Gerard Butler spotted at Greenland: Migration location

Greenland: Migration, starring Butler and Morena Baccarin, is a sequel to the 2020 sci-fi hit film Greenland.

Alton's Market Street has been transformed into an eerie abandoned marketplace to serve as a filming location for the new movie.

The movie is expected to hit cinemas in 2025.

READ MORE: Town transformed into eerie apocalyptic set for Hollywood blockbuster film

Rainy Carter, an Overton resident and a movie buff, had been in Alton for the last three days to watch the crew set up and build the set. She even had a go at spray painting.

She went again to Alton on Tuesday and was surprised to see how the town centre was transformed.

"I left work in Winchester and luckily the filming overran," said Rainy, who works as a nanny and an estate manager.

"I walked through my normal route to the set, they must have thought I was a crew.

"Next thing I knew Gerard Butler was right in front of me and I'm on the set outside the Wheatsheaf pub. Lucky timing. Hundreds came to watch. It was an incredible atmosphere."

She said she was told by the film crew that the Alton location was being used as a Liverpool market during the apocalyptic time.

"I could only identify Gerard Butler among all the extras walking through the market square," Rainy said, adding that filming took hours. 

"The security spotted me and moved me to a safe place. As soon as they said it was a wrap, Gerard was whisked away. They are also filming in Aldershot and Farnborough this week.

"It was highly exciting to be on a Hollywood movie set. The film crew were incredible," she said. 

Filming began in the UK in April where scenes will be shot until the middle of June, before moving to Iceland for the final shots.

During the filming in Alton, some of the extras stayed at The Wheatsheaf, one of the main pubs on the film set.

Its windows were boarded up for filming, but it still had a cutout of Gerard Butler inside for people to take photos.

A Gerard Butler cutout inside the Wheatsheaf pub in Alton (Image: Rainy Carter)

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Rainy said pub owner Leycester, manager Jamie and staff Sue and Deano were fantastic as they supported all the crew and made visitors feel especially welcome.

They also put their own money in to treat the extras all day with treats and a spread, Rainy added.

A timetable for the filming was given to residents and businesses showing that Market Street would be closed to traffic until 7pm on May 8.

The original Greenland film grossed £41m worldwide with a production budget of £27m.