# What great films were not pre-screened for critics ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 23, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-great-films-were-not-pre-screened-for-critics/664270 "2013-07-23T00:26:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-great-films-were-not-pre-screened-for-critics/664270/1 "2013-07-23T00:26:59Z")
The title says it all. I seem to remember Star Wars was not. So? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-great-films-were-not-pre-screened-for-critics/664270/2 "2013-07-23T01:55:55Z")
Of course **Star Wars** was pre-screened for critics. The movie had reviews out the day after opening and got raves from them (the NY Times had an article out the next morning, and judging by that lead time, it’s seems likely Vincent Canby wrote the review before the actual opening. There’s also a second article discussing how the movie was made; you don’t write features like that without having some idea that they will be successful) . Fox knew they had a hit on their hands, and back then you didn’t get a hit unless the critics loved it. It’s possible that **The Stunt Man** wasn’t pre-screened: the studio figured it would fail and was going to put it on the shelf. Richard Rush got them to put it into a theater, where word-of-mouth made it enough of a success that it got wide release. That’s when the reviews came in. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-great-films-were-not-pre-screened-for-critics/664270/3 "2013-07-23T01:58:02Z")
Here is a very incomplete list. Only Psycho is a great movie on that list, and I would guess it wasn’t screened because of its spoiler. Having said that, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is a pretty good movie. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-great-films-were-not-pre-screened-for-critics/664270/4 "2013-07-23T02:45:17Z")
Fairly hefty list at [TV Tropes](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NotScreenedForCritics) includes the 1998 _The Avengers, Snakes on a Plane,_ and _Superman IV._ ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-great-films-were-not-pre-screened-for-critics/664270/5 "2013-07-23T02:46:11Z")
I forgot to link to my list, but TV Tropes has a better one that has already been linked to. ---
**Author:** ![zombywoof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9e8a1a/32.png) [@zombywoof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zombywoof)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-great-films-were-not-pre-screened-for-critics/664270/6 "2013-07-23T03:14:12Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Fairly hefty list at [TV Tropes](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NotScreenedForCritics) includes the 1998 _The Avengers, Snakes on a Plane,_ and _Superman IV._ Those are “great films”?? ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-great-films-were-not-pre-screened-for-critics/664270/7 "2013-07-23T03:53:01Z")
None of the films on the TV Tropes list are great films, after all they all illustrate the trope -“Not screened for critics = suck”. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-great-films-were-not-pre-screened-for-critics/664270/8 "2013-07-23T05:26:45Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Having said that, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is a pretty good movie. Really? Dear lord was that a terrible movie. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-great-films-were-not-pre-screened-for-critics/664270/9 "2013-07-23T16:56:21Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > Really? Dear lord was that a terrible movie. [Nah, it wasn’t terrible. Perhaps you saw this Hansel and Gretel movie, also from 2013?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hansel_%26_Gretel_%282013_film%29) ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-great-films-were-not-pre-screened-for-critics/664270/10 "2013-07-23T17:06:00Z")
> [@lisiate](#): > > None of the films on the TV Tropes list are great films, after all they all illustrate the trope -“Not screened for critics = suck”. _Psycho_ isn’t great? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-great-films-were-not-pre-screened-for-critics/664270/11 "2013-07-23T17:08:12Z")
You don’t get your money’s worth of the star. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-great-films-were-not-pre-screened-for-critics/664270/12 "2013-07-23T17:25:50Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > [Nah, it wasn’t terrible. Perhaps you saw this Hansel and Gretel movie, also from 2013?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hansel_%26_Gretel_%282013_film%29) No, I saw [the terrible one.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1428538/reference) The one with crossbows that were indistinguishable from AR-15s. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-great-films-were-not-pre-screened-for-critics/664270/13 "2013-07-23T18:27:06Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > Fairly hefty list at [TV Tropes](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NotScreenedForCritics) includes the 1998 _The Avengers, Snakes on a Plane,_ and _Superman IV._ It appears that the only decent movie there is Double Rush. I haven’t seen it myself, but I think it got OK reviews. ---
**Author:** ![Rollo\_Tomasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Rollo\_Tomasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rollo_Tomasi)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-great-films-were-not-pre-screened-for-critics/664270/14 "2013-07-23T18:55:11Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > It appears that the only decent movie there is Double Rush. I haven’t seen it myself, but I think it got OK reviews. **Premium Rush** , you mean? I’ve seen about a dozen of the movies from that link, and **Premium Rush** is by far the best of those. That said, I’d file it under “painless but forgettable,” as opposed to “actually good.” ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2013, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-great-films-were-not-pre-screened-for-critics/664270/15 "2013-07-23T19:12:07Z")
Yeah, Premium Rush. It definitely wasn’t [Double Rush](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111941/).