Horror film “Smile” by Chapman University alum Parker Finn has exceeded $200 million in the global box office since its Sept. 30 theatrical release, according to data firm Box Office Mojo.
The film’s box office performance marks a more than tenfold return for its $17 million budget. “Smile” is also Finn’s debut feature.
“My interior cynicism and neuroses would never let me anticipate this,” Finn told Chapman News. “Everybody who wants to make movies dreams of making something that’s seen widely and embraced, but I wasn’t scheming toward this by any means.”
“Smile,” originally slated for a release on streaming service Paramount+, was quickly flipped for theaters following a warm reception from focus audiences in March this year. The movie follows therapist Rose Cotter (Susie Bacon) after she witnesses the death of a patient, triggering a series of frightening events.
Finn, the movie’s writer-director, graduated with an MFA in screenwriting in 2011 from Chapman’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts.
