Summary
- Naomi Scott, best known for her role in Aladdin, has been cast in the horror sequel Smile 2.
- Smile, the first film in the franchise, received rave reviews and was a box office success, grossing over $217 million worldwide.
- Smile director Parker Finn has hinted at a potential sequel and expressed his excitement about exploring unexplored elements and bringing back the terrifying entity in an unexpected and surprising way.
Aladdin star Naomi Scott has been cast in the upcoming horror sequel Smile 2. The latest update for the highly anticipated follow-up to last year’s horror hit Smile comes courtesy of Deadline, and while details of her role remain unknown at present, it’s likely that Scott’s character will be the next victim of the uncanny entity.
Scott is best known for her role as Princess Jasmine in Disney’s live-action Aladdin, in which she starred alongside Will Smith and Mena Massoud. The remake saw huge success for Disney and grossed over $1 billion at the worldwide box office.
Other roles in her repertoire include the likes of 2017’s Power Rangers, in which she played Kimberly Hart, aka the Pink Ranger, and the 2019 remake of Charlie's Angels. Scott is next due to star in the science fiction film Distant alongside Anthony Ramos and Zachary Quinto, and Wizards! From A24, which will see her sharing the screen with Pete Davidson, Sean Harris, and Orlando Bloom.
A sequel to last year’s horror movie hit Smile is now officially in the works. The exciting (and horrifying) news that Smile 2 is now in development was made during the Paramount Pictures panel at CinemaCon, with president and chief executive officer of Paramount Pictures Brian Robbins making the announcement.
Released last year, the first Smile is written and directed by Parker Finn and follows Sosie Bacon as Dr. Rose Cotter, who, after witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient, starts experiencing frightening occurrences that she can't explain. As an overwhelming terror begins taking over her life, Rose must confront her troubling past to survive and escape her horrifying new reality. Directed by Parker Finn in his feature film debut and based on his 2020 short film Laura Hasn't Slept, Smile stars Sosie Bacon (Narcos: Mexico, Mare of Easttown), Jessie T. Usher (The Boys), Kyle Gallner (Scream), Caitlin Stasey (APB, Bridge and Tunnel), Robin Weigert (American Horror Story, Deadwood), Judy Reyes (Scrubs), Rob Morgan (Stranger Things), and Kal Penn (Harold & Kumar).
Smile was met with rave reviews from critics, who praised Sosie Bacon’s lead performance and the way that the movie uses the supernatural to explore the torment of trauma. The first outing also managed to what’s required to become the next big horror franchise: over perform at the box office. Smile saw huge financial success, grossing over $217 million worldwide against a $17 million budget. No doubt the studio is hoping for more of the same with Smile 2.
Smile Director Parker Finn Has Teased How He Will Approach the Sequel
Smile
- Director
- Parker Finn
- Cast
- Sosie Bacon , Jessie T. Usher , Kyle Gallner , Caitlin Stasey
- Main Genre
- Horror
- Writers
- Parker Finn
While details of what Smile 2 will involve remain a mystery at present, Smile director Parker Finn has previously how he plans to approach the horror follow-up. Though he made Smile with the intention of it being a standalone movie, he did intentionally leave some threads hanging just in case Smile became the next big horror franchise.
"I made Smile to, of course, be self-contained, tell its whole own story. I didn't think in a million years that there would be such a demand for a sequel,” the filmmaker explained. “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.”
While we sit and ponder what might happen in Smile 2, Finn has also teased the “unexpected and surprising” way in which he will bring back the terrifying, mysterious entity. "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 of its sleeves," he said.