Greenland 2: Migration (2026) Review: Is It Worth Watching?
| Title | Greenland 2: Migration |
| Release Date | January 9, 2026 |
| Genre | Action, Disaster, Thriller |
| Runtime | 98 minutes |
| Director | Ric Roman Waugh |
| Streaming | HBO Max (US), Prime Video (UK/Canada) |
| Our Rating | 🟠 5/10 |
Quick Answer: Yes, Greenland 2: Migration is now available in many regions, but it isn't the strong sequel many fans hoped for. It's a box office flop, grossing around $44 million against a $90 million budget, with a mixed 49% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes against a kinder 66% from audiences.
5/10
Quick verdict: Average, only for fans
Gerard Butler still carries it, but the sequel trades the first film's tight family stakes for spectacle, and the writing doesn't hold up its end.
Cast and crew
Ric Roman Waugh returns to direct, the same filmmaker behind the 2020 original, plus Shelter and Kandahar. Mitchell LaFortune and Chris Sparling wrote the screenplay, with Sparling, who created the characters, credited on the story. Lionsgate distributes.
| Writers | Mitchell LaFortune, Chris Sparling |
| Composer | David Buckley |
| Studio | STXfilms, Anton, Thunder Road |
| Content rating detail | PG-13, for strong violence, bloody images, and action |
| World premiere | January 6, 2026 (Austria) |
| Budget vs. box office | $90 million budget, around $44 million worldwide gross |
Cast: Gerard Butler as John Garrity, Morena Baccarin as Allison Garrity, and Roman Griffin Davis as their son Nathan, taking over the role from Roger Dale Floyd. Amber Rose Revah plays Dr. Casey Amina, with Tommie Earl Jenkins, Trond Fausa Aurvåg, Sophie Thompson, William Abadie, and Peter Polycarpou rounding out the cast.
Story (spoiler-free)
Five years after the Clarke comet destroyed most of the civilizations, the Garritys' can no longer remain in their bunker in Greenland. The area is now uninhabitable due to sudden electromagnetic storms, radioactive fallout and aftershocks. John, Allison and Nathan leave the only safety they've known and venture into a crumbling Europe looking for a new place to live.
This one
broadens the scope of the first film, which had been confined to one family
desperately trying to make time. Some of the original's claustrophobic tension
was lost as the Garritys come up against new characters, through the use of
Amber Rose Revah and Sophie Thompson, and crumbling infrastructure as they make
their way to a ruined continent for a wider survival adventure.
What works and what doesn't
What Works
- Gerard Butler is the one thing nearly every critic agreed on. He carries scenes the script doesn't always earn.
- The larger scale gives the disaster sequences more variety than the first film's single bunker-race structure.
- Some critics singled out the production's UK and Iceland locations for giving the wasteland a genuinely bleak, lived-in look.
What Doesn't Work
- The tight, personal stakes that made the original work get diluted across a bigger cast and a longer journey.
- A plot thread from the first film, Nathan's diabetes, simply disappears without explanation, something several reviewers flagged directly.
- Multiple critics called the ending unsatisfying, closer to a setup for a third film than a real conclusion.
- At $90 million, some reviewers expected sturdier visual effects than what made it to screen.
Scorecard
| Story and plot | 🟠 5/10 |
| Action and visuals | 🟡 6/10 |
| Gerard Butler's performance | 🟢 8/10 |
| Emotional depth | 🟠 4/10 |
| Family appeal | 🟠 4/10 |
| Rewatch value | 🟠 4/10 |
Rotten Tomatoes has it at 49% from critics on around 97 reviews and 66% from over 1,000 audience ratings. Metacritic puts it at 49, "mixed or average." CinemaScore gave it a B-, a soft grade for a film this expensive. IMDb users have it around 5.2 out of 10.
Why are critics harder on it than audiences?
This one runs the opposite direction from most franchise sequels. Critics landed at 49%, audiences at 66%, a 17-point gap in the audience's favor.
Critics focused on
- Weaker, more generic writing than the original
- Plot holes and dropped threads from the first film
- A shift from intimate family drama to broad spectacle
Audiences focused on
- Gerard Butler headlining another disaster thriller
- Decent thrills and action, even if predictable
- Going in for popcorn entertainment, not prestige drama
Critics reviewed it against the original's craft and came away disappointed. General audiences went in wanting a Gerard Butler disaster movie and mostly got what they came for. Neither reaction is wrong, they're just measuring different things.
What's different from the first Greenland?
The sequel changes several things fans of the original will notice right away:
- The story shifts from a race against time to a longer survival journey
- The emotional family focus that anchored the original is reduced
- The disaster scenes are bigger in scale but carry less tension
- New supporting characters get more screen time than expected
- Nathan's diabetes subplot from the first film is largely dropped without explanation
If you're comparing Greenland 2 to Greenland directly, this list is the short version of why the sequel plays so differently despite following the same family.
YouTube Trailer
My take
The first Greenland was successful because it never forgot about one family attempting one particular night to survive. This sequel retains the same family, but omits the pressure cooker. When the story expands to a cross-continent journey, it becomes more like a bunch of other post-apocalyptic road movies than the grounded one that wasn't as grounded as it needed to be.
