It’s been an unusually large box office success, but did you know that Smile was originally never even meant to come out in cinemas?
You can see the trailer here if you haven’t already caught the movie:
The film business is an unpredictable one, you can make the most expensive and elaborate film and people might hate it, but you can also piece together a tiny production on a shoestring budget and have millions flocking to see it.
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Smile probably fits in somewhere in the middle of those two categories, but it’s definitely fit to be regarded as a success, having taken in more than $200 million (£165 million) at the box office.
Parker Finn’s horror film was his directorial debut, and it certainly left fans terrified.
The premise is that Dr Rose Cotter – played by Sosie Bacon – starts to witness ‘frightening occurrences’ that are invisible to everyone else after she saw an horrific incident with one of her patients.
After that, she starts seeing a horrendous eerie smile everywhere she looks, which leads to further unsettling stuff.
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You get the idea – it’s a pretty scary film.
Anyway, few predicted that it would have been such a big success, but praise from horror supremo Stephen King and a huge groundswell of word of mouth publicity meant that it ended up making around $216 million (£178 million) at the box office.
From a budget of $17 million (£14 million), that’s really great going.
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However, the truth is that it almost never made it into the cinema at all.
Kyle Gallner, one of the stars of the film, recently told Metro that Smile was originally intended to be streaming or TV only.
That eventually changed, and the folks behind it should be rightfully glad.
Assessing his expectations for the project, Gallner – who plays Rose’s ex-boyfriend Joel – said: “We weren’t expecting anything! The movie was never supposed to go to theatres. It was made for Paramount+, it was only supposed to be on TV.
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“Then they told us it was going to theatres and we were all excited. It started taking off and it was pretty wild.
“You just never know what is going to hit and what will resonate with people these days. “Superhero movies are the only sure thing, everything else is a gamble.
“The only thing that’s a really safe bet anymore, other than superhero movies, is horror.”
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He continued: “One of the challenges these days is just getting people to go to the movies,
“But once they’re there, you realize why it’s so great, why it’s so fun and the magic of going to the theatre.
“Especially a horror film.
“Seeing a horror film in theatres is one of the most fun things you can do, maybe people were just reminded of that?”
Apparently, the decision to take it to the cinemas instead of Paramount+ streaming was based upon a successful test screening.
The screenings that came afterwards with paid audiences can’t have gone that badly either, given how successful the film went on to be.
Topics: TV and Film, Celebrity, Cinema
Tom Wood