pogo wrote:
If the four films that I listed were not SO well known I could agree. But I really doubt that any of them, except perhaps Repo, will be new to anyone older than 15.
That is not how it works.
A few years ago with Bruce and Joe showed 2001, I could tell that a decent percentage of the audience had never seen it before. Same with Blade Runner. And many other classics. (And this is from a sample made up of an audience of an actual sci-fi marathon.)
Personally, I never saw The Shining until I was in my mid-30's. Same with Forbidden Planet. And I have still never seen a tiny little movie called Titanic. (Despite enjoying every James Cameron movie I've seen.)
Once you start making a list of "classics", it won't be hard to walk into any random movie theater with a few people in it and finding all sorts of folks who haven't seen tons of movies on your list.
I'm sure if Bruce and Joe showed ET this year it would be new to 10-30% of the audience.
It's the classics that get people's attention anyways. Whenever friends ask me what movies are playing at the marathon this year, I always lead with the names they'd recognize. (Which doesn't mean they've seen all those movies, but at least they've heard of them and know their reputation.)
Movies like Aliens and Evil Dead and whatever are the whole reason folks are fans of sci-fi and horror in the first place. Gotta play the good stuff.