Greenland 2: Migration is barreling its way into theaters, bringing untold levels of destruction with its new post-apocalyptic wasteland. While Greenland saw Gerard Butler and his family running for the safety of a bunker in hopes of surviving a comet, the sequel finds them plagued by the world’s horrific state as they again seek safety. The latest installment still offers plenty of bombastic disaster-movie thrills, continuing to deliver what audiences love about the first film.
Disaster movies are a unique sub-genre in which people face horrifying odds, with the only option left being to survive through the chaos. When a volcano erupts, how can a mere human combat it? If a comet is hurtling toward Earth, how can the human race persist? These are grandiose questions that audiences have flocked to see over the years, eager to lay eyes on things they never hope to see for themselves. Thankfully, if Greenland 2 has viewers wanting more, there are numerous disaster movies worth checking out, full of every scenario imaginable, over-the-top spectacle, and emotional family beats.
‘Geostorm’ (2017)
If viewers are looking for another disaster epic starring Butler, Geostorm can deliver. While the Greenland films may have found more success, Geostorm features its own array of natural disasters plaguing the Earth that many audiences missed upon release. The movie features a plot in which a satellite can help control the weather worldwide, only to go rogue and start causing disasters, such as tsunamis, earthquakes, and rapid temperature drops. Butler plays the man who helped design the system, putting him squarely in the movie’s hero role.
Geostorm was written and directed by Dean Devlin, co-writer of Independence Day, and stars a stellar cast, including Ed Harris and Eugenio Derbez. While the movie delivers on Butler’s charisma and spectacular scenes of devastation, it is bogged down by a nonsensical plot. Geostorm won’t disappoint on the disaster front, but fans looking for a good story may not find it here.
‘The Day After Tomorrow’ (2004)
The Day After Tomorrow features a world on the brink of a rapidly approaching new ice age. With that setup, audiences are treated to massive waves overtaking major cities, tornadoes in prominent metropolitan areas, and even animal attacks. The grandiose events are brought into human focus through the story of a family separated during the disaster. The father, played by Dennis Quaid, sets out across a tundra, hiking to New York City to save his stranded son, played by Jake Gyllenhaal. It hits on themes similar to those seen in Greenland 2, and it even stars a pre-Shameless Emmy Rossum.
Directed by Roland Emmerich, the man behind Independence Day, who swapped an alien threat wiping out cities for terrifying disaster scenarios. The Day After Tomorrow features stellar visuals, though some effects don’t hold up. The story can also be overly melodramatic on the family side, with the science of the weather side playing fast and loose with the rules. Still, audiences don’t tend to watch disaster movies for their meticulous attention to science, making The Day After Tomorrow a fun choice.
‘2012’ (2009)
Emmerich returns just a few short years after The Day After Tomorrow to do away with the entire planet in 2012. The director has become adept at finding new ways to destroy the world, and there is no bigger example than what he achieved with 2012, which realistically features the deaths of billions of people. As the world tears itself apart, there are earthquakes, sinkholes, tsunamis, and more. When the rules of the world no longer apply, any horrifying scenario can become reality.
The story is again focused on a human one, with audiences following a family’s struggle to survive, featuring numerous nail-biting moments of tension and heartbreaking moments sure to hit for Greenland fans. What stands out about 2012 is the ensemble cast, which helps to elevate the material with a level of gravitas. The cast includes John Cusack, Woody Harrelson, and Chiwetel Ejiofor, among numerous other talents, making the disaster epic a thrilling journey.
‘Deep Impact’ (1998)
In 1998, audiences were treated to two separate movies that put Earth on a collision course with a world-killing comet. Armageddon is the one most people remember, but Deep Impact did a much better job of hitting on the human drama on Earth rather than just those tasked with stopping it. Deep Impact also dares to let a massive piece of the comet hit, causing mass destruction, where families are forced into life and death choices. Much like Greenland, the world faces doom, and the stakes are for survival.
Deep Impact features a fantastic cast, including Jon Favreau, Robert Duvall, Elijah Wood, James Cromwell, and Morgan Freeman, who memorably plays the President of the United States. Many of the effects are of the era, with it getting buried by Armageddon’s success, yet audiences who discover Deep Impact often end up preferring it to Michael Bay’s take on the subject.
‘The Core’ (2001)
The Core is a disaster movie with a wild concept: what would happen if Earth’s core stopped spinning? The answer ultimately comes down to numerous disasters, such as mass electrical storms and killer solar rays that could end life on the planet. Thankfully, there’s a plan that involves a team drilling to the core of the Earth so they can restart it with a nuclear explosion. Using a material called “Unobtanium,” beating James Cameron to the word 8 years before Avatar, they are capable of crafting a ship that can travel through the Earth and defend against the intense heat.
The Core features some ludicrous ideas at the heart of the plot, but it proves to make for perfectly melodramatic disaster fare. It also features an impressive cast, including Hilary Swank, Aaron Eckhart, Bruce Greenwood, Alfre Woodard, and Stanley Tucci. While most disasters focus on surface threats or space journeys, The Core takes a different approach, offering something distinct for Greenland fans to check out.
‘Volcano’ (1997)
Much like what happened in 1998 with comet movies, 1997 saw two competing disaster movies about volcanoes. There was Pierce Brosnan’s Dante’s Peak, which is a lot of fun in its own right, and the aptly titled Volcano, which took a swing at a more audacious plot. Volcano depicts the film’s titular subject erupting through Los Angeles, with lava flows barreling down well-known streets, obliterating famous landmarks. While the disaster is centered in the LA area, the stakes remain dire as people attempt to survive and others try to stop the destruction.
Something about big-budget disaster movies always seems to attract a talented cast to help play up the drama amid the chaos, with Volcano offering quite the lineup. Tommy Lee Jones leads the cast alongside Don Cheadle, Gaby Hoffmann, Anne Heche, and Keith David. Which 1997 volcano movie audiences tend to prefer is up for debate, yet Volcano is the perfect shift in landscape for those looking for a change after Greenland 2‘s nightmare wasteland.
‘Knowing’ (2009)
Knowing offers audiences numerous disasters, like a subway crash, and potentially one of the best plane crash scenes ever put to film, thanks to director Alex Proyas’ stellar single long shot. The story of Knowing also focuses on disasters, as it follows a father played by Nicolas Cage who investigates a sheet of paper from decades earlier that appears to have correctly predicted every major disaster from the past, present, and maybe even the future.
What the disaster movie ultimately builds to is something to behold, with one final spectacle for audiences to love or hate. Knowing’s narrative may divide viewers, but the movie’s entire focus is on disaster after disaster. Early on, there is a focus on man-made destruction, but audiences can rest assured that it delivers on the global threat stakes seen in Greenland.
‘San Andreas’ (2015)
San Andreas embraces the bombastic disaster-movie concept and pits Dwayne Johnson against earthquakes, tsunamis, and family drama. Fans of Butler taking on the perilous journey of protecting his family under the ticking clock of a comet in Greenland are sure to enjoy Johnson’s danger-filled trek to save his daughter. Thankfully, audiences are treated to boats ramping off of tsunamis, skydiving into ravaged areas, and unparalleled scenes of destruction as the San Andreas Fault tears California in half.
Johnson leads a star-studded cast that also features Alexandra Daddario, Carla Gugino, and Paul Giamatti. Much like Butler, Johnson also delivers the charisma to carry weary audiences through one intense sequence after another. While San Andreas may not be about the end of the world, there is no shortage of disasters on display to help satiate disaster movie fans.
- Release Date
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January 9, 2026
- Runtime
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98 Minutes
- Director
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Ric Roman Waugh
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