When scientists discover that a planet-destroying comet named Clark is on a direct collision course with Earth, structural engineer John Garrity and his family are surprisingly selected for an emergency evacuation to a highly classified military bunker. As global panic ensues and society rapidly collapses into lawlessness, the Garritys are tragically separated. Now, they must navigate a perilous, terrifying journey across a chaotic landscape, battling desperate survivors and catastrophic meteorite strikes to reunite and reach their only hope for survival in Greenland before the final extinction-level impact.
Information |
|
|---|---|
Language |
English |
Country |
United States |
Premiere date |
December 18, 2020 |
Running time |
119 minutes |
Genre |
Action Thriller Drama |
Budget |
$35,000,000 |
Box Office |
$52,300,000 |
Crew |
|
Directed by |
Ric Roman Waugh |
Produced by |
Gerard Butler Basil Iwanyk Sébastien Raybaud Alan Siegel |
Written by |
Chris Sparling |
Music by |
David Buckley |
Cinematography |
Dana Gonzales |
Edited by |
Gabriel Fleming |
Production Co. |
Anton Thunder Road Pictures G-BASE Film Production Riverstone Pictures |
Distributed by |
STXfilms |
Official Trailer
The Plot
An Ominous Sky Over Atlanta
In the quiet suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, structural engineer John Garrity navigated the strained waters of his domestic life. He lived with his estranged wife, Allison, and their young, diabetic son, Nathan, trying to maintain a semblance of normalcy despite the emotional distance between them. On what seemed like an ordinary evening, John returned home to a neighborhood buzzing with excitement. Families and friends had gathered in backyards and living rooms to witness a spectacular astronomical event: the near-Earth passing of a recently discovered interstellar comet affectionately nicknamed "Clarke." The atmosphere was light, filled with the casual chatter of neighbors gazing up at the sky, entirely unaware of the catastrophic trajectory the celestial body was truly on.
The Presidential Alert
The illusion of safety shattered during a routine trip to the local supermarket. As John navigated the aisles, his phone suddenly blared with an automated message from the Department of Homeland Security. The chilling broadcast informed him that he and his family had been specifically selected for emergency sheltering. Heart pounding, John abandoned his groceries and rushed back home. He arrived just as the gathered neighbors were watching live television coverage of a comet fragment entering Earth's atmosphere. The news anchors had confidently predicted the fragment would splash down harmlessly in the ocean near Bermuda. Instead, the screen erupted in white light as the fragment struck Tampa, Florida, instantly vaporizing the city and obliterating most of the state in a blinding flash of destruction.
Before the shock could fully set in, John received a direct phone call with strict, automated instructions: the Garrity family was to head immediately to Robins Air Force Base for a military evacuation flight. The devastating truth was revealed—Clarke was not simply passing by; it was on a direct, unavoidable collision course with Earth. Over the next two days, the entire planet would be bombarded by hundreds of deadly fragments in a cataclysmic event, culminating in the impact of one massive fragment large enough to trigger an extinction-level event. Panic consumed the neighborhood. John, Allison, and Nathan frantically packed their most essential belongings and fled their home. The departure was agonizing, as they were forced to look their terrified neighbors in the eye and refuse to take them along, knowing that bringing anyone else would result in the military denying them all boarding.
Separation at the Gates
The journey to Robins Air Force Base quickly turned into a nightmare as they encountered a massive, unmoving line of gridlocked traffic. With time running out, the Garritys made the agonizing decision to abandon their vehicle and continue on foot. In the chaotic rush to reach the base, a fatal oversight occurred: Nathan's life-saving insulin was left behind in the car. Realizing the mistake as they neared the military checkpoints, John turned back into the crush of fleeing civilians to retrieve the medication. While he was gone, Allison and Nathan advanced to the processing area. However, the strict military protocols proved merciless. When Nathan's diabetic condition was discovered during the medical screening, he was immediately disqualified from the emergency flight. Despite her frantic pleas, Allison and her son were coldly escorted off the base.
