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10 Hidden Gems With 90%+ Audience Approval
Incredible movies you've probably never heard of.
Published March 23, 2026 · ThumbScore Editorial
The best movies aren't always the ones with the biggest marketing budgets. Some of the highest-rated films on ThumbScore are ones that most people have never even heard of — small releases that slipped through the cracks but absolutely blew away the audiences who found them.
We pulled 10 films from our database that have a 90% or higher audience approval rating but remain drastically underseen. These aren't obscure arthouse experiments — they're crowd-pleasers that just never got the spotlight they deserved.
The List
1Sing Street (2016)A teenager in 1980s Dublin starts a band to impress a girl. John Carney's joyful musical coming-of-age story is pure heart from start to finish — with original songs you'll be humming for weeks.
2Upgrade (2018)A cyberpunk action thriller from Leigh Whannell (Saw, Insidious) about a man implanted with an AI chip that gives him superhuman combat abilities. Low-budget, high-octane, and smarter than it has any right to be.
3The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)A young man with Down syndrome escapes a nursing home to pursue his dream of becoming a professional wrestler. One of the most feel-good road movies in years, with a 95%+ audience approval rating.
4Coherence (2013)A dinner party goes terrifyingly wrong when a comet passes overhead. Made on a micro-budget with largely improvised dialogue, this sci-fi thriller is one of the most inventive genre films of the decade.
5Captain Fantastic (2016)Viggo Mortensen plays a father raising his six children off-grid in the Pacific Northwest — until tragedy forces them back into civilization. Funny, heartbreaking, and thought-provoking in equal measure.
6Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)Before Thor: Ragnarok, Taika Waititi made this New Zealand comedy about a foster kid and his grumpy uncle on the run in the bush. Endlessly charming and laugh-out-loud funny.
7Paddington 2 (2017)Yes, it's a movie about a talking bear. It also has near-perfect audience scores and is one of the most genuinely heartwarming films of the last decade. Hugh Grant's villain performance alone is worth the watch.
8Blindspotting (2018)Daveed Diggs (Hamilton) stars in this visceral, genre-bending drama about gentrification, race, and friendship in Oakland. Equal parts funny and devastating — and completely original.
9The Way Way Back (2013)A shy 14-year-old finds unexpected confidence working at a water park during a painful summer vacation. Sam Rockwell steals every scene in this warm, nostalgia-soaked coming-of-age gem.
10Searching (2018)John Cho plays a father desperately looking for his missing daughter — and the entire film is told through computer screens, phones, and video calls. A gripping thriller that proves the "screen life" format can deliver real emotional weight.
Why these films stand out
Every film on this list has a 90%+ audience approval rating — yet most people haven't seen them.
Why Hidden Gems Matter
These are the movies that don't show up in your streaming algorithm. They didn't have $200 million marketing campaigns or franchise recognition. But the people who actually watched them loved them — overwhelmingly. That's the power of audience-driven data: it surfaces the films that real viewers connect with, regardless of how much money was spent promoting them.
If you've seen even half the films on this list, you already know what we're talking about. And if you haven't — you're in for a treat.
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