SMILE 3 Moves Forward With David Bruckner Directing and Nick Antosca Writing
Paramount is officially keeping the smiles coming.
SMILE 3 is moving forward with David Bruckner stepping into the director’s chair and Nick Antosca writing the screenplay, marking a significant creative shift for the horror franchise after Parker Finn wrote and directed the first two films.
Finn isn’t leaving the nightmare entirely. The franchise creator developed and pitched the framework for the third installment and will remain involved as a producer alongside Temple Hill Entertainment. Jonathan Fass will executive produce.
Bruckner brings plenty of horror mileage with him. His credits include THE RITUAL, THE NIGHT HOUSE, the 2022 reimagining of HELLRAISER, and segments of V/H/S and SOUTHBOUND. He’s also developing several other genre projects, including THE BLOB for Warner Bros., Universal’s THE CARETAKER, and MICE for A24.
Antosca makes the pairing even more interesting. Horror fans know him as the creator of CHANNEL ZERO and co-creator of BRAND NEW CHERRY FLAVOR, while his film work includes ANTLERS. More recently, he created Apple TV’s CAPE FEAR series.
Finn, meanwhile, is turning his attention toward Paramount’s new adaptation of Andrzej Żuławski’s 1981 psychological horror classic POSSESSION, starring Margaret Qualley and Callum Turner.
The original SMILE became one of 2022’s major horror success stories, grossing more than $200 million worldwide after beginning life as Finn’s short film LAURA HASN’T SLEPT. SMILE 2 followed in 2024, shifting the curse onto global pop star Skye Riley, played by Naomi Scott.
Exactly where the entity goes next remains under wraps. Paramount has not announced story details, returning cast members, or a release date for SMILE 3.
Still, Bruckner and Antosca make for a pretty fascinating handoff. Both have built careers around psychologically driven horror where something supernatural slowly gets underneath the skin before tearing through everything else.
Whatever that smiling entity has planned next, it’s clearly found a capable pair of hands to keep the curse alive.
Stay Scary.
