Smile 3 is on the way, but, sadly, the person who started the horror franchise might not be the one in the director’s chair this time. Dread Central confirmed a third film is in development, though insider Jeff Sneider claims that the franchise creator, Parker Finn, probably won’t return to guide the production. That’s a pretty big deal when you remember just how much of the previous films carry his fingerprints.
The Smile Franchise Became a Surprise Horror Hit
The first Smile landed in 2022 with a modest $17 million budget and somehow scared up $217 million worldwide. Paramount had originally planned to release it on their streaming platform, Paramount+, before strong test screenings pushed it into movie theaters.
Then, Smile 2 arrived in 2024 with an even bigger scope and Aladdin actress Naomi Scott leading the story as a pop star dealing with the same sinister curse while preparing for a tour. It upped the ante and gave us a closer look at how the curse actually works. It worked, and Smile 2 pulled in about $138 million globally.
Parker Finn’s Next Horror Projects After Smile
Finn hasn’t slowed down. Paramount recently won a bidding war for his remake of the 1981 cult horror film Possession, with Margaret Qualley and Callum Turner circling roles. He also signed a multi-year first-look deal with the studio covering future horror projects.
Smile 3 will still happen. The only question now is who gets to make audiences grin next.
Could the Smile Curse Actually Be Stopped In The Next Film?
Smile could have easily been an It Follows rehash, complete with the seemingly unstoppable paranormal boogeyman. However, the final moments of the film reveal the horrific truth: there’s a very real (and very creepy) monster behind the Smile curse. And there’s nothing you can do to stop it. At least, not unless you have a very flexible definition of “morality”.
How the Smile Entity’s Curse Works
The Entity in Smile latches onto people who witness a suicide; not just any suicide will do – the person dying must be the Entity’s previous victim. It’s just like the monster in It Follows, only with psychological trauma instead of sex. However, there’s a catch. In the first Smile film, we learn that you can escape the curse if you’re willing to take a life (with a witness) before the creature forces you to take your own.
The Terrible Price of Escaping the Curse
Killing someone to save yourself already sounds like a terrible deal, considering the trauma and moral repercussions of such an act. In a way, you’re always dealt a terrible hand as soon as the creature has its eyes set on you. Even the only known survivor of the curse, Robert Talley, managed to “overcome” the curse at the cost of his freedom.
A Dark Fan Theory That Might Beat the Smile Entity
So, how would anyone escape the curse in the “safest” way possible? Well, there might be a loophole involved – but it still depends on you being able to kill someone, and even extra dastardly about it, to boot.
Alright, here’s the deal: the Smile Entity is onto you, and the only way to shake it off is to traumatize someone by killing an innocent victim in front of them. So far, so bad, right? What you’ll need for this experiment is A) a victim (preferably a criminal of some sort) and B) a quadriplegic person.
I know, I know – it sounds awful, but here’s how it works: first, you take out the criminal, making sure the bedridden person witnesses the deed, so you pass the curse onto them. That’s pretty much it. Now, the Entity has to deal with a subject that’s unable to kill themselves, and you still committed a crime – even if who you took out was a horrible person. Sure, the quadriplegic person would still be out of luck, but hey, at least you’re free, right?
An alternative to this is finding a terminal patient willing to be a sacrificial lamb instead of the quadriplegic person, but you’ll still have to deal with the moral burden of knowing that you’ve pretty much sentenced them to a fate likely worse than death. In all honesty, these loopholes only prove two things: 1) There’s just no easy way to escape the entity, and 2) We need a new Smile movie right now.
