Smile 2
Smile 2 is a 2024 American supernatural psychological horror film written and directed by Parker Finn. A sequel to Smile, 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 and Miles Gutierrez-Riley 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 upstate 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 $138.1million worldwide. Among [|the film's accolades], it received four nominations at the 52nd Saturn Awards, and additional Best Actress nods for Scott at the 8th Astra Film Awards and 5th Critics' Choice Super Awards. 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. He accidentally kills the witness in a shootout, and drug dealer Lewis Fregoli, whom Joel had not previously noticed, inherits the curse as a bystander. Joel tries to flee when more criminals arrive, but is run over and killed by an oncoming pick-up truck.Meanwhile, New York-based pop star Skye Riley appears on The Drew Barrymore Show as she 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, a paranoid Lewis, mistaking Skye for the Entity, threatens her with a sword before calming down. After going to retrieve the Vicodin that Skye requested, he starts screaming and panicking before being possessed by the Entity, whilst Skye, who cannot see it, believes Lewis is suffering from an overdose. A possessed Lewis eventually rises, smiling, and fatally smashes his face in with a barbell plate, traumatizing Skye and passing the curse onto her. Afraid of being found with Lewis's corpse and a room full of drugs, Skye leaves without alerting the authorities. Later that night, the curse manifests as Skye sees Lewis's corpse in her bedroom.
The next day, Skye is plagued by 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 actually made her life worse. She sees a smiling Paul approaching from the audience and panics, accidentally injuring the event's elderly host as she runs offstage. 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 humanoid creature with multiple smiling mouths nested within one another. Skye screams and falls into a trance, before the Entity brutally possesses her by ripping her mouth apart, preparing to crawl inside; to the crowd, it appears that Skye has collapsed and is choking. A possessed Skye rises, now smiling menacingly, and fatally stabs herself in the eye with her microphone in front of thousands of horrified spectators.
During the credits, Skye's warped and distorted screams can be heard, implying that she is now part of the Entity.
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
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. Principal photography took place from January to March 2024 throughout the Hudson Valley in 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 $28million.Music
Soundtrack
Smile 2: The Skye Riley EP is the third extended play 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. The EP was made available for physical purchase on May 15, 2025.