Since Joe mentions the Boston SF marathon, I will happily "admit" that I booked Carpenter's THE THING at last year's event although I believe it is almost certainly one of the Top 10 Most Overrated SF films of ALL TIME!
BUT ---- I know that the vast majority of Marathoners (Boston,and, I'm certain, Ohio) disagree. THE THING was "good" for the Marathon, so I went for it.
And, yes, it both:
1. Went over very well with the crowd, with many calling it their favorite film of that Marathon.
2. Still is one of the Top 10 Most Overrated SF Movies of All Time! In fact, it may now be in the Top 5!
Joe Neff wrote:
That's a good question, and one that some of my long time Marathon-attending friends have debated over the years. There have been some premieres that I've had a hand in booking which haven't turned out to be that hot, but I almost always had moderate to high hopes for them going into the event. Aside from that, I can't think of a single feature that I (or Bruce and I jointly) booked that I didn't care for. My taste in film is fairly wide-ranging, and I like to think that my taste in the horror genre follows suit.
Now, hypothetically if there was a film I didn't like that would be a guaranteed draw, would I book it? Probably. The only way that I could see not doing that is if this hypothetical film would damage the overall credibility of the event or merely serve as a one time hot draw for non-regulars without any lasting positive effect on the Marathon.
At the same time, the Columbus Marathons have always been a dual reflection of the audience and the organizers. It's why the Sci-Fi Marathons that Bruce has organized are slightly different than the ones in Boston, and it's why the Horror Marathons he organized at the Drexel North were slightly different than the ones I organized at Studio 35 (even though I fully admit to attempting to carry on the tradition of his Marathons that so scarred...uh, I mean inspired me in the first place). If the programming of the Marathons didn't reflect the vision (yes, an overused term, but a valid one) of the organizers, the events themselves probably wouldn't quite be the same.