Parker Finn’s first feature picture as director, Smile, is fantastic. Paramount’s Smile, which opened in limited release on September 30 and will go head-to-head with Billy Eichner’s romantic comedy Bros in October, made an amazing $2 million in previews on Thursday.
After releasing at 7 p.m. in nearly 3,600 theatres, the popcorn horror film received an 82% audience score and an impressive 76% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes. Experts estimate the picture will earn $4–5 million more than the Bros. in its debut weekend because of the historical increase associated with the upcoming Halloween season.
When compared to other recent genre films, such as 20th Century and New Regency’s Barbarian ($850k in early previews) and Universal Pictures and Blumhouse’s The Black Phone ($3 million), Smile’s Thursday previews are very weak. For the opening weekend as a whole, the film is predicted to earn in the upper teens. The R-rated horror film, which Finn wrote and directed, runs over two hours and costs only $17 million but is based on his Oscar-winning short film Laura Hasn’t Slept from 2020. Under the guidance of one of the year’s most successful studios, Smile’s marketing campaign was a home run, with spooky smilers appearing at major league baseball games and behind Al Roker and Hoda Kotb on national television.
They also outdid everyone else in terms of social media promotion by posting often on Twitter, directing their attention to those who visited their page, and offering incentives for those who liked it. Due in large part to its aggressive marketing and eye-catching aesthetics, the film became an instant hit and a major talking point in the season’s most popular genre. Positive critical reception has also greeted Finn’s debut feature. Smile is an entertaining horror film with tight acting, in the vein of recent releases like It Follows (2014) and the cult classic The Ring.
The cast, led by Sosie Bacon, is terrific and helps to shore up the story’s weakest points. Solid support for Bacon comes from Scream 5’s Kyle Gallner, The Boys’ Jessie T. Usher, and Finn’s original short’s eerie Caitlin Stasey. Kal Penn, Judy Reyes, Robin Weigert, Gillian Zinser, and Dora Kiss round out the cast. While estimates put its opening weekend gross in the mid-teens, it’s feasible that Smile may wind up with a number closer to Black Phone’s $23 million.