Smile 2 Release Date Confirmed
The untitled Smile 2 will be released in time for Halloween 2024
Following the monster success of Smile in 2022 it shouldn't surprise anyone that Smile 2 is on the way. Paramount Pictures has officially confirmed when the untitled Smile sequel will be released, revealing it will be just in time for Halloween....next year. The upcoming Smile 2 movie release date has been set for October 18, 2024. As of this writing, the Smile sequel does have some competition on that release date, with an "Untitled Blumhouse Productions Film" scheduled to be released on the same date. Two weeks prior, Joker: Folie á Deux will also be released, and it's possible the DC movie could still be doing major business at that point.
Horror fans may recall that Smile was originally not even going to be a theatrical release at all. The horror movie was originally in development to be released on the Paramount+ streaming app but test screenings for the movie had scores through the roof, with the studio then pushing it into theaters. Produced on a reported budget of $17 million, Smile would go on to make over $105 million in the US with a global box office total of over $217 million. The film was #1 at the box office for two weeks, and became the highest grossing horror movie of the year, beating out the likes of Nope, Halloween Ends, Scream, and The Black Phone.
No official word on who will star in or even direct the Smile sequel has been confirmed, though Smile director Parker Finn did sign a first-look development deal with Paramount Pictures earlier this year, signaling he may be back behind the camera. Speaking with ComicBook.com last year about the potential future of his horror hit, Finn noted that the initial idea was only ever for one movie and that sequels would need to come from an organic storytelling place.
"I made Smile to, of course, be self-contained, tell its whole own story," Finn said in 2022. "I didn't think in a million years that there would be such a demand for a sequel. But having said that, I think there are definitely things inside of the film that remain purposefully unexplored that would be very exciting to dive into, and also things that I didn't get a chance to do on the first one for either budget constraints or if it didn't quite fit in the story that I think would be really exciting."
He continued, "I still feel that I never want to overtly just repeat myself or do the same thing I just did, but I think that there could be a really exciting way for there to be more in the world of Smile, but something very unexpected and surprising for an audience with a lot of tricks up its sleeves."
