Parker Finntook the world of horror by storm with 2022's Smile, grossing more than $200 million on a mere $17 million budget. Originally slated for a straight-to-streaming release on Paramount+, the reaction from test screenings saw it boosted to a theatrical release, with a unique marketing campaign that only boosted its success at the box office and propelled the film to the status of a modern classic.
Written and directed by Parker Finn, based on his 2020 short film Laura Hasn't Slept, Smile follows Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon), whose life is turned upside down when she witnesses the brutal death of one of her patients. She soon finds herself followed by mysterious smiling entities and discovers she has seven days to figure out how to successfully avoid her own demise at the hands of the unknown demon.
It's a simple concept heightened by its use of a supernatural narrative navigating themes of mental health issues and loss, its unbelievable ending and the buzz created in the run-up to its release. It seemed inevitable that a sequel would soon be on its way. Alas, development on an official Smile sequel, Smile 2 was confirmed back in April 2023 by Finn at CinemaCon, but much of the details of the next installment have been kept tightly under wraps ahead of its October 18 release.
FANGORIA has pieced together everything we know about Smile 2 to have you grinning from ear-to-ear in the run-up to one of 2024's most eagerly anticipated new horror movies.
Background
After its Fantastic Fest premiere on September 22, 2022, genre fans knew something special was coming to cinemas with generally positive reviews across the internet and social media. Eight days later, the film came to theaters in the United States, and it went on to gross a whopping $217.4 million worldwide. "My interior cynicism and neuroses would never let me anticipate this," Finn told Chapman News, after studying at Chapman's Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. "Everybody who wants to make movies dreams of making something that's seen widely and embraced, but I wasn't scheming toward this by any means."
Despite the runaway success of Smile, Parker Finn initially told ComicBook.com that he had no plans for a Smile sequel: "For me, as a filmmaker, I never want to retread and just do something I've already done again the exact same way. In a universe where there could be any…more story to tell from Smile, I'd wanna make sure it was surprising and different and not what people were expecting after the first one."
However, in March 2023 Finn signed a first-look deal with Paramount Pictures to develop feature horror films, and a sequel to Smile was announced under the title Smile Deluxe, with pre-production reportedly beginning in the same month.
Smile 2 Release Date
Smile 2 is set to hit theaters October 18, 2024, just over two years since the first movie's release.
Capitalizing on the excitement of Goth Christmas, aka Halloween, Smile 2 comes at the perfect time during spooky season, released alongside the likes of Wolf Man and Terrifier 3. It also comes out in between Joker sequel Folie à Deux and Venom 3 from Marvel at the start of November, so it's set to be an exciting month at the movie theater.
Nothing to see here. #SmileMovie https://t.co/SxmNROIFzF
— Smile Movie (@SmileMovie) September 28, 2022
One thing fans are surely excited about is to see what Paramount can pull out of the bag this time in its marketing campaign for Smile 2. Smile's creepy viral marketing campaign saw strategically placed actors pop up in public places, like the Today Show and a Yankees v. Red Sox game. Of course, people quickly took to social media with their own photos of the "smilers" they saw, or screengrabs from the games and shows they were watching interrupted by a devilish grin in the crowd.
Whatever stunts the studio has in store for the sequel are bound to be bigger and scarier following their initial horror hit, and fans already can't wait.
Plot Development
It has not been revealed exactly how Smile 2 will fit into the Smile universe, but Parker Finn previously told Den Of Geek that he deliberately left elements of the first film ambiguous so they could be explored in a follow-up. He said: "There are a lot of exciting things that could be done with Smile, and like I said, there are elements of the film that I left purposely unexplored. [But] the last thing I ever want to do is just directly repeat myself or retread ground that I've already gone over. I want it to feel very unexpected and exciting and fresh in a way that might catch audiences off guard, and make sure that the film has a brand-new bag of tricks up its sleeve."
Smile ended with Rose succumbing to the curse after she saw the gruesome Smile demon, and self-immolating in tragic, horrifying scenes. Unfortunately, her detective ex-boyfriend Joel (Kyle Gallner) witnessed her death, with the curse passing to him.
Given this ending and how much of the lore of Smile has been unexplored, the sequel could go in several directions. It could well follow Joel in his quest to pass the curse onto someone else (more on that later), or we could follow a new protagonist with several new faces signing onto the cast.
It is also possible that Smile 2 could be a prequel or origin story delving into the nature of the curse itself and explaining how this nightmare began.
Cast and returning characters
One character we know for sure is returning for Smile 2 is Kyle Gallner's Joel, with Gallner announced to be starring in the sequel. The scope of Joel's return has not yet been announced. So it is unclear whether he will be the protagonist of the new film or whether he will only feature in a flashback, flash-forward, or an even smaller role. But more Kyle Gallner on our screens is always a cause for celebration.
