Smile 3 Officially Moves Forward With New Director As Franchise Creator Steps Back

Oct 29, 2026 - 05:16

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Smile 3 Officially Moves Forward With New Director As Franchise Creator Steps Back

Naomi Scott as Skye Riley smiling in Smile 2's ending

Published Oct 28, 2026, 8:39 PM EDT

Matthew Rudoy is one of ScreenRant's Movie & TV News Editors. He covers the latest in movie & TV news, with a focus on major franchises like Star Wars, The Boys, and Game of Thrones, and also writes some features and reviews. He wrote lists for ScreenRant from 2017-2022, became a news writer in 2023, a senior staff writer in 2024, and an editor in 2025.

Smile 3 is moving forward with a new look.

The horror franchise created by Parker Finn features an evil entity that takes on the form of people wearing disturbing smiles, is set on causing the deaths of those it follows, and consumes them with terrifying visions. The franchise's first feature film, Smile, was released in 2022, followed by a sequel, Smile 2, in 2024.

Variety now reports that Paramount has tapped David Bruckner to direct Smile 3, with a screenplay written by Nick Antosca. They are helming the sequel instead of Finn, who, in addition to creating the franchise, directed and wrote the two prior films and pitched the story's framework for the third installment. Finn will be a producer this time around as he focuses on directing a remake of Possession. All Smile 3 plot details remain under wraps.

Having directed 2022's Hellraiser, 2017's The Ritual, 2020's The Night House, two episodes of 2019's Creepshow, and segments of the V/H/S/ franchise, Bruckner is a well-established filmmaker in the horror genre. He is also in the process of developing and writing a reboot of The Blob for Warner Bros., the Sydney Sweeney-led adaptation of The Caretaker for Universal, and will be directing A24's Mice.

As for Antosca, he co-created Apple TV's Cape Fear series, co-created Hulu's The Act, wrote the recent film adaptation of Colleen Hoover's Verity, the 2021 horror movie Antlers, and three episodes of the hit Hannibal television series. In ScreenRant's Verity review, Liz Declan gave the movie eight out of 10 stars, and it has also been a major box office success, grossing $163 million worldwide against a $40 million budget.

With Bruckner and Antosca, Smile 3 looks to continue the horror franchise's streak of box office hits. Smile earned $217 million globally on a $17 million budget, while Smile 2 made $138 million worldwide against a $28 million budget. The first movie was originally supposed to go directly to streaming on Paramount+ before it got a theatrical release. It has a 79% critics' score and 77% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, while the sequel has an 86% critics' score and 81% audience score.

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Smile revolves around therapist Dr. Rose Cotter, who is haunted by hallucinations after the death of one of her patients. Smile 2 shifts to pop singer Skye Riley (Naomi Scott), who encounters the evil entity while on tour. Kyle Gallner, Jessie T. Usher, Robin Weigert, Kal Penn, Rosemarie DeWitt, Lukas Gage, and Ray Nicholson are among those also in the existing films. Given the format of the two prior movies, which each have a different protagonist and story, there will likely be an all-new cast for the upcoming sequel.

Even though Finn isn't directing or writing Smile 3, he is still working with Paramount, as he signed a first-look deal with the studio after Smile's massive box office success. Paramount's Possession remake that he is directing, which stars Callum Turner and Margaret Qualley, is scheduled to be released in theaters on June 11, 2027. The original movie was released in 1981, starring Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani, and was directed and written by Andrzej Żuławski.