‘Smile 2’ opens with $23 million to lead box office

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Naomi Scott in a scene from “Smile 2.” (Paramount Pictures via AP)

LOS ANGELES – The horror sequel “Smile 2” opened atop the box office this weekend, taking in $23 million at North American theaters, according to industry estimates released Sunday.

Writer-director Parker Finn’s follow-up to his 2022 hit beat out “The Wild Robot,” which grossed $10.1 million in its fourth weekend, Comscore reported.

“Terrifier 3” slipped to third one week after opening in first place, grossing $9.3 million Friday through Sunday.

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” was fourth with another $5 million in its seventh week, and fifth place went to “We Live in Time,” a romance starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh, which opened with $4.1 million.

Rounding out the top 10 domestic releases were “Joker: Folie á Deux” ($2.18 million), “Piece by Piece” ($2.1 million), “Transformers One” ($1.9 million), “Saturday Night” ($1.8 million) and a re-release of 1993’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” ($1.1 million).

This weekend’s overall three-day box office haul was estimated at $70 million. The year-to-date total is $6.638 billion — down 11% from the figure at this time last year, according to Comscore.

Parker Finn has returned to write and direct the sequel to the supernatural horror “Smile,” his debut.

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Lukas Gage in a scene from “Smile 2.” (Paramount Pictures via AP)

Originally intended for streaming, Paramount pivoted and sent the movie to theaters in the fall of 2022. “Smile” became a sleeper hit at the box office, earning some $217 million against a $17 million budget.

The sequel, starring Naomi Scott as a pop star, was rewarded with a bit of a bigger budget, and a theatrical commitment from the start. Playing on 3,619 screens, it opened slightly higher than the first’s $22 million.

Second place went to Universal and DreamWorks Animation’s “The Wild Robot” in its fourth weekend with $10.1 million, bumping it past $100 million in North America.

Family films often have long lives in theaters, particularly ones as well reviewed as “The Wild Robot,” and some have speculated that it got a bump this weekend from teenagers buying tickets for the PG-rated family film and then sneaking into “Terrifier 3,” which is not rated, instead.

“Smile 2″ is rated R for “strong bloody violent content, grisly images, language throughout and drug use.”  (With CNS report)