With him being the last person to see Rose alive, there are sure to be plenty of questions for Joel if his character does prove to be the focus of Smile 2. Rose's death also leaves the door open for the return of her sister Holly (Gillian Zinser) and boyfriend Trevor (Jesse T. Usher), who are sure to be the ones most devastated by her loss. Rose's colleague Dr Morgan Desai (Kal Penn) and therapist Dr Madeline Northcott (Robin Weigert) could also, theoretically, return for Smile 2 after surviving the first onslaught of the demon.
Due to the ending of Smile, it seems unlikely that Bacon's character will return, but newcomer Naomi Scott and her as-yet-undisclosed character could well be the focus of the latest film.
Naomi Scott is best known for her role as Jasmine in Disney's live-action adaptation of Aladdin, as well as appearances in Power Rangers, Charlie's Angels, and The 33. Stars The White Lotus' Lukas Gage and The Staircase's Rosemarie DeWitt have also joined the cast in undisclosed roles.
Raúl Castillo (Cassandro) and Miles Gutierrez-Riley (The Wilds) have also signed on with the sequel, joining the previously announced Naomi Scott, Lukas Gage, Kyle Gallner, Rosemarie DeWitt and Dylan Gelula.
Every horror film needs its monster, and it seems sort of obvious that whatever happens in Smile 2, we will once again see the entity in its true form. Marti Matulis played the original demon when we finally caught a glimpse of it in the film's final scenes, and he could return for the sequel, though this has not yet been confirmed.
Filming Locations
Much of the filming for Smile took place in New Jersey, including the city of Hoboken and locations such as Murphy Varnish Lofts, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark and Lewis Morris Park in Morristown.
Smile 2, however, saw principal photography begin in late 2024 in Hudson Valley, New York, with locations including Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, Wappingers Falls, Albany and New York City.
The shift in locations seems to lend itself to the idea that the film will follow a totally new story and new protagonists, moving further away from the original film. However, with filming expected to wrap in March 2024, there's still time for familiar locations to be explored.
Directorial Approach
Parker Finn, who will return to direct the sequel, has kept shtum about what we can expect in terms of plot details in Smile 2, but he has given a small hint that it'll be wildly different from the first film.
Addressing the idea that the second film picks up where it left off and could follow Joel, he told The Hollywood Reporter: "I do think that there is still a lot of interesting stuff to explore in the world of Smile. There certainly are stones that I left unturned by design. And then there are other things that I, at one point or another, wanted to put in the movie, but they didn't end up in the movie for whatever reason. So those things are still exciting to me." Finn also added, "I also want to find some new ways to scare them and unnerve them. But as far as how it may connect to the first one, if we were to do it, I'd want that to be surprising as well."
In a separate interview with Movie Web, Finn also hinted as to how the mysterious entity could return in the upcoming sequel: "I think that there could be a really exciting way for there to be more in the world of Smile, but something very unexpected and surprising for an audience with a lot of tricks of its sleeves."
Storytelling Elements
Smile was widely praised for Parker Finn's exploration of trauma and loss through its protagonists, which will surely be explored in its second outing. Rose is a mental health practitioner and is surrounded by those dealing with trauma and other mental health issues that she helps them navigate. But as Rose and Joel bond, Rose opens up on dealing with the loss of her mother and her strained relationship with her sister. The entity that haunts her, which presents as multiple everyday humans hiding behind an eerie smile, can be seen to represent people struggling with mental health issues and trauma who hide behind a smile every day to get through their lives.
In Rose's ending, and the deaths of those that come before her, Smile can ultimately be seen as a metaphor for those who simply cannot keep the facade going, and they sadly succumb to taking their own lives in the process. Similarly, Rose can be seen to represent the notion of inheriting mental illness and trauma through her family, as she meets the same end as her mother before her, passing the trauma onto those in her own family, including her sister, her fiance, and ex-boyfriend, with the possibility of Smile 2 exploring this continuation.
Smile brought excitement back to the marketing of horror films in 2022, and we're still feeling it now with the eerie, cryptic snippets of information the team at Neon are sharing for Nicolas Cage and Maika Monroe's film Longlegs. The success of Smile's wild and wonderful stunts helped propel the nail-biting, nightmarish flick from a low-budget, straight-to-streaming release to a box office success with horror and none-horror fans alike packing into cinemas in droves to see what all the fuss was about.
And the same can be said for Smile 2, with a palpable buzz in the genre world surrounding the project since way before the sequel was even announced. The emotive themes, terrifying visuals, and wild third act of Smile connected with an audience to deliver a thrill ride of chills and maybe even tears, so it will be interesting to see how Finn - who has hinted that a return to the Smile universe will be incredibly different from the inaugural film - will surpass audience expectations this time around.
With fresh faces, returning cast members, and the promise of a fresh narrative that doesn't retread old ground, fans are sure to be hiding behind their fingers in theaters this October. Check out our full list of all the new horror movies we can't wait to watch in 2024.
