8 Best Disaster Movies To Watch If You Loved Greenland

If you enjoyed disaster movies like Greenland, you’ll be glad to hear a sequel is on the way! Greenland was a surprising success even during the pandemic, and Greenland 2: Migration continues the story of John Garrity as he tries to keep his family safe in a world threatened by a comet.

While disaster movies aren’t new, Greenland stands out by combining large-scale action with a strong emotional core, learning from past films in the genre. If you enjoyed how Greenland balanced epic disaster scenes with a focus on relatable characters and their struggles, here are some other movies you might like.

Deep Impact (1998)

Like the movie Greenland, which showed comets causing widespread destruction while focusing on the survivors, Deep Impact is comparable due to its large scope. Both films feature asteroids or comets hitting Earth and causing worldwide disasters.

Unlike Armageddon, Deep Impact effectively balances the serious, life-or-death stakes of a potential asteroid impact with the human stories of those affected. Both films have a tragic heart, which distinguishes them from other disaster movies focused mainly on special effects.

The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

As a critic, I’ve always found The Day After Tomorrow fascinating. It really tapped into the early 2000s anxieties surrounding climate change, and it did so with massive scale. What’s interesting is how it focuses on the raw power of nature, something I also see echoed in Greenland. While The Day After Tomorrow takes things to an almost unbelievable extreme, and Greenland feels a bit more realistic, both movies, at their heart, are really about families just trying to survive when everything goes wrong.

Both The Day After Tomorrow and Greenland focus on the strong bond between a father and his family amidst large-scale disaster. This personal story helps to make the more dramatic events feel relatable and keeps the audience emotionally invested, preventing the spectacle from overshadowing the characters.

Children Of Men (2006)

Although Greenland features more dramatic, visually striking disaster scenes than Children of Men, the two films complement each other well in terms of mood and style. Both movies take the conventions of their exciting genres – disaster and sci-fi, respectively – and present them in a more realistic and down-to-earth way, focusing on both believable action and relatable characters.

Both Children of Men and Greenland explore how humanity reacts and changes when facing disaster. While Children of Men focuses more on the grim aspects of the story, both films share a realistic, and often bleak, view of people – acknowledging both their capacity for kindness and their potential for cruelty.

2012 (2009)

The movie 2012 is a large-scale disaster film that follows characters around the world as they face a catastrophic end-of-days scenario. Known for its groundbreaking visual effects, the film vividly depicts a world crumbling apart.

The movie 2012 dramatically portrayed the terrifying scale of a global disaster, as only a big-budget film can. Greenland doesn’t depict quite the same level of destruction, but both films explore the themes of worldwide catastrophe and how far people will go to protect their loved ones when everything falls apart.

The Wave (2015)

Like the film Greenland, the Norwegian disaster movie The Wave aims for realism. It tells the story of Kristian, a geologist who gets cut off from his family when a massive tsunami hits a beautiful coastal town. The film shares Greenland‘s focus on family struggles during a disaster, and Kristian’s journey mirrors that of the character John.

Released in 2015 and submitted for Oscar consideration as Norway’s Best Foreign Film, The Wave offers a similar experience to both The Impossible and Greenland. If you liked Greenland and Gerald Butler’s acting, you’ll probably also appreciate Kristoffer Joner’s performance in this film.

Geostorm (2017)

Gerard Butler previously starred in the disaster film Geostorm, which shares similarities with Greenland. The story begins when satellites designed to control the Earth’s climate start to fail, leading to wild and dangerous weather that puts all of humanity at risk.

Although critics and audiences didn’t love Geostorm, the film does highlight what Gerard Butler brings to the disaster movie genre. Viewers who enjoyed Greenland will recognize similar elements in Butler’s performance and can appreciate the wild, over-the-top special effects in Geostorm.

Thirteen Lives (2022)

Ron Howard’s Thirteen Lives is a gripping disaster film that carefully considers the risks of every decision. Like Greenland, it’s a story about facing a crisis, though Thirteen Lives concentrates more on the details of the rescue itself. While Greenland looked at a wider global impact, both films are intensely focused on survival.

The film Thirteen Lives realistically portrays the perilous Tham Luang cave rescue, emphasizing both the immense danger and the emotional toll on everyone involved. This focus on genuine emotion heightens the suspense, similar to how Greenland successfully blends thrills with heartfelt moments.

Greenland 2: Migration (2026)

If you enjoyed the first Greenland movie, you won’t want to miss Greenland 2: Migration. The film picks up after the devastating events that nearly destroyed the world, following the Garrity family as they struggle to survive new dangers – from the environment and from other people.

Building on the first film, Greenland 2: Migration effectively increases the stakes and danger while still focusing on the emotional stories of its characters. The sequel expands on Greenland‘s portrayal of a struggling but hopeful humanity, making for a compelling experience.

2026-01-07 04:22