# Smile 2

Smile 2 is a 2024 American supernatural psychological horror film written and directed by Parker Finn. A sequel to Smile (2022), the film stars Naomi Scott as Skye Riley, a pop star who begins to experience a series of increasingly disturbing events just as she is about to embark on tour. It also features Rosemarie DeWitt, Lukas Gage, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Peter Jacobson, Ray Nicholson, Dylan Gelula, and Raúl Castillo, with Kyle Gallner reprising his role from the first film.
In March 2023, following the commercial success of Smile, Finn signed a first-look deal with Paramount Pictures for future horror projects. In the following April, a sequel to Smile had entered pre-production, with Finn returning as writer and director. Principal photography took place in early 2024 in New York.
Smile 2 was released theatrically in the United States on October 18, 2024. Like its predecessor, the film received generally positive reviews from critics, with Scott receiving praise for her performance, and grossed $138.1 million worldwide. A sequel is in development.

## Plot

Six days after Rose Cotter's death, the now-cursed Joel attempts to pass the Smile Entity on by killing one murderous criminal in front of another. During a shootout, he accidentally kills the witness but drug dealer Lewis Fregoli inherits the curse as a bystander. When Joel tries to flee, he is run over and killed by a truck.
Meanwhile, New York–based pop star Skye Riley prepares for her comeback tour following a public struggle with substance abuse and a car crash that killed her actor boyfriend, Paul Hudson. Despite constant supervision from her mother/manager Elizabeth and their assistant Joshua, Skye sneaks out to buy Vicodin from Lewis, her high school friend, after injuring her back in rehearsals. At his apartment, Skye witnesses Lewis screaming and panicking before collapsing in an apparent seizure. He rises, smiling, and fatally smashes his face in with a barbell plate. Afraid of being found in a room full of drugs, Skye leaves without alerting anyone.
Now cursed herself, Skye begins to experience deranged hallucinations of people smiling at her, causing her mental health to rapidly deteriorate. Needing support, she reconciles with her estranged friend Gemma. Skye receives a text from an unknown number, claiming to know she was at Lewis's apartment and that she is in danger. While speaking at a fundraiser hosted by music executive Darius, Skye hallucinates the teleprompter stalling and goes on an impromptu tirade about how success has not improved her life. She sees a smiling Paul approaching from the audience and panics, accidentally injuring the event's elderly host.
Skye meets Morris, the man who texted her, in a bar. He tells her he has been tracking the Entity ever since it killed his brother. He explains that the curse passes to anyone who witnesses a victim's death. Theorizing that the Entity is parasitic and could die without a host, he suggests stopping Skye's heart and then resuscitating her to break the curse, but she refuses and leaves after being recognized by bargoers. Following a lengthy mental breakdown in her apartment, Skye is cornered by the Entity, which takes the form of her backup dancers. Skye tries to escape but is violently thrown around the apartment and pinned down as a giant arm forces its way into her throat, causing her to black out.
A flashback reveals that Skye caused Paul's death by intentionally crashing the car during a drug-induced argument. Later, Skye awakens at a retreat and argues with Elizabeth over the upcoming tour. Suddenly, Elizabeth smiles, smashes a mirror, and fatally stabs herself with a shard. Skye attempts to leave but, to her horror, realizes that it was she who stabbed Elizabeth. Skye escapes the retreat and reunites with Gemma, stealing a car to meet Morris. She receives a call from the real Gemma and realizes that the "Gemma" who is in the vehicle with her, and who she has been with all week, is the Entity. After regaining control of the car, Skye meets Morris at an abandoned Pizza Hut, where he plans to use the walk-in freezer to prevent brain damage when stopping her heart. Morris temporarily leaves and the Entity appears as Skye's former self from the car wreck. After a struggle, she fights it off and injects herself with the syringe meant to stop her heart. Unfazed, the Entity mockingly affirms that Skye is not in control.
Skye then finds herself on stage for a performance at Herald Square Garden. She sees Joshua, Darius and a still-alive Elizabeth watching from the audience, and realizes that the entire day has been an illusion. The Entity appears as Skye's current self before tearing its stomach open to reveal its true form: a giant, bloody, skinless creature with multiple smiling mouths nested within one another. Skye screams and falls into a trance, before the Entity rips Skye's mouth apart, preparing to crawl inside; to the crowd, it appears that Skye has collapsed and is choking. A possessed Skye stands up, smiling, and fatally stabs herself in the eye with her microphone in front of thousands of horrified spectators.

