Writer/director Parker Finn’s sequel to his 2022 horror film Smile (read our review HERE, watch the movie HERE) is aiming for an October 18th theatrical release date – and with that date just six months away, Paramount decided to start building the hype for Smile 2 during their panel at CinemaCon today. They showed a teaser trailer to the people who attended their panel, and in the audience was JoBlo’s own Lance Vlcek!
Lance describes what he saw in this teaser: “Story appears to be set around a Taylor Swift type of mega-star artist (Naomi Scott) who gets sucked into the curse of Smile. The sequel has a bigger budget and slicker look, seems to be bigger in scope. There was a very cool scene where a crowd of people under control of the entity are in a tight backstage hallway chasing Naomi Scott, all of the smiling in that creepy way. Plot-wise, it doesn’t give much away. It was a montage of creepy imagery, jump scares, and a whole lot of creepy people smiling.“
Smile was based on Finn’s short film Laura Hasn’t Slept (watch it HERE), which won the Special Jury Recognition Prize in SXSW’s Midnight Short category. Caitlin Stasey (Neighbours) played the title character in that short, and reprises the role in Smile, making it a follow-up of sorts. Smile has the following synopsis: After witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient, Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) starts experiencing frightening occurrences that she can’t explain. As an overwhelming terror begins taking over her life, Rose must confront her troubling past in order to survive and escape her horrifying new reality.
Smile was produced by Temple Hill, and they are producing Smile 2 as well. The sequel stars Naomi Scott of Aladdin and Charlie’s Angels, Lukas Gage of The White Lotus and You, Rosemarie DeWitt of La La Land and the Poltergeist remake, Dylan Gelula of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Dream Scenario, Raúl Castillo of Army of the Dead and Knives Out, Miles Gutierrez-Riley of The Wilds and On The Come Up, and Kyle Gallner (Red State), reprising the role he played in the first movie.
Finn has previously said that he feels there’s a lot of interesting stuff left to explore in the world of Smile. “I would never want to just repeat myself or retread the same ground. I’d want to make sure that there’s a new, exciting, fresh way into it that the audience isn’t anticipating. 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, I’d want that to be surprising as well.“
Are you looking forward to Smile 2? What do you think of the information that came out of CinemaCon? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
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