Anne Hathaway Leans Into the Internet’s Favorite Minecraft Meme to Promote Her New Thriller ‘Verity0

Horror trends move fast online, and few have taken over quite as thoroughly this year as a mysterious yellow smiley face haunting Minecraft players everywhere. What started as a niche corner of the gaming internet has since snowballed into a full-blown meme phenomenon, complete with viral songs, fan art, and endless spinoff content. Now one of Hollywood’s biggest stars has jumped directly into the joke, and fans are losing their minds over it.

That star is Anne Hathaway, who has spent this year juggling one of the busiest release slates of her career. Between ‘Mother Mary,’ ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2,’ ‘The Odyssey,’ and ‘The End of Oak Street,’ Hathaway has barely had a moment to breathe, and her next project, the Colleen Hoover adaptation ‘Verity,’ is already generating buzz of its own ahead of its October 2 theatrical release.

That buzz reached a new level this week when Hathaway shared a new promotional clip for the film referencing the viral Minecraft horror alternate reality game also called “Verity,” a coincidence the internet has been having a field day with for months. In the clip, Hathaway leaned directly into the meme, echoing the now-famous catchphrase associated with the character in a nod that immediately sent fans into hysterics online.

Anne Hathaway references the infamous Minecraft meme Verity in a new promo for her film ‘VERITY’.

In theaters on October 2. pic.twitter.com/7sXxrwiDCv

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) September 22, 2026

For anyone unfamiliar with the reference, the Minecraft “Verity” phenomenon began as a horror web series and ARG created by YouTuber ThatMob, centered on a Minecraft mod that adds a floating yellow smiley-faced assistant named Verity, who helps players locate nearby resources before gradually being revealed as something far more sinister. The series took off after its debut in late May, spawning an enormous fan community across YouTube, TikTok, and beyond.

Much of that momentum was fueled by a fan-made song titled “It’s Me, It’s Verity,” released by YouTuber Horror Skunx in July, which racked up more than 14 million views within just over a month. The song and its accompanying catchphrase have since become a full-blown internet in-joke, making Hathaway’s decision to reference it for her own, entirely unrelated film named ‘Verity’ feel almost too perfectly timed to be coincidental.

Hathaway’s actual film, based on Colleen Hoover’s psychological thriller novel of the same name, has nothing to do with Minecraft or smiley-faced mascots. She stars as Verity Crawford alongside Dakota Johnson in the adaptation, which she also produces, and which is set to arrive in theaters on October 2. Given the novel’s popularity and Hoover’s massive built-in fanbase, the film already carried plenty of anticipation before the meme crossover gave it an unexpected second wave of attention.

The timing could hardly be better for Hathaway, who has become something of an internet fixture in her own right this year, both for her packed release schedule and for the way she has embraced online culture around her work. Beyond her current slate, she has also announced she is expecting her third child and has multiple future projects already lined up, including ‘Princess Diaries 3’ and an adaptation of the novel ‘Yesteryear.’

Hey, it’s Verity. Only in theaters October 2. #VerityFilm pic.twitter.com/tIC5kHzfQW

— Amazon MGM Studios (@AmazonMGMStudio) September 22, 2026

Leaning into an unrelated internet trend for a marketing push is a familiar tactic, but few crossovers have landed quite as neatly as this one, given that the meme and the movie share an actual name. For a film adaptation entering an already crowded fall release calendar, tapping into an existing wave of online enthusiasm, even one built around a completely different piece of media, gives ‘Verity’ a built-in conversation starter heading into its premiere.

Whether or not audiences show up specifically because of the meme, the crossover has undeniably given the film an extra jolt of visibility in its final weeks of promotion. With Hathaway’s name already carrying significant box office weight this year and a viral moment now attached to the film’s title, ‘Verity’ looks primed for a strong opening when it finally hits theaters.

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