## Cast

* Naomi Scott as Skye Riley, a famous pop music recording artist
* Rosemarie DeWitt as Elizabeth Riley, Skye's mother and manager
* Lukas Gage as Lewis, a drug dealer and Skye's former classmate
* Miles Gutierrez-Riley as Joshua, Elizabeth and Skye's assistant
* Peter Jacobson as Morris, a nurse who tracked the Smile Entity's actions
* Ray Nicholson as Paul Hudson, a deceased actor and Skye's former boyfriend
* Dylan Gelula as Gemma, Skye's estranged best friend
* Raúl Castillo as Darius, the head of Skye's record company
* Kyle Gallner as Joel, a police officer who previously was cursed by the Smile Entity
Additionally, Drew Barrymore appears as herself, interviewing Skye on her talk show, while director Parker Finn himself cameos as a photographer. The likeness of Sosie Bacon as Rose Cotter appears via a hallucination to Joel. Trevor Newlin appears as the Smile Entity.

## Production
### Development

Smile writer and director Parker Finn intentionally left portions of the first film ambiguous, with various plotlines unresolved, to create the opportunity to explore those details in a sequel. He noted that while additional installments may explore the backstory of the entity, he would like to keep its mysterious nature intact, adding that a follow-up film would be notably different from the first as he believed "there is still a lot of interesting stuff to explore in the world of Smile. ... I'd want to make sure that there's a new, exciting, fresh way into it that the audience isn't anticipating." In March 2023, following the commercial success of Smile, Finn signed a first-look deal with Paramount Pictures to develop additional horror projects. The following month at 2023 CinemaCon, Paramount announced that a sequel to Smile had been green-lit and was in pre-production, with Finn returning as writer and director.
In October 2024, Finn described the film as "an exploration of the downfall of this pop star who's unable to overcome the things that have been put upon her." He added, "What I love about the ending of this film is that I wanted to create this meta-feeling moment, where the audience in the arena is staring through the screen at the audience in the movie theater. I wanted to raise the question: Did we do this to Skye? By us coming back for a Smile 2, have we done this to her? It's all intriguing to me, this idea of 'are we complicit in this?'"

### Casting

In December 2023, Naomi Scott was cast in a leading role, which she stated was inspired by Lady Gaga in the early 2010s as well as Britney Spears. In early 2024, Lukas Gage, Rosemarie DeWitt, Dylan Gelula, Raúl Castillo and Miles Gutierrez-Riley joined the cast. Kyle Gallner reprised his role as Joel from the first film. In September 2024, it was revealed Drew Barrymore would appear as herself in the film. The casting of Ray Nicholson was an homage to his father Jack Nicholson's role as Jack Torrance in The Shining (1980). Principal photography took place from January to March 2024 throughout Hudson Valley, New York, with primary locations in Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, Wappingers Falls, Albany, and New York City. Returning Smile crew members included cinematographer Charlie Sarroff, editor Elliot Greenberg, and composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer. The film's budget was $28 million.

## Music
### Soundtrack

Smile 2: The Skye Riley EP is the third extended play (EP) by English actress and singer Naomi Scott, which acts as the soundtrack album for Smile 2, and the songs were performed by her character Skye Riley. It was released through Interscope Records on October 11, 2024.
On June 8, 2024, the @SkyeRileyNation Instagram account began teasing a new era of a popstar named Skye Riley. On June 13, Bloody Disgusting spotted promotional billboards promoting the artist and her new music. On June 18, a song titled "Blood on White Satin" was released through Interscope Records and was featured in the first trailer of the film. The film was promoted with an audience member at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards. The second single, "Grieved You", was released on September 13.

### Score

The score for Smile 2 was composed by Cristobal Tapia de Veer, who returned after scoring the first film. It was released on October 25, 2024, through Lakeshore Records, with "Smilers" being released a day earlier through ComingSoon.net.
All tracks are written by Cristobal Tapia de Veer.

