Not Screened for Critics: Difference between revisions

[[File:notforcritics.jpg|link=Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|rightframe]]

Instead of a review, you read a notice stating that the film was "not'''Not screenedScreened for criticsCritics'''." This is a big warning sign about the quality of the movie. Under normal circumstances, the reviewers would have seen the film already on DVD "screeners" or private showings, and would have had plenty of time to write witty, biting criticism (or just plain vituperation) that ''would have'' completely eviscerated it. The general indication is that the studio doesn't want people to be warned away from the movie prior to opening day.

Another tactic by studios is to allow critics to see a movie days in advance...but only with a bunch of radio and TV station contest winners who were caller #7, so that instead of being able to make their notes and go through their usual routine in reviewing a film in a quiet theater or purpose-built screening room such is those in midtown [[New York]] or downtown [[Chicago]], they have to do it in a crowded megaplex with people who probably wouldn't have seen the movie at all if they hadn't won free tickets and will probably like the movie only because they didn't have to pay to see it, or in the case of films targeted for children and teens, probably love it no matter what and act like...[[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|well, rowdy and rambunctious children and teenagers]] throughout the entire film (it's even worse if it's one of those concert films featuring the [[Teen Idol]] of the moment). One of the actors or producers may even do a "[[Dull Surprise|surprise]]" personal appearance before the film starts, taking away any sense of a neutral setting (are you going to tell them their film is awful in person?). Many critics thus will easily not take the bait and stay away in droves for their sanity.

This tends to happen a lot during the months of January, February, August, and September -- theSeptember—the traditional [[Dump Months]] where all the movies in which the studio no longer has faith but which it is contractually obligated to release get dumped, leaving the good months for [[Summer Blockbuster|summer blockbusters]] and [[Oscar Bait]].

* ''[[The Avengers (1998 (Filmfilm)|The Avengers 1998]]''. The studio even said it was putting the film out without previews not because it was awful, but because the studio wanted the public and press to "discover the film together". Obviously, no one believed this for a moment; both public and press quickly discovered the movie sucked hard.

* ''[[Snakes Onon a Plane]]''. They may have skipped screening it based on the logic that next to nobody walking into that theater is going to be swayed otherwise by a review, and it was pretty much intentional [[So Bad It's Good]]. That and [[B-Movie|the concept itself]] is anathema for any professional reviewer, pretty much ensuring that a majority of critics will give it a negative review. Somehow, ''Snakes on a Plane'' still managed to get a "Fresh" rating on Rottentomatoes.com, even before the "WTF... this is so dumb" word of mouth came in.

** A possible case of [[Hoist Byby His Own Petard]]. Some critics actually embraced the film, but since they could not spread the word-of-mouth to the uninitiated because of the lack of pre-screening, people on the fence stayed hesitant and ''Snakes'' wound up scoring way less at the box office than what the viral buzz indicated.

* ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]'' [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/24/ parodied this] when [[Kevin Smith]] went on to say that his movie ''Jersey Girl'' wasn't "for critics". In response, Gabe and Tycho created ''Twisp & Catsby'', an aristocratic cat and a demon (yes, respectively) who starred in [[Dada Comics|completely nonsensical adventures]], concluding the first strip with the panel above. In defense of Mr. Smith, the full quote (which is often forgotten) goes on to say that it wasn't "for critics", it was for his ''daughter'', the person he made the movie for, though the point stands that the target audience of a film does not make it immune from criticism.

* ''[[Street Fighter: theThe Legend of Chun -Li (Film)|Street Fighter the Legend of Chun Li]]''.

* ''[[G.I. Joe: theThe Rise of Cobra (Film)|G.I. Joe the Rise of Cobra]]'' was not screened for critics. They had this to say on the matter:

{{quote| "After [[Love It or Hate It|the chasm we experienced]] with ''[[Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Film)|Transformers Revenge of the Fallen]]'' between the response of audiences and critics, we chose to forgo opening-day print and broadcast reviews as a strategy to promote 'G.I. Joe.' We want audiences to define this film."}}

* Bizarrely, the ''[[Bratz (Filmfilm)|Bratz]]'' movie '''was''' screened for critics, despite what people expected. The result was what you'd think it was.

* ''[[Indiana Jones and Thethe Kingdom of Thethe Crystal Skull]]'' was not screened for critics before its premiere at Cannes. The quality was [[Contested Sequel|wildly debated]].

* The movie of ''[[Star Wars: theThe Clone Wars]]''.

* ''[[Apollo 18 (Film)|Apollo 18]]'' and ''[[Shark Night]]'', both of which opened on the same weekend.

* ''[[Dream House (Filmfilm)|Dream House]]''.

* ''[[Babylon ADA.D.]]''

== [[Live -Action TV]] ==

* The producers of ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined(2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica]]'' have been known to omit key scenes from reviewer screenings, to avoid twists leaking out. MostFor recentlyexample, the premiere of season 4.5 was screened with its final scene, where {{spoiler|Col. Tigh realizes his deceased wife was a Cylon whowhom he'd known on Earth in a past life}}, left out.

** [[Dan Schneider]] has used this to his benefit on ''[[I CarlyiCarly]]''. He managed to keep secret the cliffhanger ending to ''iOMG'' for what had to have been over a year by filming on a closed set with a minimum of cast and crew.

* Vivendi Universal refused to send ''Electronic Gaming Monthly'' (EGM) a copy of their [[Game Boy Advance]] [[The Problem Withwith Licensed Games|game of]] [[The Film of the Book]] of ''[[The Cat in Thethe Hat]]'' because they "didn't want [[Seanbaby]] making fun of it." It didn't work, needless to say. After having to pay for a review copy, Seanbaby was all too pleased to lay into the game and its creators with his [http://www.seanbaby.com/nes/issue176.htm most scathing (and hysterical) of reviews].

* ''[[Final Fantasy XIV (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XIV]]'' did send out copies to critics, but also asked them not to give out reviews until they'd fixed some of the issues they hadn't fixed before releasing it. Naturally, since the game was already on store shelves, most didn't feel like playing along and gave decidedly negative reviews.

* Rednar, the public relations firm for Gearbox software, threatened this in light of negative reviews for [[Duke Nukem Forever (Video Game)|Duke Nukem Forever]]. [[Laser-Guided Karma|Gearbox promptly fired them]].