Paramount Hires David Bruckner to Direct Smile 3

Paramount has hired David Bruckner to direct Smile 3, and Nick Antosca to write the screenplay, Variety reported on 29 October 2026.

Parker Finn, who created the Smile series, will stay on as a producer. He wrote and directed the first two films, Smile in 2022 and Smile 2 in 2024. Plot details for the third film have not been revealed.

The first film did well at the box office. According to Variety, it earned $105 million in the United States and Canada, which the trade calls "domestic," and $217 million worldwide. The sequel, Smile 2, took $69 million domestically and $139 million worldwide. It was made for a budget of $28 million, the production cost before marketing.

Finn's ties to Paramount go back to that first success. After the original film became a hit in cinemas, he signed a first-look deal with the studio. A first-look deal gives a studio the first chance to develop a producer's projects, and Variety reported the terms in the same piece.

Finn is busy on his own projects too. He is directing a remake of the 1981 film Possession, starring Callum Turner and Margaret Qualley. That film is set for release in summer 2027.

For fans, the news is mainly about who is next in line. Bruckner and Antosca now have the job of building a new story around the franchise's grinning, haunting central idea. Paramount has not announced a release date for Smile 3.