Gerard Butler’s Action Sequel Debuts with Half the Box Office Haul of Jason Statham’s ‘A Working Man’

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Gerard Butler on the red carpet at Tribeca Film Fest

Rahul Malhotra is a Weekend News Writer for Collider. From Francois Ozon to David Fincher, he'll watch anything once.

He has been writing for Collider for over two years, and has covered everything from Marvel to the Oscars, and Marvel at the Oscars. He also writes obsessively about the box office, charting the many hits and misses that are released weekly, and how their commercial performance shapes public perception. In his time at Collider, he has also helped drive diversity by writing stories about the multiple Indian film industries, with a goal to introduce audiences to a whole new world of cinema.

Swing and a miss > measured victory. Also, #JusticeForHan. (He/Him).

Having barely secured a top-five spot on the domestic box office charts in its opening weekend, Greenland 2: Migration fell considerably short of expectations. The action sequel, headlined by Gerard Butler, made just $8.5 million in its first weekend, which is less than half of what the number one film, James Cameron's Avatar: Fire and Ash, made in its fourth weekend. To make matters more concerning, Greenland 2 happens to be relatively expensive, with a reported price tag of $90 million — in fact, it's among Butler's most expensive movies of the last decade, minus the How to Train Your Dragon remake, which he didn't lead. Going by the rule of thumb, Greenland 2 would need to gross approximately $200 million at the global box office in order to break even, which doesn't seem very likely at this stage.

For context, Greenland 2's opening weekend gross is roughly half of what Jason Statham's A Working Man made in its debut frame at the same time last year. That movie ended up grossing a little over $35 million domestically and nearly $100 million at the global box office. A year before that, Statham headlined the even more successful action film The Beekeeper, which grossed more than $16 million in its domestic debut and concluded its run with more than $150 million worldwide. Statham has a new movie around the corner, which also happens to be directed by Greenland 2's Ric Roman Waugh. The action star will also star in The Beekeeper 2, which is set for release this year.

'Greenland 2' Opened to Mixed Reviews

Both The Beekeeper and A Working Man were received enthusiastically by audiences, which is key to their box office success. Both films also continue to do very well on streaming and transactional platforms, much like the first Greenland. Released in 2020, the original Greenland didn't make much of an impact in theaters, but was extremely successful on home video. Combined with the positive reviews that it received, its popularity on streaming was seen as a good enough reason to green-light Greenland 2. However, the new movie earned inferior reviews compared to its predecessor, and is currently sitting at a 58% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics' consensus reads, "The world ends more with a whimper in Greenland 2: Migration compared to its predecessor's big bang thrills, but Gerard Butler's sturdy star power keeps this continuation reasonably compelling."

Also starring Morena Baccarin and Roman Griffin Davis, Greenland 2 is playing in theaters. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.