Smile 3 Finds New Director as David Bruckner Takes Over
That sinister grin isn’t going anywhere just yet. Paramount is officially moving ahead with Smile 3, but for the first time the person sitting in the director’s chair won’t be the man who created the franchise.
David Bruckner has been hired to direct the third Smile film, while writer and producer Nick Antosca will handle the screenplay, according to Variety. Franchise creator Parker Finn, who wrote and directed both previous instalments, isn’t abandoning his creation entirely. Finn developed the framework for the third film and will remain involved as a producer alongside Temple Hill Entertainment, with Jonathan Fass serving as executive producer.
The change comes as Finn turns his attention to his new version of Andrzej Żuławski’s 1981 psychological horror Possession. Paramount has that film scheduled for June 11, 2027, with Margaret Qualley and Callum Turner starring, leaving somebody else to inherit one of horror’s most unpleasant smiles.
Exactly what Bruckner and Antosca plan to do with it remains secret. No cast, release date or plot details have been announced, including whether the third film will directly continue events from Smile 2 or centre on another character caught in the entity’s curse.
From Rose Cotter to Skye Riley
The franchise began with Parker Finn’s 2020 short Laura Hasn’t Slept, which introduced Caitlin Stasey as Laura and provided the foundation for what became Smile. Finn expanded the idea into his 2022 feature debut, with Sosie Bacon playing psychiatrist Dr Rose Cotter, whose life begins to unravel after she witnesses the horrifying death of a patient.
What followed was a supernatural horror built around trauma, psychological deterioration and an entity capable of appearing through other people wearing that now unmistakable grin. Kyle Gallner co-starred as Joel, while Jessie T. Usher, Robin Weigert, Kal Penn and Caitlin Stasey were also among the cast.
Smile became far bigger than its modest origins suggested. The film earned approximately $105.9 million in North America and $217.4 million worldwide, establishing Finn’s feature debut as a major theatrical horror success and making another encounter with the entity practically inevitable.
Finn returned to write and direct Smile 2 in 2024, but rather than simply repeating Rose’s story with another psychiatrist, he dramatically changed the surroundings. Naomi Scott starred as Skye Riley, a hugely successful pop star preparing to embark on a comeback tour after struggling with trauma and the aftermath of a devastating car accident.
The sequel took the intimate nightmare of the first film and placed it against celebrity, addiction, public scrutiny and the enormous machinery surrounding a global performer. Kyle Gallner returned as Joel, providing a direct connection with the original, while Rosemarie DeWitt, Lukas Gage, Miles Gutierrez-Riley and Peter Jacobson joined Scott in the cast.
Although it didn’t reach the extraordinary box-office heights of its predecessor, Smile 2 was another substantial success, grossing approximately $138.1 million worldwide. Combined, the first two films have therefore earned more than $350 million globally, giving Paramount plenty of reasons to keep smiling even if everyone inside the films would probably prefer it stopped.
Smile 3 – David Bruckner Takes Control of the Curse
Bruckner is an interesting choice precisely because he is far from a newcomer to horror. His early feature work included co-directing The Signal, while he later contributed segments to horror anthologies V/H/S and Southbound. His 2017 feature The Ritual followed a group of friends into a Scandinavian wilderness where grief, fractured friendships and something considerably less friendly await them.
He followed that with The Night House, starring Rebecca Hall as a widow uncovering disturbing secrets after her husband’s death. In 2022, Bruckner tackled one of horror’s most recognisable properties with Hellraiser, a new adaptation drawing from Clive Barker’s work that introduced Jamie Clayton as the Hell Priest.
That résumé makes Bruckner a particularly intriguing fit for Smile. The Ritual and The Night House both demonstrate his experience with horror rooted in grief and damaged characters, while Hellraiser proved he wasn’t frightened of taking responsibility for an established genre property with a very passionate fanbase.
Bruckner also has several other horror projects in development. He has been working on a new version of The Blob for Warner Bros., is attached to The Caretaker at Universal with Sydney Sweeney and is set to direct Mice for A24.
Nick Antosca brings an equally strong genre background to the screenplay. He created the horror anthology series Channel Zero, based around different creepypasta stories, and co-created Netflix’s surreal horror series Brand New Cherry Flavor. His credits also include work on Hannibal, the screenplay for Scott Cooper’s Antlers and the new Cape Fear television series.
Interestingly, this isn’t the first time Bruckner and Antosca have found themselves connected to the same major horror franchise. More than a decade ago, Bruckner was attached to direct a planned Paramount Friday the 13th reboot while Antosca worked on a screenplay for the project. That version never reached production. This time, they have inherited a considerably more active monster.
Finn has previously spoken about the possibilities of allowing Smile to become larger while retaining the intimate, character-driven horror at its centre. With his framework still forming the basis of the third film, there should at least be creative DNA connecting this new chapter to what came before.
For now, that is about all Paramount is allowing out of the box. We don’t know who will be smiling, who will be unfortunate enough to see them doing it or where the entity goes after Smile 2. What we do know is that Smile 3 now has two filmmakers with serious horror credentials steering the franchise, while Parker Finn remains close enough to make sure his creation doesn’t lose its grin.
