As of Oct. 18, Smile 2 is being shown in theaters and has been flying to the top of box office charts for the past month. Its 2022 prequel, Smile, was not a big hit, with an average 6.5/10 rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Is Smile 2 a chance to rescue this franchise?
Smile 2 takes place six days after the first movie. The movie is about a metaphysical being, or entity, that haunts people, causing hallucinations and delusions until they lose sanity. The entity forces them to then commit suicide in sadistic and demented ways. The curse then gets passed on to another host, the person who witnessed the ex-host’s death. The cycle starts again with the new host.
To begin with, this sequel had a much larger budget, so it called for a more gruesome, brutal, and gory production. This film had countless amounts of bloody scenes. The entire movie is extremely graphic. The realistic aspect of the movie goes above the expectations of the first movie. Though some of the same visual effects were brought back from the first movie, the practical and special effects add just as many, if not more, terrifying scenes to the film.
Apart from the differences in the physical qualities of the movie, the ratings of the two are very similar. According to IMDb, Smile 2 is rated with a 6.9/10. Similar ratings appear on Common Sense Media. But when ranked on The Numbers for amounts of money made, Smile was placed at 30, and Smile 2 was ranked 47 places below its prequel at 77.
In addition to these rankings, the ratio between the gross income from the two is also vastly different. Smile earned $217 million, and Smile 2 only earned $136 million in the worldwide box office. Then again, Smile 2 has been showing for just a little over a month, while its predecessor has been out for two years. Perhaps the film will catch up, and maybe pass Smile as time goes on.
Another factor that determines which movie is better is the awards. Both productions have been nominated for various awards. Smile 2 was a 2024 nominee for The Astra Awards. The nominations were for Best Actress, Best Horror Feature, and Best Performance in a Horror/Thriller. Smile was a 17-time 2022 and 2023 nominee for The People’s Choice Awards, Golden Scythe, Saturn Awards, and more. On top of that, it was the winner of the ASCAP Awards for top box office films.
Setting those differences aside, there is a wide range of opinions and diversities about Smile 2. Some people may think it’s great, and others may think it’s just all right. Here is what Makayla Hyzer, freshman, said about the movie, “It was a lot better than the first one…quite a jumpscare.” Going even further, she adds that she would rate it at an 8/10.
Ultimately, Smile 2 could be a hit or a miss. The two films have their strengths and their weaknesses. It all depends on which movie succeeds more than the other.
