Smile 2 has had a strong start, earning an impressive $23 million during its first weekend. Furthermore, it easily secured the top spot at the box office in North America. This R-rated sequel to Paramount’s psychological thriller Smile opened with success, as expected. It is mirroring the original film’s great start, which made $22.6 million during its debut weekend in 2022. Something interesting that I found out is that the original Smile was initially meant for streaming but switched to theaters. It eventually became a surprise hit with $105 million in domestic earnings and $217 million globally. Paramount and Temple Hill have many reasons to be happy as Smile 2 continues the success of the franchise.
Smile 2’s Strong Performance Worldwide
The sequel not only dominated in North America but also had the same success internationally. It has earned an additional $23 million, bringing its global total to an impressive $46 million in just one weekend. Opening in 62 international markets, Smile 2 outperformed its predecessor by 41% on a like-for-like basis. Furthermore, this indicates that the horror trend is still strong worldwide. This opening is also significant as Paramount’s largest horror release in 13 markets, including Italy and Spain. However, it also secured the largest horror opening of 2024 in 13 other countries, such as France, Germany, and Italy.
The director of Smile 2 is the same one who did the first film, Parker Finn. Smile 2 brings back the supernatural story of an evil spirit that moves from person to person. Each time it gets in someone, the person has a disturbing smile. This time, the horror is about a troubled pop star played by Naomi Scott. Furthermore, the cast also has Lukas Gage, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Miles Gutierrez-Riley. Audiences gave the film a B CinemaScore, an improvement from the first movie’s B- grade. The movie had a modest budget of $28 million. Now Smile 2 is on track to provide a significant return on investment for Paramount, just like its predecessor.
Competition In The Horror Genre Increases
The horror genre is experiencing a comeback, and Smile 2 isn’t the only film drawing audiences. Just a week earlier, Terrifier 3 surprised the box office with an almost $20 million opening weekend. In its second weekend, the film dropped to third place but still brought in nearly $10 million, bringing its domestic total to around $36 million. Which is not bad for a movie made on a $2 million budget. Horror fans have been filling up theaters in recent weeks, and it seems the demand for scares isn’t going down any time soon.
Meanwhile, The Wild Robot, an animated hit from DreamWorks/Universal, was in second place. It is now in its fourth weekend and grossed over $10 million, pushing its domestic earnings past the $100 million milestone. The movie’s global box office is now over $200 million.
You can see that people are craving a good scare with the way the box office is heating up with horror hits like Smile 2 and Terrifier 3. Smile 2 is a sign that horror is back in a big and better way.
