Never lose focus on April Fools’ Day, you never know who will surprise you next

There’s nothing like kicking back in a theater and watching the latest movie release. With so many new flicks coming out every month, it’s hard to choose the best ones. That’s why the humble movie poster is really handy. Every once in a while a poster will jump out at you and catch your attention. Maybe it features a sexy image, or it shows a cool movie star, either way, the movie it is advertising wins a small spot in your memory.

In the case of this movie, the studios are having a little bit of fun at your expense, however. Behold, Will Smith’s new movie, Focus, starring NOT Will Smith! Who could possibly pull off the swagger of the former Fresh Prince of Bel Air?

In a clever bit of marketing and to take capitalise on April Fools’ Day, Warner Brothers Japan kicked off their marketing campaign with the release of a movie poster for Will Smith’s new movie opening on May 1 in Japan. The cool new poster is just like the cool old poster with a couple of substitutions.

[tweet https://twitter.com/warnerjp/status/583010904951775233 align=center]

If not for that sweet puffer fish hat, you probably wouldn’t have even taken a second look. This special poster is part of their marketing campaign that asks you to “focus”. If you don’t “focus” on the poster, you wouldn’t even know something was very wrong! Plus, in order to “focus” on the poster, you have to really look at the poster itself, genius!

▼Another example from their campaign, what can you see?

[tweet https://twitter.com/warnerjp/status/583003390285758464 align=center]

Who did they find to play the part of Will Smith in the April Fools’ version of the poster? Who has got the existential cool to pull off Will Smith? Was it someone from EXILE or The Third J Soul Brothers? Nope, it’s none other than Sakana-kun!

▼That’s right, this guy!

Image: Facebook (Sakanakun Official)

[tweet https://twitter.com/sakanakun_bot/status/577971071078395904 align=center]

Sakana-kun has apparently been told he looks like Will Smith before, but this famous ichthyologist (fish researcher) is just a passionate lover of fish! He shares that love with people all over Japan with numerous regular spots on variety TV shows. He is a little fanatical about fish, as he speaks like one (“gyo”) and kind of acts like one too. He does all of this to inspire the people of Japan to learn a little bit more about fish. Sakana-kun is normally all about the fish but in this transformation, he’s all about the cool.

You can see he really enjoys being the suave debonair “Will Smith”-type character. It’s truly a contrast from his normal behavior, but if you watch the video you can tell he just can’t quite keep it in when he falls back on his fish-like moves at the end of the photo shoot.

▼That’s some pretty good makeup work

[tweet https://twitter.com/furi_makeup/status/583100252707643393 align=center]

Hopefully Warner Brothers Japan has more catchy ads like this lined up before Focus comes out in Japanese theaters on May 1. But if you believe what the reviews say about the movie, these “focus” ads might be more entertaining than the Focus movie itself.

[tweet https://twitter.com/owarai_natalie/status/582995836231032833 align=center]

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