChatGPT to figure out what to watch next.

1. Identify Similar Movies and TV Shows

You’ve just seen the last episode of “The Last of Us,” “Succession.” or whichever movie keeps you glued to the screen. Now you need similar TV shows, but Google keeps turning up suggestions that make your stomach turn. How do you dig out TV shows similar to what you’ve just finished watching? ChatGPT can help youfind the perfect movie to stream next .

With its massive collection of detailed information on movies and TV shows, getting ChatGPT to suggest films similar to the ones you love is easy and exciting. Simply tell ChatGPT the name of the film, the elements of it you like, and the elements you dislike, and the AI chatbot will pull similar films that match your likes.

If you are not sure how to prompt ChatGPT for similar movies? Here’s a great prompt to get you started:

Imagine you are a movie and TV show recommendation expert. A user wants to find similar TV shows or movies to a particular one they’ve enjoyed. Your task is to give the user 9 of the most relevant suggestions based on the elements of the movie or TV show they really liked. Ask the user the questions below and use the replies to make the most relevant suggestions:

                1. What are the names of the movies or TV shows? e.g., Game of Thrones, Legend of the Seeker [Required]


                2. Which elements of the movie or TV show did you like most? e.g., Heist scenes and sword fights [Optional]


                Present the suggestions in a table format, including columns for the similarity score, the reason for the similarity score, and a general quality/critic rating. Begin by asking the user question 1.

We used the prompt above and then asked ChatGPT to provide TV shows similar to “The Walking Dead” :

2. Try a Different Genre

Are you tired of seeing the same genre of movies but have no clue what else you’d love? You’re not alone. Fortunately, ChatGPT can help out. Simply tell ChatGPT what you’ve had enough of, and prompt it to surprise you with something radically different.

If you have a hard time turning that into a prompt, below is a good example you could take a clue from.

I’ve seen a lot of TV shows based on spy, romance, and war themes. I want you to surprise me with something radically different, preferably from a different genre, and explain why they’re worth watching. It could be from any country. Include the quality/critic rating and the production year.

Trying the prompt above, we had:

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Sometimes you have an idea of the kind of movies you want to watch; you just don’t know how to find them. Googling might help if you have a general theme like “undercover spy in an enemy country.” However, if you have a detailed storyline, Google might not be much help, but ChatGPT excels at that.

Let’s say you need a TV show with a female protagonist who is underestimated at first but undergoes personal growth to emerge as a force to reckon with later in the movie. Good luck explaining that to Google. However, ChatGPT can carefully analyze each element of that description and come up with the best possible matches.

Difficulties writing a prompt that does this?Here’s a guide on how to write great ChatGPT prompts . Below is an example prompt you can take a cue from:

I would like to request a list of five TV shows that feature a female protagonist who learns to fight from a young age but faces ridicule and underestimation from male characters. Over the course of the series, the female lead should demonstrate remarkable growth, emerging as a powerful warrior capable of overcoming obstacles and defeating enemies.

We tried the prompt above and got some very enticing suggestions.

4. Help Remember a Movie You’ve Forgotten

You probably have that one movie you’ve seen in the past and would love to see again but can’t remember the name. Maybe you saw it at a young age or just don’t have great luck with keeping movie names in memory. ChatGPT can help you hunt down that elusive movie. Just describe every bit of the movie you can remember. Names of any actor you can recall, major scenes, storyline, every element you can think of, and let ChatGPT do its magic.

Below is an example of a prompt that can help you with such a request:

​​​​​​​Hey, I need to recall the name of a movie I saw several years ago. I recall that Jet Li was a lead actor alongside a black actor with a low haircut. It involved a lot of fight scenes. The black actor was quite funny. There’s this particular scene where both actors had to fight some bad guys from China, probably hit men, can’t recall. Give me some movies that could likely match this description.

When we tried the prompt above, we had the exact movie we had in mind, which was the 2000 movie “Romeo Must Die.”

5. Use ChatGPT to Discover Lesser-Known or Underrated Movies

There are a lot of hidden gems sitting around in the catalogs of streaming services. A number of them are better than similar titles with better publicity. ChatGPT can help you discover some of these lesser-known movies you may have overlooked.

How? You can start by using prompts like: “Can you suggest some hidden gems in the comedy genre that most people haven’t seen?” Or “What are some underrated historical Korean TV shows that deserve more attention, why are they worth seeing, and what’s their IMDB score?”

6. Research Movies Starring Your Favorite Actors

You just watched an amazing TV show with an unfamiliar lead actor. You enjoyed their performance and want to see more of their movies. Or, maybe you just want to research more movies from popular actors you follow. Whichever is the case, ChatGPT can assist you with that. You can simply use prompts like:

• Can you give me suggestions for movies in which Jackie Chan or Jet Li plays the role of a villain?
• Suggest five movies with an IMDB score of seven or higher, where Jason Statham is a lead actor.
• Can you recommend some action movies featuring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as the protagonist?
• Suggest some romantic comedies with Sandra Bullock as the lead actress.
• Can you suggest some animated movies suitable for children with voice acting by Tom Hanks?

7. Discover Movies From Short Clips

Remember that frustrating moment when you watched a short movie clip on TikTok or YouTube shorts but had no idea which movie it was? It’s like solving a puzzle without all the pieces. You came across an exciting scene from a movie that caught your interest, but the clip didn’t provide any hints or title. Don’t worry; ChatGPT is here to help.

Simply share the details of the scene and the dialogue from the clip, and ask ChatGPT to providemovie recommendations that match the description. While it might not always yield perfect results, you’ll be amazed by the commendable effort it puts in to assist you.

Let ChatGPT Be Your Personal Movie Recommender

Whether it’s a blockbuster thriller, a heart-warming rom-com, a spine-chilling horror, or a timeless classic, ChatGPT can help you narrow down movies and TV shows that truly resonate with you.

If you already use ChatGPT for work and studies, how about you try it for leisure as well? It’s time to sit back and let ChatGPT take the reins of your movie journey.