As the Halloween season approaches, many new horror movies are being released in theaters just in time. One of the new thrillers that was released for Halloween is Smile, which was released in theaters on September 30th, and it was promoted for months leading up to it.  Just not in the way you would expect. On September 23rd Paramount Pictures hired actors to show up at Yankees and Mets games and just sit there, stare at the camera and, you guessed it, Smile! 

The two most well known actors that were spotted were a man and a woman at baseball games, sitting right behind home plate. The actors were wearing bright, neon colored shirts with the word “SMILE” written across it to catch the attention of the cameras– and it worked. The games they were spotted at included the New York Mets vs. Oakland Athletics and the St. Louis Cardinals vs. Los Angeles Dodgers.

Parker Finn, the director of Smile, didn’t think anyone would notice, commenting, “This is something that had been discussed a little while back and we were all kind of like crossing our fingers that somebody might notice.” Finn also stated that, “It was happening just organically and it was overwhelming how much that took off,” said the director. “It was just instantly everywhere. Kudos for them for their terrific idea.”

Some people online decided to showcase their feelings toward this marketing idea, most of them stating that it was off-putting and actually scared them. The official MLB twitter account even joked how the actors were just thrilled to be there, as shown from their jolly smiles of course. 

Smile is now in theaters for your enjoyment, so to catch a scare you can go and see it in theaters or simply just watch a baseball game!