8 Worst And Most Desperate Movie Publicity Stunts Ever
2. Fake Gunman In Cinema Screening - Iron Man Three
During the release of The Dark Knight Rises a gunman walked into a screening in America and opened fire on the crowd; a horrifying crime that ignited fresh debate about gun control in the U.S. In response Warner Bros cut a scene featuring a gunfight in a packed cinema from the movie Gangster Squad to avoid offending viewers.
So why the hell a theatre in Missouri thought it would be an awesome idea to hire staff dressed in body armour and armed with fake assault rifles to walk into a screening of Iron Man Three is quite baffling. Even if people could tell the weapons were fake, the darkness of the screening made it hard to tell, so a few people panicked and called the police.
It was soon discovered it was just to promote the movie, and the theatre manager didn’t sound very apologetic about the distress caused; he felt it was all in good fun and it was just some people overreacting that caused panic.