The cast and crew behind Paramount’s Smile must be grinning since the horror pic dominated the domestic box office with $22 million, starting out strong with an initial opening weekend estimate of $14.5 million. Written and directed by Parker Finn, his first feature film raked in a solid $36.5 million for its opening weekend at the global box office.
After opening Thursday with previews beginning at 7 p.m., the film garnered a solid $2 million before snowballing into a successful weekend including a shocking, yet smile-inducing Saturday when Smile increased by 4 percent – which is especially unique for a genre film. The success of the flick with B- rating from CinemaScore can at least somewhat be credited to Paramount’s marketing with the simple, yet terrifying visual of the smile. In addition to an engaging trailer that played before theatrical hits like Top Gun: Maverick and Nope, its inventive marketing techniques scared up a decent buzz when groups of people standing still with murderous grins showed up in the audiences of various sporting events and in full view of the cameras.
Smile follows Dr. Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon, Mare of Easttown) who experiences frightening events she cannot explain after witnessing a bizarre, traumatic incident involving a patient. As this overwhelming terror that takes its victims with a terrifying smile starts to take over her life, Rose is forced to confront her troubling past – her only option in order to escape her horrifying new reality. In addition to Bacon, who is also known for playing Skye Miller in 13 Reasons Why, Smile features Jessie T. Usher (The Boys, Tales of the Walking Dead) as Trevor and Kyle Gallner (2022’s Scream, Dinner in America) as Joel. Rounding out the cast of Smile are Robin Weigert (Deadwood), Caitlin Stasey (All Cheerleaders Die), Kal Penn (Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle) and Rob Morgan (Don’t Look Up).
Collider’s own Alyse Wax described the effects of the unsettling imagery in Smile in its review, describing the film as an “enjoyable, scary ride that is well-plotted and acted” and rating it a solid B+. Led by a strong performance in the western part of the States, Smile also performed better than expected in the Midwest, south central, and southeast of the U.S. while falling short in the northeast. Canada came in with a strong 7.49%. The audience demographics leaned 52% male with its largest audience segment being between the ages of 18 and 24. With a three out of five star rating on PostTrak, it’s no surprise that audience reactions were overall positive at 69% and 36% describing Smile as excellent.
The horror flick, which is executive produced by Adam Fishbach, received its R-rating for violent content, grisly images and language. Its producers include Marty Bowen, Wyck Godfrey, Isaac Klausner and Robert Salerno.
Check out the trailer for Smile, which is now in theaters, below.
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