Unaware of his family's rejection, John fought his way back, successfully passing the checkpoints and boarding a waiting military transport plane. As he secured his seat, he looked around the crowded cabin, a cold dread washing over him as he realized Allison and Nathan were nowhere to be found. Panic overtaking reason, John unbuckled his harness and quickly jumped off the aircraft, determined to find his wife and son in the ensuing madness.
Fire on the Tarmac
As John exited the secure zone of the base, the fragile perimeter defenses finally gave way. A terrified, panicked mob of civilians broke through the fencing, desperately storming the tarmac in a bid to force their way onto the departing flights. The military responded, and in the chaotic crossfire, stray gunfire sparked a massive explosion as jet fuel ignited. The runway became an inferno, destroying several evacuation planes and claiming countless lives in the blazing wreckage. Narrowly escaping the fiery destruction, John made his way back to their abandoned car. There, amidst the desolate highway, he found a hastily scribbled note from Allison. It was a lifeline in the darkness, informing him that she and Nathan were heading to her father's home in Lexington, Kentucky.
The Cruelty of Strangers
Miles away, Allison was fighting her own battle for survival. Knowing Nathan needed his medication, she braved the chaos of a looted pharmacy, scavenging whatever medical supplies she could find amidst the shattered glass and desperate looters. Exhausted and vulnerable, she and Nathan managed to hitch a ride with a seemingly kind couple, Ralph and Judy Vento. But the illusion of safety was quickly shattered. Driven by sheer desperation to survive, Ralph violently turned on them. He kidnapped Nathan, intending to use the boy and his coveted military wristbands as a free pass to board an evacuation flight. Thrown to the side of the road, a helpless Allison frantically begged passersby for help, but everyone was too consumed by their own panic to intervene. Overwhelmed by the loss of her son, she collapsed into hopeless, gut-wrenching tears.
Meanwhile, the Ventos' cruel plan unraveled at another bustling airport. As they attempted to pose as Nathan's loving parents to bypass security, vigilant soldiers quickly noticed the boy's distress and inconsistencies in their story. Discovering that Nathan was not their child, the military personnel promptly arrested Ralph and Judy. A terrified Nathan was taken into safe custody, and shortly after, through the coordinated efforts of a nearby Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) camp, a deeply traumatized Allison was finally reunited with her son, clutching him tightly in a tearful embrace.
Blood on the Highway
Determined to reach Kentucky, John hitched a ride in the back of a cargo truck packed with other desperate survivors heading north. There, he struck up a conversation with a young man named Colin, who shared a crucial piece of information. Colin revealed that the truck was heading toward Osgoode, Ontario, in Canada, where private planes were still reportedly flying evacuees to a classified military site in Greenland. The fragile peace in the truck shattered when another passenger, eyes locked on the government wristband marking John as a selected evacuee, suddenly attacked him. The violent struggle in the cramped space caused the driver to lose control, sending the truck crashing violently off the road.
The brutal impact killed Colin instantly. Trapped in the wreckage and fighting for his life against the deranged passenger, John was forced to make a harrowing choice, ultimately killing the man in self-defense. Emerging bloodied and battered from the twisted metal as the sun rose, John was greeted by grim news on an abandoned radio. Millions of people had already perished in global impacts overnight, and the final, extinction-level fragment was predicted to strike the Earth in approximately twenty-four hours.
Reunion in Lexington
Pushing forward through the devastation, John managed to steal a working car and drove relentlessly until he finally reached the home of his father-in-law, Dale, in Lexington. The sheer relief of arrival was magnified moments later when a vehicle pulled up, and Allison and Nathan stepped out. The family embraced, weeping as they were finally reunited against all odds. Inside the safety of Dale's home, they pieced together the rumors John had heard on the truck. They confirmed the existence of a massive complex of underground bunkers located near the Pituffik Space Base in Greenland—the true destination where the global evacuees were being sent to weather the apocalypse.
Calculating the time and distance, they realized they had just enough time to drive to Canada and reach Osgoode. John and Allison prepared to leave, but Dale made a heartbreaking decision. Refusing to spend his final moments running, he chose to stay behind and die on his own terms in the impending impact. With a tearful goodbye, he handed over the keys to his sturdy truck, sacrificing his only means of escape to give his daughter and her family a fighting chance.
