Smile: Will There Be a Sequel to the New Horror Movie?

Landing in theaters this weekend is the horror movie Smile, and unlike a number of other horror efforts that debut throughout the year, it’s not a remake or sequel but instead is an entirely original idea. The film is, however, inspired by writer/director Parker Finn’s short film “Laura Hasn’t Slept,” allowing him to flesh out ideas that he first crafted with that initial story. Given the nature of the film industry, many films that actually end up in theaters have at least some potential to be continued in sequels, prequels, or spinoffs, leaving some audiences to wonder if this is just the beginning of the Smile franchise.

In the film, 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.

Will there be a Smile 2?

One of the biggest factors in determining whether there will be a follow-up film is how audiences react to the experience. With little competition at the box office in its opening weekend that would occupy the same genre, it could be the film that sees audiences kicking off their Halloween season. Based on how well it performs financially could see the studio put pressure on Finn to develop ways to expand the core concept.

Does the director of Smile have sequel ideas?

While Smile might be based on a short film, writer/director Finn previously confirmed with ComicBook.com that, while there could be more stories to tell in this universe, he would only be interested in expanding with a sequel, prequel, or spinoff if he could avoid covering areas he has already explored. 

“For me, as a filmmaker, I never want to retread and just do something I’ve already done again the exact same way,” Finn recalled. “In a universe where there could be any potential — more story to tell from Smile, I’d wanna make sure it was surprising and different and not what people were expecting after the first one.”

How does Smile end?

WARNING: Major spoilers below for Smile

Over the course of the film, audiences learn that a supernatural entity has been possessing victims and feeds on trauma. This causes the entity to overtake the host and commit suicide violently in front of witnesses, then allowing the entity to jump into the witness, eventually growing hungry and causing victims to repeat this act for a new witness. 

After becoming cursed by the entity, Rosie tries but fails to vanquish the threat, eventually committing suicide violently in front of Joel (Kyle Gallner). This means that the entity will live on within him, likely seeing him continue the cycle. While a follow-up film could surely explore the after-effects of Joel’s encounter, there are various other stories that could unfold focusing on other individuals this entity has possessed. 

Smile is in theaters now.

Do you hope there is a Smile 2? Let us know in the comments or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!