Parker Finn: Last News

Smile 2 just arrived in theaters, and it’s already a hit at the box office.

As Smile 2 continues scaring up bigger audiences than its popular predecessor at the global and domestic box offices, director Parker Finn is providing some insight into the decisions that went into the making of his horror sequel.

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter “Smile 2” has carved out a decent $23 million in its opening weekend, easily topping the otherwise sleepy North American box office charts. The R-rated sequel to Paramount creepy psychological thriller “Smile” debuted on par with expectations and even with the original film, which opened to $22.6 million in 2022. That movie, which was commissioned for streaming before pivoting to a theatrical release, became a sleeper hit with $105 million domestically and $217 million globally.

Jack Dunn Director Parker Finn beat the odds with the first “Smile” film. Shot for $17 million, the 2022 horror turned into a box office behemoth grossing over $200 million worldwide. So while shooting “Smile 2,” Finn took the same approach, pushing his budget and schedule to the limits in a process he described as fitting “a 10-gallon movie into a five-gallon bucket.” “We had a few more resources, more toys to play with.

J. Kim Murphy The box office is ear-to-ear for “Smile 2,” with Paramount’s horror entry landing $9.4 million from 3,619 domestic locations across Friday and preview screenings. That’s above the $8.2 million opening day that the first “Smile” earned in 2022 — a successful kick-off for this sequel, which carries a $28 million production budget.

William Earl administrator SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for “Smile 2,” now in theaters. Parker Finn, the writer and director of 2022’s horror hit “Smile” and the just-released “Smile 2,” has taken one of the most recognizable horror ideas in recent years and blown it up even bigger for the sequel. In this chapter, troubled pop star Skye Riley (Naomi Scott) begins to question her reality as she is haunted by increasingly troubling and violent images. Finn spoke with Variety about making a movie about a music superstar, the haunting ending and what future sequels might look like.

Paramount’s Smile 2 made $2.5M from previews last night that began at 5PM at 3,000 locations, which is half million higher than the 2022 movie’s $2M preview figure. Smile went on to make a $22.6M opening and leg out to $105.9M. Presales indicated high teens for Smile 2, however, perhaps Paramount execs will have something to grin about over the weekend and the sequel goes higher. Smile 2 has all the PLF screens this weekend, while the Imaxes live with Warner Bros’ Joker: Folie a Deux.

Jordan Moreau Turn those box office frowns upside down, because “Smile 2,” the sequel to Paramount’s surprise horror hit, is opening this weekend. The film, written and directed once again by Parker Finn, has made $2.5 million in Thursday previews so far at the box office. In comparison, the 2022 original film made $2 million in previews back in the first weekend of October.

Smile 2 director Parker Finn has revealed that Amy Winehouse was among the inspirations for the movie, which looks at the struggles of public figures.The director told Entertainment Weekly that he also consulted the media about Britney Spears when working on the sequel to 2022’s Smile – which was released today (October 18) – while Whitney Houston was also kept in mind.Discussing Naomi Scott’s character Skye Riley, a huge pop star who struggles with substance abuse, the death of her boyfriend, and physical and auditory hallucinations, he said, “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?”Finn explained that he wanted to take the sequel in an unexpected direction – in the first movie, Sosie Bacon played a therapist embroiled in a curse in which a mysterious entity inhabits victims, making them die by suicide. Whoever witnesses the suicide becomes the entity’s next target.He continued, “When I started thinking about ideas, early on, any of the ideas that started coming to me in the first month I was thinking about it, I threw them away.

A Quiet Place and The Nun, Smile has become a modern box office juggernaut in the horror space.After the 2022 original grossed over $217 million worldwide on a budget of $17 million, a sequel has naturally materialised. With Parker Finn returning as the director, Smile 2 stars new protagonist Skye Riley (Naomi Scott), a pop star sensation who begins to experience a series of disturbing events.Other cast members include Rosemarie DeWitt, Kyle Gallner, Lukas Gage, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Peter Jacobson, Raúl Castillo, Dylan Gelula, and Ray Nicholson.Paramount has not officially announced whether a sequel to Smile 2 is on the cards, although any future instalment will likely depend on Smile 2’s box office performance.As reported by Deadline, the film is tracking for a “high teens” opening at the box office, which is lower than the original Smile.

