byJordan King|Published on29th October 2026 at 10.17am
People:
Parker Finn
David Bruckner
Nick Antosca
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News of a hotly anticipated horror sequel has got to be worth, we dunno, about three smiles at least. But news of a hotly anticipated horror sequel in a franchise about a curse that brands its victims with a rictus grin? Well, that’s a real Smile 3 situation. Yes, two years after Naomi Scott scared our socks off as a spiralling singer in Smile 2, <a href="https://variety.com/2026/film/news/smile-3-director-writer-1236838500/” rel=”nofollow noopener” target=”_blank”>Variety is confirming that Smile 3 is officially on its way, with a new director-writer duo taking over as franchise mastermind Parker Finn focuses on his upcoming Possession remake.
Per Variety‘s reporting, The Night House and The Ritual filmmaker David Bruckner and Nick Antosca, the man behind Apple TV’s recent Cape Fear remake, will respectively direct and write Smile 3 (or Smil3, as nobody has yet been calling it). While Parker Finn is busy with his tentacles in Possession territory just now, he has provided the framework for the third entry in the curse-giving, anthology-style horror franchise, and he is also on board to produce, too. Given the episodic nature of these movies, with the first movie having centred around Sosie Bacon’s haunted therapist and the second Naomi Scott’s above-mentioned possessed popstar, it very much remains to be seen what the third movie will entail — or indeed who will star in it. It’s safe to assume we’ll be in for more creepy beaming and random acts of extreme violence (yippee!)
For David Bruckner, Smile 3 is just the latest addition to an increasingly busy pipeline that elsewhere includes the latest remake of The Blob at Warner Bros., a Sydney Sweeney starring adaptation of supernatural chiller The Caretaker at Universal, and original A24 horror joint Mice. All of which is to say that if you’re a fan of Bruckner, a fan of Smile, and/or a fan of both, then there‘s plenty to, er, smile about just now. The horrorenaissance continues, apace!
Variety
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