The film was first released in Austria on January 6, 2026, and then in the United States on January 9, 2026, by Lionsgate. It received mixed reviews from critics, although there was praise for Butler's performance in the film. The film was a box office flop, grossing only $26 million against a $90 million budget.[6]
Plot
Five years after the Clarke interstellarcomet destroyed most of Earth and civilization,[a] the planet's environment has become chaotic, as sudden electromagnetic storms can form, along with lingering radioactive fallout and earthquakes from the impact. The Garrity family survived since the disaster living in an underground bunker in Greenland, with Allison now a leader, John a scout and engineer maintaining the community, and their now teenaged son, Nathan, who wants to be a scout. Earthquakes collapse the bunker, forcing an emergency evacuation. Most of the survivors are killed by a tsunami and the facility is destroyed.
The Garritys and Dr. Amina escape on a lifeboat with a handful of survivors, barely making it to Liverpool. The last Greenland survivors are separated when a gun battle occurs among locals trying to enter another rescue bunker. They reach London, recuperate, and continue onward toward France, believing the impact crater left by Clarke in the former Gulf of Lion and Mediterranean Sea is where humanity has begun to rebuild. Survivor network rumors say the area is heavily defended by the military, the land is farmed, and the tectonic and radiation problems have ended.
The family learns John is dying from radiation sickness due to his scouting work, and Amina is shot and killed by bandits en route to Dover. The family crosses the English Channel, now a dry windswept wasteland, and meet a French family in Calais that shelters them. At the French family's request, the Garritys take their daughter Camille with them to the crater. They reach the front lines of a raging military battle defending the crater region and are escorted behind the lines. On the way to the crater, bandits ambush their transport, and John is shot defending the group.
The family finally reach the crater, where they find fertile farmland, fresh lakes, and clear skies free of ash and energy storms, confirming worldwide rumors that the impact site had healed. Earth was recovering quickly, earlier suggested by Amina that if true, could be similar to the sudden growth seen after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. The survivors rest before a safe valley. John succumbs to his wound within sight of their goal, satisfied he protected Allison and Nathan for a safe new life.
Cast
Gerard Butler as John Garrity, a structural engineer and survivor of the Clarke impact
In June 2021, it was announced a sequel titled Greenland: Migration was in development. The following month, STX acquired the worldwide distribution rights for the film for $75 million at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival.[7] It was put into bankruptcy protection,[8] most of the cast returned, and while Morena Baccarin was initially reluctant, she eventually agreed to return for the sequel.[9]Roman Griffin Davis replaced Roger Dale Floyd in playing Nathan Garrity.[citation needed] In May 2024, Lionsgate acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film.[10] Eric Freidenberg edited the film in post-production.[11]
Greenland 2: Migration was first released in Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, and Croatia on January 8, 2026, and was released in the United States on January 9, 2026.[16] It was originally scheduled to be released in the United States on March 28, 2025.[17] It was released in Singapore on January 8, 2026, by Encore Films.[18]
Reception
Box office
The film made $900,000 in box office previews.[19] In its opening weekend, the film made $8.5 million.[20]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 49% of 91 critics' reviews are positive.The website's consensus reads: "The world ends more with a whimper in Greenland 2: Migration compared to its predecessor's big bang thrills, but Gerard Butler's sturdy star power keeps this continuation reasonably compelling."[21]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 49 out of 100, based on 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[22] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B-" on an A+ to F scale.[23]
Chris Evangelista regarded the film as an "effective sequel" that "never overstays its welcome".[24] John Lui of The Straits Times gave the film four out of five stars, praising the character development and how the film "places family bonds and moral integrity over spectacle, earning its emotional beats".[18] Robert Daniels of The New York Times felt the sequel was a "notable step up" from the original, highlighting its theme that survival alone is insufficient without building a better world for the next generation. He observed that the film introduced a clearer, post-Covid message in place of the previous' pandemic undertones, and praised Gerard Butler's steady performance for bringing emotional weight to an otherwise spectacle-driven film.[25] Katie Walsh of Los Angeles Times wrote that the film presented a "proudly, even defiantly optimistic view of what comes after disaster". She also compared the film with 28 Years Later, noting their shared theme of fathers and teenage sons travelling from an island enclave to the United Kingdom years after catastrophe, though she observed that this film ultimately followed "a very predictable and straightforward path".[26]
Jocelyn Noveck of Associated Press called it "a serviceable but rather low-key, even grim affair". While she acknowledged the film's focus on "emotion and character", she felt these were not "compellingly rendered".[27] Peter Sobczynski gave the film two out of four stars, writing that the sequel lacked the human drama central to the original film.[28] Jesse Hassenger of The Guardian gave the film two out of five stars, noting how the film "walks back some of the hope that ended the first film" while exaggerating its earnest tone. He criticised the sequel for its random killing off of side characters before turning overly sentimental, calling its handling of drama heavy-handed. Although he praised Gerard Butler for his solid performance, Hassenger felt the film lapses into clichéd "good-dad" melodrama and takes itself too seriously, seeking emotional weight without genuine depth.[29]
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