Parker Finn’s Smile 2 made a bigger splash with its opening than the original Smile in 2022 with not only its box-office performance, but also with critics, as the sequel sits at 85% positive reviews compared to the original’s 79% positive. In addition to the sequel earning more attention than the debut movie, the sequel concluded with a more explicit tease that the demonic curse of the franchise was about to be taken to new levels, with Finn recently confirming he’d only be interested in continuing the saga if he could find a way to tell character stories as opposed to delivering cheap scares. He also teased he personally saw a lot of storytelling opportunities for the franchise, though a third film has yet to officially be confirmed. Smile 2 is in theaters now.
“Well, I will say this, I think there are a lot of interesting roads that any future Smile could go down. For me, I love all the stuff that goes bump in the night, and all the really frightening things of the big concept of Smile and the Smiler,” Finn detailed to Collider. “But really, for me, Smile is a vehicle to tell really intense and hopefully thoughtful character stories, and so I’d wanna make sure, regardless of if more than one person might have it, that we still find a way to really invest intimacy into the storytelling. That’s super important to me. But I think there are some really interesting tricks still up the sleeves of Smile.”
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The original movie focused on Dr. Rose Cutter (Sosie Bacon) witnessing a client kill themselves in front of her, only for audiences to realize the young woman had become possessed by a supernatural curse. In Smile 2, the curse had made its way to pop singer Skye Riley (Naomi Scott), whose past trauma and guilt manifested the curse in bigger and more horrifying ways.
WARNING: Spoilers below for Smile 2
Part of what sets the sequel apart from the original movie is that, while the debut movie saw the curse passing from one person to another, in the finale of Smile 2, Skye violently kills herself in front of an entire crowd at her concert. It can be assumed that thousands of people in the audience will now be targeted by the curse, spreading it even further for another entry.
Finn is currently attached to develop a new take on the 1981 horror classic Possession, and while that project doesn’t have a release date, it would seem likely that he would move forward on that before a new Smile. The success of both films, however, could mean that, rather than Finn helming a follow-up movie, another filmmaker could step in for Smile 3, or that another story could be told in that world that wasn’t a direct continuation of Smile 2.
Stay tuned for updates on the future of the Smile franchise. Smile 2 is in theaters now.
Do you hope we get a Smile 3? Contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter or on Instagram to talk all things Star Wars and horror!