Greenland release date, trailer, plot, cast for the Gerard Butler disaster movie

This article about the film Greenland was originally published on June 25, 2020 and updated on October 23, 2021 following the movie's release. Read on for the original article, with some new changes to reflect the latest updates on this topic.

In times like these, people want nothing more than pure escapism in entertainment. And what's more escapist than a worldwide disaster movie? Opening in theaters in August 2020 from STXFilms, Greenland is a new disaster movie starring Gerard Butler (the Fallen series) and Morena Baccarin (Deadpool). Here's everything we know about the movie, including its plot, trailer, release date, and more.

When is Greenland’s release date?

Greenland was originally supposed to be released in theaters on June 12, 2020. But another disaster prevented this disaster movie from releasing properly: The COVID-19 pandemic. After getting bumped back to July, then August, the studio eventually announced it would be skipping a theatrical release for the movie in the United States. Instead, Greenland released on video-on-demand on December 18, 2020, before eventually moving over to HBO Max and Amazon Prime.

What is Greenland about?

Greenland is a disaster movie about a "planet killer" comet that breaks into fragments, hitting the Earth in unpredictable places. Every impact results in a massive disaster, prompting worldwide panic. With rumors of a heavily protective underground bunker in Greenland, one family makes a desperate attempt to leave the United States and make it to safety.

The movie is directed by Ric Roman Waugh, who previously worked with Butler on 2019's Angel Has Fallen.

Who is in the cast of Greenland?

The following actors star in Greenland:

• Gerard Butler (300) as John Garrity, a family man who makes a desperate escape to Greenland with his family. Chris Evans of the Marvel film franchise initially signed on to play John Garrity but left the film in February 2019.
• Morena Baccarin (Deadpool, Firefly) as Allison Garrity, John’s wife who also leads her family to safety.
• Scott Glenn (Iron Fist) as Clayton, a family friend who helps the Garritys make it to Greenland.
• Andrew Bachelor (Rim of the World) as Colin, a survivor of an attack on an airbase.
• David Denman (Power Rangers, Brightburn) as Ralph, a stranger who initially helps the Garritys before turning malevolent.

Where can I watch the trailer for Greenland?

STX Entertainment released the trailer on June 25, 2020. You can watch it in the embed below.

How is Greenland different from other disaster movies?

Greenland is written by screenwriter Chris Sparling, who also wrote the 2010 thriller Buried and the 2015 Gus Van Sant movie The Sea of Trees. He has also been a director, including the 2015 horror The Atticus Institute and the 2016 Netflix movie Mercy.

In 2018, Sparling talked to DiscussingFilm about Greenland, where he described it as “definitely a big movie” that was also a “small movie” at heart. He likened it to other science-fiction movies like District 9 (2009) and Elysium (2013), both directed by Neill Blomkamp, who was at one point attached to direct Greenland.

“It’s a big movie, definitely a big movie,” Sparling said. “[But] at the heart of that is a very small movie. It is a movie about an impending asteroid strike. It’s not Armageddon, it’s not that type of movie at all, it’s more like Bayona’s The Impossible where we look through the specific lens of a family ... we care about this family trying to survive.”

Sparling said Blomkamp’s Elysium “spoke to me more on a level of what I was thinking with Greenland, the desperation and lengths people will go for people and things that they love.”

What did critics have to say about Greenland?

Greenland has a 78% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 64 on Metacritic. True to Sparling’s comments above, the film’s highest praise was towards its script and focus on the human element of a global-wide disaster, rather than highlighting the spectacle.

Will there be a sequel to Greenland?

Yes! In June 2021, it was announced that a sequel for the movie was in development. Titled Greenland: Migration, it will reportedly center around the Garritys’ journey across a frozen European wasteland to find a new home.

Greenland is available to stream on HBO Max and Amazon Prime.