It really was a job Butler did well and there's obviously been investment in scale. The script is the one that's owed to him more than what it's giving him, and subplots that are dropped and one ending that feels like it's a placeholder for a third movie that's never been confirmed.
If you were
pleased with the first one, watch it again for more! Don't count on him to beat
it.
Greenland or Greenland 2: which is better?
| Film | Year | Rotten Tomatoes (critics) | Budget vs. box office |
| Greenland | 2020 | 77% | $35M budget, $52.3M box office (plus a streaming deal, released during COVID) |
| Greenland 2: Migration | 2026 | 49% | $90M budget, around $44M box office |
The original is the clearly better-reviewed film, and it did that on a quarter of the budget. Migration cost two and a half times as much and made less money back, which is the core of why outlets have been calling it a flop rather than just a disappointment.
Do you need to watch the first Greenland first?
Yes – more than
most sequels! Migration starts right where the original game ended, and builds
on the knowledge the audience already has of the Garritys, the comet and how
they got trapped in the bunker. If you haven't seen it then watch the 2020
version, it's the better movie anyway and will make Migration's callbacks land.
Similar titles to watch next
- Greenland (2020) - the original, and the better-reviewed film by a wide margin.
- Shelter - Ric Roman Waugh's other recent film, for more of the same director's survival-thriller instincts.
- Kandahar (2023) - another Waugh and Butler collaboration, tension-driven rather than disaster-spectacle.
For more reviews like this one, browse the latest on WatchVerdict.
Who should watch it, and who should skip it?
Watch this if you
- ✔ Enjoyed the first Greenland and want more
- ✔ Like Gerard Butler action vehicles
- ✔ Enjoy large-scale post-apocalyptic settings
- ✔ Are fine with popcorn spectacle over tight plotting
Skip this if you
- ✖ Haven't watched the first movie
- ✖ Want realistic disaster science
- ✖ Expect a better sequel than the original
- ✖ Prefer emotional family drama over action-heavy survival
Is it suitable for kids?
PG-13, and multiple parent-guide sites put the real floor closer to 13, with some recommending 15 and up for sensitive viewers. Common Sense Media's review is headlined around the film being a violent post-apocalyptic sequel that falls short of the original, citing intense destruction, radioactive storms, and comet debris. There's no sexual content and minimal substance use, the concern is sustained peril and some bloody imagery rather than mature themes.
If your kids handled the first Greenland fine, they can likely handle this one, but go in expecting more sustained tension across a longer runtime, not less.
Where to watch worldwide
| Region | Where to watch |
| US | Streaming on HBO Max, also available to rent or buy on Prime Video, Apple TV, and Fandango At Home |
| UK | Included with a Prime Video subscription |
| Canada | Included with a Prime Video subscription |
| India | Streaming on Lionsgate Play, including through Prime Video and Apple TV channels |
| Australia | Digital rental and purchase through Apple TV, Amazon, and other major platforms |
It is not streaming on Netflix in any region. Lionsgate's current output deal runs through Starz first, then Prime Video, which is why Prime Video is the most consistent option internationally.
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I also wrote a guest post on move related article here
FAQ
Is Greenland 2 a hit or flop?
A flop. It cost $90 million to make and has grossed around $44 million worldwide, less than half its budget back at the box office.
What are critics saying about Greenland 2?
Mixed to negative. It holds 49% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 49 on Metacritic, both landing in "mixed or average" territory. Most reviews praise Gerard Butler specifically while criticizing the writing and pacing.
Is Greenland or Greenland 2 better?
Greenland, the 2020 original, is the better-reviewed film by a clear margin, 77% versus 49% with critics, and it did it on a much smaller budget.
Why is Greenland 2 rated so low?
Critics point to weaker writing, a dropped plot thread from the first film involving Nathan's diabetes, and a shift away from the tight family stakes that made the original work. Several reviewers also called the ending unsatisfying.
Where can I watch Greenland 2 in the UK?
It's included with a Prime Video subscription in the UK.
Is Greenland 2 on Netflix now?
No. It's on HBO Max in the US and Prime Video in the UK and Canada, not Netflix.
Is Greenland 2 the movie any good?
It's average. Not a disaster, not a highlight, sitting at 5/10 in our scoring with decent action and a strong Gerard Butler performance holding up a script that doesn't match the original.
Final verdict
How we rate
- 🟢 8-10/10 - Must watch
- 🟡 6-7/10 - Worth a watch
- 🟠 4-5/10 - Average, only for fans
- 🔴 0-3/10 - Skip it
Greenland 2:
Migration is worse and cheaper than its predecessor. If that were all, it would
be a write-off, but a handful of well-staged disaster scenes and Gerard
Butler's acting save it from being a write-off, even if it's not as tight or
well-organized as the first movie, with some threads dropped and its family
dynamics broadened out for a more general survival story. It under performed by
getting less than 50% of its funds, and the reviews are proof.
5/10
Final verdict: Average, only for fans
Worth a watch if you're already invested in the Garrity family. Everyone else can skip straight to the original.
Should you watch Greenland 2?
If you enjoyed the first Greenland and mainly want another Gerard Butler survival thriller, this sequel is worth a rental. If you're looking for the same emotional impact and tension that made the 2020 film stand out, keep your expectations modest.
Recommendation: Rent it if you're a fan. Otherwise, revisit the original instead.
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