Raining Fire in New York
The drive north was a race against the clock. As they reached Upstate New York, their progress was brutally halted by a massive traffic jam. The sky above them turned a terrifying shade of crimson, and suddenly, a shower of molten, flaming debris began to rain down from the atmosphere. Rocks of fire slammed into cars and the asphalt, causing explosions and utter panic. The Garritys abandoned the truck and sprinted for cover, taking desperate refuge in the shadows beneath a concrete underpass as the world burned around them.
Once the fiery bombardment ceased, they returned to their vehicle and continued their relentless push toward the Canadian border. As they made steady progress toward Osgoode, the radio crackled to life with a horrifying update: the largest fragment of the Clarke comet, measuring a staggering 9 miles (14 kilometers) wide, was on a direct trajectory for Western Europe. The broadcast grimly confirmed that upon impact, the fragment would utterly obliterate the continent and unleash a shockwave that would ravage the globe.
The Last Flight Out of Osgoode
Exhausted but driven by the primal urge to survive, the family arrived at the Osgoode airport just as night fell. The tarmac was a scene of controlled chaos, and they barely managed to negotiate their way onto the very last private flight scheduled to leave for the Arctic. The small plane took to the skies, carrying a cabin full of terrified, silent passengers toward the freezing expanse of Greenland. As they approached the icy coastline, the sky outside the windows illuminated with a blinding, unnatural light. A massive comet fragment struck the ocean just off the coast, sending a gargantuan shockwave rippling through the air.
The concussive force slammed into the aircraft, violently throwing it out of control. Alarms blared as the plane plummeted from the sky, executing a brutal crash-landing onto the unforgiving icy terrain. The impact was devastating, instantly killing the pilots in the cockpit. Bruised, bleeding, but miraculously alive, the Garritys and the remaining passengers forced the emergency doors open and stepped out into the freezing arctic wind.
The Extinction Event
Through the howling winds of Greenland, the survivors spotted the headlights of a military transport truck rumbling across the ice. Frantically flagging the vehicle down, they were hauled into the back and rushed toward the towering, reinforced steel doors of the Pituffik bunker complex. Sirens wailed across the frozen landscape. Just as John, Allison, and Nathan crossed the threshold into the subterranean shelter, the atmosphere above them ignited. The 9-mile-wide fragment breached the Earth's atmosphere and struck with unimaginable force. The ground violently shuddered as the massive blast doors sealed shut, locking the survivors in darkness just as civilization on the surface was entirely devastated by the apocalyptic impact.
Nine Months Later
For nine long, grueling months, the remnants of humanity lived deep underground, waiting out the suffocating ash and global winter. The subterranean bunkers became a fragile microcosm of human endurance. Eventually, the military operators in the command center attempted to make radio contact with other potential survivors across the globe. As the static cleared, the monitors displayed bleak, satellite-captured images of a world in total ruin—the iconic skylines of Sydney, Chicago, Paris, and Mexico City had been reduced to nothing but silent, smoldering craters and ash-covered wastelands.
Finally, the all-clear was given. The massive steel doors of the bunker groaned open, allowing the Garritys and the other occupants to step outside and gaze upon a radically changed, alien landscape. The sun shone weakly through the dissipating clouds. Inside the communications room, a breakthrough occurred: Greenland successfully made radio contact with other isolated survivor stations scattered around the globe. Tears of relief flowed as voices crackled over the speakers, reporting from different continents that the dense, toxic atmosphere was finally beginning to clear. Standing together in the cold light of a new world, the survivors realized they had been given the ultimate, albeit fragile, second chance to rebuild humanity.
Top Cast
- Gerard Butler as John Garrity
- Morena Baccarin as Allison Garrity
- Roger Dale Floyd as Nathan Garrity
- Scott Glenn as Dale
- David Denman as Ralph Vento
- Hope Davis as Judy Vento
- Andrew Bachelor as Colin
- Merrin Dungey as Major Breen
- Gary Weeks as Ed Pruitt
- Tracey Bonner as Peggy Pruitt
Movie Collection
- Greenland (2020)
- Greenland 2: Migration (2026)
