If you enjoyed the gripping disaster thriller Greenland starring Gerard Butler, you’re probably craving more movies that deliver intense, realistic depictions of catastrophic events and the fight for survival. Greenland stood out with its gritty take on one family’s struggle to reach safety as a planet-killing comet hurtles towards Earth.
The film subverted the typical disaster movie formula, trading over-the-top spectacle for a more intimate and harrowing story. Gerard Butler delivered one of his best performances, making Greenland a must-see for fans of the genre. As we eagerly await the sequel, here are 15 movies like Greenland that are definitely worth watching.
1. The Road (2009)
The Road, based on Cormac McCarthy’s bleak novel, follows a father (Viggo Mortensen) and son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) as they trek across a post-apocalyptic wasteland. The world has already ended before the movie even begins, making their struggle to survive even more grueling than in Greenland.
Anchored by incredible performances, The Road is an emotionally devastating look at the lengths parents will go to protect their children. While harsher and less hopeful than Greenland, it’s a powerful film that disaster movie fans shouldn’t miss.
2. The Wave (2015)
This Norwegian disaster film imagines a massive tsunami devastating a small tourist town after a mountainside collapses into the fjord. Geologist Kristian Eikjord (Kristoffer Joner) realizes the catastrophic rockslide is imminent, but his warnings fall on deaf ears until it’s too late.
Like Greenland, The Wave focuses on one family’s race to reach safety as the timer counts down to impact. With nail-biting suspense and jaw-dropping depictions of the tsunami, it’s a lean, mean disaster thriller that puts Hollywood blockbusters to shame. If you liked Greenland’s more realistic take on the genre, The Wave is a must-watch.
3. Deepwater Horizon (2016)
Disaster doesn’t get much more real than in Deepwater Horizon, which dramatizes the devastating 2010 explosion and oil spill on the titular drilling rig. Mark Wahlberg stars as Mike Williams, an electronics technician on the rig racing to help his crewmates escape as flames engulf the structure.
Deepwater Horizon shares Greenland’s commitment to realism, immersing you in the chaos and claustrophobia of being trapped on the burning, collapsing rig. With intense performances from Wahlberg, Kurt Russell, Gina Rodriguez and more, it’s a gripping and sobering look at one of the worst man-made disasters in history.
4. The Impossible (2012)
The Impossible recounts the harrowing true story of a family’s fight to reunite after being separated by the massive 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor star as the parents swept away with their three young sons when the waves strike their Thai resort.
Like Greenland, The Impossible keeps the focus tight on one family’s struggle to survive as the world crumbles around them. Watts earned an Oscar nomination for her raw, physically demanding performance. The tsunami sequences are terrifying in their realism, making this an emotionally overwhelming watch.
5. Take Shelter (2011)
Take Shelter is a very different kind of disaster movie, one that’s more psychological slow-burn than spectacle-driven thriller. Michael Shannon stars as Curtis, a family man plagued by apocalyptic visions of a massive storm. Convinced the nightmares are prophetic, Curtis begins building a storm shelter in his backyard despite the concerns of his wife (Jessica Chastain) and community.
Is the storm real or all in Curtis’s head? Take Shelter keeps you guessing until the haunting final moments. Shannon and Chastain are phenomenal, capturing the strain Curtis’s obsession puts on their relationship. For a more intimate, character-driven take on apocalyptic dread, this is a hidden gem.
6. The Mist (2007)
Based on a Stephen King novella, The Mist traps a group of people in a grocery store after a strange fog rolls into their small town, bringing deadly Lovecraftian creatures with it. Thomas Jane leads the ensemble cast as a father trying to protect his young son amid the growing paranoia and religious fervor.
While more of a horror film than a straight disaster movie, The Mist shares Greenland’s knack for claustrophobic tension and tough moral dilemmas. The divisive ending is a gut-punch that even King himself called “shocking.” Love it or hate it, you won’t be able to shake it.
7. Cloverfield (2008)
Cloverfield reimagined the Godzilla formula for the found-footage era, depicting a giant monster attack on New York City through the camcorder lens of a group of twentysomethings. Their desperate trek through the chaotic, crumbling city to rescue a friend makes for a thrillingly immersive experience.
Producer J.J. Abrams and director Matt Reeves keep the monster largely hidden, making its appearances all the more terrifying. Breakout stars Lizzy Caplan and T.J. Miller anchor an unknown cast. While larger in scale than Greenland, Cloverfield matches its gritty, ground-level intimacy.
8. Children of Men (2006)
Set in a dystopian future where humanity faces extinction after two decades of global infertility, Children of Men follows a jaded bureaucrat (Clive Owen) tasked with escorting a miraculously pregnant refugee (Clare-Hope Ashitey) to safety as the UK teeters on the brink of collapse.
