We’re more than halfway through the 2020s, so we can say with some certainty which films were flashes in the pan and which have already cemented their place in the cinematic hall of fame. Some have even established franchises in a short time: take Smile, the 2022 film that became a horror classic almost overnight. It established a perfect foundation for an anthology, following the victims of a parasitic curse that causes insanity and, most memorably, a compulsion to grin. Smile sired an even better sequel just two years later, and another is reportedly on the way, but the world has been expanding in other forums, too.
Earlier this year, IDW Comics published a four-issue prequel to Parker Finn’s original Smile. Set during Fashion Month in 2005, Smile: For the Camera sees the grin-inducing Entity descending on the world of professional modeling. It quietly proved that the franchise has legs beyond the screen, so much so that a new chapter is on the way.
