It also features Rosemarie DeWitt, Lukas Gage, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, Peter Jacobson, Ray Nicholson, Dylan Gelula, and Raúl Castillo, with Kyle Gallner reprising his role from the first film.

In March 2023, following the commercial success of Smile, Finn signed a first-look deal with Paramount Pictures for future horror projects.

Six days after Rose Cotter's death,[a] the now-cursed Joel attempts to pass the Smile Entity on by killing one murderous criminal in front of another.

Meanwhile, New York–based pop star Skye Riley prepares for her comeback tour following a public struggle with substance abuse and a car crash that killed her actor boyfriend, Paul Hudson.

Despite constant supervision from her mother/manager Elizabeth and their assistant Joshua, Skye sneaks out to buy Vicodin from Lewis, her high school friend, after injuring her back in rehearsals.

Now cursed herself, Skye begins to experience deranged hallucinations of people smiling at her, causing her mental health to rapidly deteriorate.

While speaking at a fundraiser hosted by music executive Darius, Skye hallucinates the teleprompter stalling and goes on an impromptu tirade about how success has not improved her life.

Theorizing that the Entity is parasitic and could die without a host, he suggests stopping Skye's heart and then resuscitating her to break the curse, but she refuses and leaves after being recognized by bargoers.

After regaining control of the car, Skye meets Morris at an abandoned Pizza Hut, where he plans to use the walk-in freezer to prevent brain damage when stopping her heart.

The Entity appears as Skye's current self before tearing its stomach open to reveal its true form: a giant, bloody, skinless creature with multiple smiling mouths nested within one another.

Additionally, Drew Barrymore appears as herself, interviewing Skye on her talk show, while director Parker Finn himself cameos as a photographer.

[4] Smile writer and director Parker Finn intentionally left portions of the first film ambiguous, with various plotlines unresolved, to create the opportunity to explore those details in a sequel.

"[5][6][7] In March 2023, following the commercial success of Smile, Finn signed a first-look deal with Paramount Pictures to develop additional horror projects.

[12] In early 2024, Lukas Gage, Rosemarie DeWitt, Dylan Gelula, Raúl Castillo and Miles Gutierrez-Riley joined the cast.

[19][20] Returning Smile crew members included cinematographer Charlie Sarroff, editor Elliot Greenberg, and composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer.

The website's consensus reads: "Blessed with a nerve-jangling star turn by Naomi Scott, writer-director Parker Finn broadens Smile's conceit into a pop stardom nightmare that'll leave a rictus grin on horror fans' faces.

[23] Writing for Polygon, Austen Goslin gave a positive review for the film, deeming it superior to the first, while stating: "Rather than simply rehashing the original, Parker Finn pushes his clever premise to its logical extreme and builds some incredibly scary scenes to match.

"[43] David Fear of Rolling Stone wrote, "There are long stretches where you actually forget you're watching a Smile movie and couldn't be blamed for thinking you've stumbled into a slightly more nightmarish version of Beyond the Lights.

Partly because it borrows liberally from films like Flatliners (and tries to out-gore The Substance for all the bloody prosthetics)... in essence this is just a re-run of the first movie, just in a slightly glitzier environment.

"[48] In September 2024, writer/director Parker Finn confirmed plans to continue the franchise with a third film; stating: "...we've maybe only scooped a single glass of water out of the ocean.