It has been just over a year since Smile became a smash hit at the box office, and now, a sequel to the small-budget psychological horror film is officially on the way. Smile 2 was actually confirmed to be in development at CinemaCon back in April 2023. However, with Paramount Pictures recently giving it an official release date, Smile 2 is another step closer to becoming a reality.
Smile premiered on September 30, 2022, and grossed $100 million at the box office against a budget of just $17 million. The film follows Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon), a psychiatrist who witnesses a traumatic death and subsequently finds herself terrorized by hallucinations of people smiling unnaturally and grotesquely at her. When she realizes that this phenomenon has tormented others to the point of death, Rose races to find out what’s truly at play here, uncovering an ancient entity that feeds off of trauma.
In addition to cleverly marketing itself with unsettling and eye-catching smiles, the intense thriller garnered attention for its intriguing exploration of trauma and mental illness. Its storyline and shocking ending also left the door invitingly open for sequels. Now, Smile director and writer Parker Finn is capitalizing on the opportunity and returning to bring audiences Smile 2. Here’s everything we know about the Smile sequel so far.
Smile 2 release date
Smile 2 is set to premiere on October 18, 2024. It is also expected to be released on Paramount+ for streaming at a later undisclosed date.
Smile 2 cast
While it has been confirmed that Finn is returning to write and direct Smile 2, no further cast or crew have been announced. However, a few characters from the original have the potential to return in the sequel. Marti Matulis, who portrayed the smiling entity’s humanoid form, is the likeliest actor to return. With the entity guaranteed to be the center of Smile 2, Matulis could easily reprise his role as the entity’s true form as well. Kyle Gallner’s Joel is another character with potential to return, considering that the first film ended with him being exposed to the entity, thus becoming its next victim and target.
Kal Penn and Robin Weigert could also return to play Rose’s colleague, Dr. Morgan Desai, and therapist, Dr. Madeline Northcott, respectively. Perhaps, in questioning what happened to Cotter, they also get wrapped up in the entity. Similarly, Rose’s fiancé Trevor (Jessie T. Usher) and sister Holly (Gillian Zinser) could also return. They are bound to be the most impacted by her passing, especially since they didn’t take her concerns seriously. Needless to say, any living character in Smile could return to probe the tragic circumstances around Rose’s death.
Smile 2 plot
No plot details for Smile 2 have been confirmed. However, Finn has dropped a few hints about what the film might entail. He told Den of Geek:
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.
Based on his statement, the sequel could further delve into the history and nature of the entity or Joel’s experiences with the curse, as these were plot points intentionally left unexplored. However, given that he wants to surprise viewers, Finn may be thinking of an entirely new direction for the franchise with a sequel that does more than re-examine the entity and its endless cycle. It’s a little hard to imagine how Smile 2 could differentiate itself so significantly from its predecessor unless it’s a prequel diving into the lore, or a sequel exploring a new entity. Still, Finn appears confident that he has something quite exciting in mind for the franchise.
(featured image: Paramount Pictures)
