Smile 2

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Smile 2
Smile 2 (2024) poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Parker Finn
Written byParker Finn
Produced by
  • Marty Bowen
  • Wyck Godfrey
  • Isaac Klausner
  • Parker Finn
  • Robert Salerno
Starring
CinematographyCharlie Sarroff
Edited byElliot Greenberg
Music by Cristobal Tapia de Veer
Production
companies
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date
  • October 18, 2024 (2024-10-18)
Running time
127 minutes [1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$28 million
Box office$131.8 million [2] [3]

Smile 2 is a 2024 American psychological supernatural horror film written and directed by Parker Finn. A sequel to Smile (2022), the film stars Naomi Scott as 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, as well as Kyle Gallner reprising his role from the first film.

Contents

In March 2023, following the commercial success of Smile, Finn signed a first-look deal with Paramount Pictures to develop additional horror projects. In the following April 2024, 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 positive reviews from critics, and grossed $131.8 million worldwide.

Plot

Six days after Rose Cotter's death [a] , the now-cursed police officer Joel attempts to pass the Smile Entity on by confronting two murderous criminals. He ends up accidentally killing the intended witness in a shootout, but drug dealer Lewis Fregoli witnesses this and unintentionally inherits the curse. Joel, now free from the curse, attempts to flee from the other criminals but is run over and killed by a truck.

Meanwhile, Pop star Skye Riley appears on The Drew Barrymore Show as she prepares for her comeback tour, after a public struggle with substance abuse and a car crash that killed her actor boyfriend Paul a year earlier. Despite constant supervision from her assistant Joshua, as well as her mother and manager Elizabeth, Skye sneaks out to buy Vicodin from Lewis, her former school-mate, after injuring her back in rehearsals. Once there, Skye witnesses an erratic Lewis scream and panic, before having a seizure and collapsing. He then menacingly smiles before fatally smashing his face in with a barbell plate as Skye looks on. Skye flees without alerting the police.

Skye begins to experience hallucinations, including people smiling at her, causing her health to deteriorate rapidly. Needing support, Skye 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 her success has not changed her life for the better. She sees a smiling Paul approach from the audience, and as she panics, Skye accidentally injures an elderly guest on stage.

Skye meets Morris, the man who texted her, in a bar. He has been tracking the Entity since his brother's unnatural death. He explains that the curse passes to anyone who witnesses a victim's death. Morris theorizes that the entity is parasitic and can die without a host. He suggests stopping Skye's heart and then resuscitating her to break the curse, but she panics and leaves after being recognized. After suffering a mental breakdown in her apartment, Skye is cornered by the Entity, which takes the form of her backup dancers. Skye tries to flee but is thrown around the apartment before being pinned down as a giant arm forces its way down her throat before she loses consciousness.

A flashback reveals Skye caused Paul's death by intentionally crashing the car during a drug-induced argument. She later wakes up at a retreat, and after an argument with Elizabeth, watches in horror as the smiling Elizabeth smashes a mirror and stabs herself with a shard. She tries to flee but realizes that she has stabbed Elizabeth. Skye escapes the retreat and reunites with Gemma, and together they carjack Skye's driver and meet Morris for the heart-stopping procedure. Skye then gets a call back from Gemma, leading her to realize that the Gemma who had been with her all week was the Entity all along. After regaining control of the car, Skye meets Morris at a Pizza Hut, where they plan to use the walk-in freezer to slow the process and prevent permanent damage. After Morris leaves for a moment, the Entity appears as Skye's former self from the car wreck and attacks Skye. After a struggle, Skye fights it off and injects herself with the syringe meant to stop her heart. The Entity mockingly reveals that it was all a hallucination and then locks her in the freezer, telling her to "break a leg".

Skye finds herself on stage for a performance at Herald Square Garden [b] . As she sees a still-alive Elizabeth, Joshua and Darius watching from the audience, she realizes that the entirety of the past couple of days have all been a hallucination. The Entity appears as Skye's current self before tearing its stomach open to reveal its true form: as a large, skinless humanoid creature with multiple smiling mouths nestled within one another. Skye screams in terror before falling into a trance, after which the Entity breaks Skye's mouth apart and crawls inside, while it appears to the crowd that Skye started choking and collapsed. A possessed Skye stands up and smiles as she fatally stabs herself in the eye with her microphone in front of thousands of horrified spectators.