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter “Smile 2,” a sequel to Paramount’s creepy psychological thriller, is hoping to put a grin on the faces of despondent movie theater owners. The film is projected to collect $20 million to $25 million from 3,500 North American theaters in its first weekend of release. Those revenues would be on par with the original “Smile,” which was commissioned for streaming before pivoting to a theatrical release and opened to $22.6 million in 2022.

There’s really one true one wide release this weekend and it’s Paramount‘s sequel Smile 2 which currently presales point toward a high-teens result. Tracking earlier this week indicated higher in the $20M+ range but that all depends on whether Latino and Hispanic moviegoers send this $28M priced sequel to the 2022 original to another stratosphere.

2024 has been a good year for horror films at the box office. We’ve seen surprises like “Longlegs” and “Terrifier 3” outperform their predictions.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic Portraying the life of a diva pop star — or, at least, doing it convincingly — isn’t the easiest thing for a movie to bring off. There are too many real-life counterparts. The director Brady Corbet (“The Brutalist”), teaming up with Natalie Portman, got about halfway there in “Vox Lux.” Lady Gaga, drawing on elements of her own legend but shrewd enough to play the heroine of “A Star Is Born” as not a version of herself, created a character for the ages.

The eagerly-awaited sequel to the 2022 horror film Smile hits cinemas this week, and the initial reviews are in.

The cast of Smile 2 stepped out to celebrate at the L.A. premiere!

Laser-sharp demographic marketing and a theatrical release date over the Indigenous Peoples holiday is driving Cineverse’s unrated slasher porn Terrifier 3 to a $20M-$21M four-day take after overperforming in its opening weekend.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Experimental music film “Pavements” and offbeat comedy “Nightbitch” are among five titles designated as ‘headliners’ of the film section on the upcoming SXSW Sydney festival. “Pavements,” which premiered in Venice, is an experimental hybrid of narrative, scripted, documentary, musical, and metatextual elements from director Alex Ross Perry about the indie rock outfit, Pavement.“Nightbitch,” which debuted in Toronto, is a darkly comedic fairy tale about a stay-at-home mother, portrayed by Amy Adams, who transforms into a dog. Others getting the gala treatment include Max & Sam Eggers’ new A24 horror “The Front Room,” starring pop star Brandy as a newly-pregnant woman facing off against her mother-in-law; “Smile 2,” by Parker Finn; and Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night,” based on the true story of what happened behind the scenes in the 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast of “Saturday Night Live.” “These bold, hilarious, captivating and thrilling films lead a program not just for film fans, but the tech, music, and games audiences that form the rich tapestry of the SXSW Sydney audience,” said Colin Daniels, MD, SXSW Sydney. The festival, a spin-off from the U.S. South by Southwest festival, and which shares PMC corporate ownership with Variety, is in its second year Down Under.

Smile 2 has landed today (September 3) and fans have been reacting online to how “terrifying” the trailer is – watch it below.The sinister first trailer for the film arrived back in June. The film stars Naomi Scott as pop singer Skye Riley who, as well as struggling with fame and the pressures that come with it, is haunted by a demonic entity known as The Terror.Smile 2 is due for release on October 18, just ahead of Halloween.

Debuting two years ago, “Smile” became a runaway box office hit and launched the career of filmmaker Parker Finn. Suddenly, the director was responsible for one of the biggest horror films of the year and really could make whatever he wanted next.

Paramount Pictures has unveiled the sinister first trailer for Smile 2 starring Naomi Scott – watch the trailer below.Smile 2 stars Naomi Scott as pop singer Skye Riley who apart from struggling with fame and the pressures that come with it, is haunted by a demonic entity known as The Terror. Throughout the trailer, we see Skye Riley witness the death of someone close and slowly lose her mind to paranoia and paralyzing fear.Smile 2 is due for release on October 18, right in time for Halloween.