Director Alfonso Cuarón grounds the sci-fi premise with documentary-like realism, immersing you in a bleak yet recognizable world torn apart by nationalism, terrorism, and despair. Like Greenland, it’s a thriller that feels uncomfortably plausible. The long-take action sequences are breathtaking, but it’s the moments of hope that will stick with you.
9. These Final Hours (2013)
In this Australian apocalyptic drama, a self-destructive young man (Nathan Phillips) finds possible redemption in his final hours when he reluctantly agrees to help a girl (Angourie Rice) reunite with her father before a catastrophic meteor strike ends all life on Earth.
These Final Hours is a smaller, more character-driven take on the last day on Earth, but it delivers several haunting glimpses of society’s collapse through Phillips’ odyssey across a lawless Perth. The tender bond that forms between him and Rice is the heart of the film. If you liked Greenland’s more intimate moments, this hidden gem is worth seeking out.
10. Right at Your Door (2006)
After multiple dirty bombs detonate across Los Angeles, a man (Rory Cochrane) seals himself inside his house against the toxic ash raining down outside. But when his wife (Mary McCormack) returns home after the attack, he faces an impossible choice of whether to let her in.
Right at Your Door is a chilling chamber piece that wrings maximum suspense from its single-location setup. Cochrane and McCormack are riveting as a couple pushed to extremes by unthinkable circumstances. Like Greenland, it’s a small-scale story that cuts deep.
11. The Divide (2011)
The Divide traps eight survivors in the basement of their apartment building after a nuclear attack on New York City. As their supplies dwindle and tensions rise, the makeshift shelter descends into madness and violence.
With a cast including Lauren German, Michael Biehn, Milo Ventimiglia, and Rosanna Arquette, The Divide is an unflinchingly bleak and nihilistic take on post-apocalyptic survival. Director Xavier Gens pushes the envelope with shocking violence and degradation. It’s a far cry from Greenland’s more humanist approach, but a worthy pick for those who want to see how dark the genre can get.
12. Carriers (2009)
Carriers follows four friends (Lou Taylor Pucci, Chris Pine, Piper Perabo, and Emily VanCamp) as they road-trip across the American Southwest in the wake of a viral pandemic, trying to reach a rumored safe haven. When they reluctantly let a man and his infected daughter join them, the uneasy alliance fractures.
Made on a shoestring budget, Carriers gets a lot of mileage out of its talented cast and eerily empty locations. Like Greenland, it’s a more grounded and character-driven take on the genre that wrestles with how far you’d go to protect your loved ones at the end of the world.
13. The Survivalist (2015)
Set in a future where society has collapsed after the oil runs out, The Survivalist follows the title character (Martin McCann) as he carves out a lonely existence in a remote forest cabin. His precarious peace is disrupted when a woman (Olwen Fouéré) and her daughter (Mia Goth) discover his hideout.
The Survivalist is a spare, deliberately paced drama that rewards patient viewers with a haunting depiction of post-apocalyptic life. McCann is magnetic as a man struggling to hold onto his humanity. Like Greenland, it’s ultimately a story about the small moments of connection that can sustain us through the darkest times.
14. Hell (2011)
This German thriller imagines a world plunged into chaos after a series of massive solar flares scorch the Earth’s surface and evaporate its water supply. A group of survivors trek across the desiccated landscape in search of refuge, fighting off bandits and their own desperation.
Hell (the German word for “bright”) is a visually stunning take on the apocalypse, all bleached-out vistas and stylized violence. Like Greenland, it keeps the focus on a small group of characters trying to hold onto hope in a hopeless world. If you’re looking for a hidden gem with a unique aesthetic, it’s worth tracking down.
15. The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
No list of Greenland-esque disaster movies would be complete without an entry from the master of the genre, Roland Emmerich. In The Day After Tomorrow, abrupt climate change plunges the northern hemisphere into a new ice age virtually overnight. Dennis Quaid stars as a climatologist racing from Washington D.C. to New York to rescue his son (Jake Gyllenhaal), who is trapped in the New York Public Library as the city freezes over.
Is it scientifically ridiculous? Absolutely. But Emmerich is a master of large-scale spectacle, and The Day After Tomorrow delivers some of his most iconic disaster imagery, from the Statue of Liberty entombed in ice to ravenous wolves stalking the frozen streets of Manhattan. It’s the biggest and most audaciously entertaining film on this list, proving that sometimes you just want to watch the world freeze over with a bucket of popcorn.
If you loved Greenland’s grounded approach to the disaster movie formula, these 15 films offer similarly harrowing depictions of survival against impossible odds. From the intimate to the epic, there’s something here for every kind of disaster movie fan. So stock up your emergency kit, hunker down, and prepare to watch the world end in 15 thrillingly different ways. You might even find yourself eyeing your neighbors’ bunkers by the time you’re done.
