Five years after a comet struck the planet in Greenland, the Garrity family has to search for a new home in the disaster thriller Greenland 2: Migration.

Despite what the title might have viewers think, there’s no migration to Greenland. In fact, it’s just the opposite, as everyone currently in Greenland is trying to get the hell out of dodge. The ash from the Clarke comet took a while to clear up, but the storms and everything that followed have just made living conditions worse. They were prepared to live in the bunker for nine months, not five years. That’s where we find John Garrity (Gerard Butler), his wife Allison (Morena Baccarin), and their son Nathan (Roman Griffin Davis) in Greenland 2: Migration. They set their sights on the crater in France, as they believe that’s going to become a place of rebirth.

Where the first film ran two hours in length, Greenland 2: Migration packs more intensity and an emotional storyline in 98 minutes. It depicts a state of humanity that is fighting for survival five years later. In some cases, it’s not great, with insurgents fighting for their slice of the pie. But even as the Garrity family runs across people who want something from them, they also find some piece of humanity that’s still left, such as the French survivor not wanting anything in return but the shared company that they can give him.

The first Greenland movie was way better than it had any right to be. Maybe that was because it was released during the pandemic, and many of us were still staying home in order to flatten the curve. The sequel had been in the works since 2021 and did not go into production until April 2024. It is surprising, though, that they waited until the start of 2026 to open Greenland 2: Migration. Opening during January feels like they are more or less just dumping it into theaters, since January is a traditional dump month. It’s not an awards contender, and it’s not the sort of summer blockbuster.

We need to talk about the character of Nathan because there’s a bit of retconning here. He was seven years old in the first film, and Greenland 2: Migration takes place five years later, which would clearly make him 12. Not surprisingly, they’ve decided to recast Roger Dale Floyd with Jojo Rabbit’s Roman Griffin Davis. Davis is older and as such, Nathan is now 15 years old. It’s a similar situation to how they recast Cassie Lang in both Avengers: Endgame and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. The fact that they recycle footage during something of an epilogue doesn’t make the recasting decision any better.

The film’s opening weekend couldn’t have been timed any worse. Even though it has absolutely nothing to do with the current administration’s talk about taking Greenland by U.S. military action, it’s hard to watch the film and not think about what’s happening in the world right now.

Greenland 2: Migration is entertaining enough in spots, but overall, it’s an average sequel that doesn’t quite live up to its potential.

DIRECTOR: Ric Roman Waugh
SCREENWRITERS: Mitchell LaFortune and Chris Sparling
CAST: Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, Roman Griffin Davis, Amber Rose Revah, Sophie Thompson, Trond Fausa Aurvåg, William Abadie

Lionsgate will release Greenland 2: Migration in theaters on January 9, 2026. Grade: 3/5

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