Cast

Naomi Scott stars as pop singer Skye Riley Naomi Scott during interview in 2019 01 (cropped).png
Naomi Scott stars as pop singer Skye Riley

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 by Joel. [4]

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. [5] 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." [5] [6] [7] In March 2023, following the commercial success of Smile, Finn signed a first-look deal with Paramount Pictures to develop additional horror projects. [8] 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. [9]

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?'" [10]

Casting

In December 2023, Naomi Scott was cast in a leading role, [11] which she stated was inspired by Lady Gaga in the early 2010s as well as Britney Spears. [12] In early 2024, Lukas Gage, Rosemarie DeWitt, Dylan Gelula, Raúl Castillo and Miles Gutierrez-Riley joined the cast. [13] [14] [15] Kyle Gallner reprised his role as Joel from the first film. [16] In September 2024, it was revealed Drew Barrymore would appear as herself in the film. [17] The casting of Ray Nicholson was an homage to his father Jack Nicholson's role in The Shining (1980). [18] 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. [19] [20] Returning Smile crew members included cinematographer Charlie Sarroff, editor Elliot Greenberg, and composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer. [21] [22] The film's budget was $28 million. [23]

Music

Smile 2: The Skye Riley EP
TheSkyeRileyEP.jpg
EP by
ReleasedOctober 11, 2024
Genre Pop
Length17:58
Label Interscope
Producer Idarose
Naomi Scott chronology
Promises
(2016)
Smile 2: The Skye Riley EP
(2024)
Singles from Smile 2: The Skye Riley EP
  1. "Blood on White Satin"
    Released: June 18, 2024
  2. "Grieved You"
    Released: September 13, 2024
  3. "Death of Me"
    Released: October 11, 2024

Smile 2: The Skye Riley EP is a soundtrack extended play (EP) by English actress and singer Naomi Scott, as her character "Skye Riley". It was released through Interscope Records on October 11, 2024. [24]

Background

On June 8, 2024, the @SkyeRileyNation Instagram account began teasing a new era of a popstar named Skye Riley. [25] On June 13, Bloody Disgusting spotted promotional billboards promoting the artist and her new music. [26] 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. [27] The film was promoted with an audience member at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards. [28] The second single, "Grieved You", was released on September 13. [29]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Grieved You" Take a Daytrip 2:40
2."New Brain"
Idarose3:05
3."Just My Name"
Idarose3:32
4."Blood on White Satin"KesselmanIdarose2:43
5."Death of Me"
  • Scott
  • Kesselman
Idarose2:46
6."Just My Name" (piano version)
  • Scott
  • Kesselman
Idarose3:15
Total length:17:58

Release

Smile 2 was released by Paramount Pictures on October 18, 2024. [30]

Reception

Box office

As of November 17,2024, Smile 2 has grossed $65.6 million in the United States and Canada, and $66.2 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $131.8 million. [2] [3]

In the United States and Canada, Smile 2 was projected to gross $17–25 million from 3,619 theaters in its opening weekend. [31] [32] The film made $9.5 million on its first day, [33] including an estimated $2.5 million in previews. [34] [23] The film went on to debut to $23 million, topping the original's $22.6 million debut and finishing first at the box office. [35] The film made $9.5 million in its second weekend, finishing second behind newcomer Venom: The Last Dance . [36]

Critical response

Naomi Scott's performance as Skye Riley received critical acclaim from critics and audience. Naomi Scott.jpg
Naomi Scott's performance as Skye Riley received critical acclaim from critics and audience.

The film received positive reviews from critics, who said it was an improvement over the first film and praised Naomi Scott's performance. [37] On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 85% of 192 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." [38] Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 66 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. [39] 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 3 1/2 out of 5 stars). [23]

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." [40] 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 ." [41] 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." [42] 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." [43]

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." [44] 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." [45]

Notes

  1. As depicted in Smile (2022)
  2. A fictional version of Madison Square Garden

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