## Release

Smile 2 was released in the United States by Paramount Pictures on October 18, 2024. It was released on premium video on demand (PVOD) on November 19, 2024, and on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, 4K Ultra HD SteelBook and DVD on January 21, 2025.

## Reception
### Box office

As of December 10, 2024, Smile 2 has grossed $69 million in the United States and Canada, and $69.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $138.1 million.
In the United States and Canada, Smile 2 was projected to gross $17–25 million from 3,619 theaters in its opening weekend. The film made $9.5 million on its first day, including an estimated $2.5 million in previews. The film went on to debut to $23 million, topping the original's $22.6 million debut and finishing first at the box office. The film made $9.5 million in its second weekend, finishing second behind newcomer Venom: The Last Dance.

### Critical response

The film received generally positive reviews from critics, giving high praise for Naomi Scott's performance. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 86% of 203 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's consensus reads: "Blessed with a nerve-jangling star turn by Naomi Scott, writer-director Parker Finn broadens Smile's conceit into a pop stardom nightmare that'll leave a rictus grin on horror fans' faces." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 67 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale (up from the first film's "B-"), while those surveyed by PostTrak gave it a 71% overall positive score (including an average of 3½ out of 5 stars).
Writing for Polygon, Austen Goslin gave a positive review for the film, deeming it superior to the first, while stating: "Rather than simply rehashing the original, Parker Finn pushes his clever premise to its logical extreme and builds some incredibly scary scenes to match. In fact, Finn ends Smile 2 in a spot that feels like the perfect conclusion to the franchise — and the perfect jumping-off point for the career of one of the most exciting horror directors of his generation." David Fear of Rolling Stone wrote, "There are long stretches where you actually forget you're watching a Smile movie and couldn't be blamed for thinking you've stumbled into a slightly more nightmarish version of Beyond the Lights." Benjamin Lee of The Guardian gave the film 3/5 stars, writing, "I'm not sure if Smile 2 really adds much to an experience that we don't already know but it does make for a neat, well-utilised setting for a horror film about losing one's mind." Variety's Owen Gleiberman said, "The movie is hardly subtle, yet Parker Finn has become a clever enough filmmaker to make reality feel like a hallucination and hallucinations feel like reality."
Bilge Ebiri of Vulture was more critical, writing, "As Skye becomes increasingly unable to tell what's actually happening and what's a waking nightmare, we should feel more for her, and we should feel more with her. Instead, we lose interest, as the whole thing becomes pointless and even a little cynical and cruel. The movie ultimately scuttles its own ambitions." NME's James Mottram said, "Sadly, Smile 2 doesn't feel as fresh as its predecessor. Partly because it borrows liberally from films like Flatliners (and tries to out-gore The Substance for all the bloody prosthetics)... in essence this is just a re-run of the first movie, just in a slightly glitzier environment."

### Accolades

| Award/Festival | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
| The Astra Awards | December 8, 2024 | Best Horror or Thriller Feature | Smile 2 | Nominated |
| The Astra Awards | December 8, 2024 | Best Actress | Naomi Scott | Nominated |
| The Astra Awards | December 8, 2024 | Best Performance in a Horror or Thriller | Naomi Scott | Won |
| Make-Up Artists and Hair Stylists Guild Awards | February 15, 2025 | Best Contemporary Make-Up | Sasha Grossman, Valerie Carney | Nominated |
| Saturn Awards | February 2, 2025 | Best Horror Film | Smile 2 | Nominated |
| Saturn Awards | February 2, 2025 | Best Actress in a Film | Naomi Scott | Nominated |
| Saturn Awards | February 2, 2025 | Best Film Make Up | Smile 2 | Nominated |
| Saturn Awards | February 2, 2025 | Best Film Music | Cristobal Tapia de Veer | Nominated |

## Future

In September 2024, writer/director Parker Finn confirmed plans to continue the franchise with a third film; stating: "...we've maybe only scooped a single glass of water out of the ocean. ...I think it's really fun to imagine a lineage of Smile movies where each one becomes more off the rails than the previous one." In December, it was reported that Smile 3 was in the works and is set to start filming in 2025.