Commuters at London’s Liverpool Street Station had a big, er, small surprise Tuesday morning: a flashmob featuring thousands of pint-sized gnomes. 

Equipped with laptops, cell phones, train passes, and other standard commuter gear, the nine-inch gnomes (all 5,000 of them!) appeared at the busy train station to advertise the release of Gnomeo & Juliet 3D, a new movie based on the classic Shakespeare play (trailer here). A few of the garden creatures carried more traditional gnome gear like shovels and fishing rods. 

On Wednesday, a similar crowd of red and blue garbed gnomes greeted shoppers and commuters at Manchester city center. The gnomes appeared in Piccadilly Gardens and outside the Urbis near Victoria train station. According to the Manchester Evening News, passersby were encouraged to “give a gnome a home” and take them off the street.

Starring James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine, Jason Statham, Maggie Smith, Patrick Stewart, Ashley Jensen, Stephen Merchant, Matt Lucas, Jim Cummings, Julie Walters, Richard Wilson, and Ozzy Osbourne, Gnomeo and Juliet opens on Friday, February 11.

Check out StarCam's interviews at the film's premiere and photos of the London gnomes below!