I am shocked - shocked - that the film was downplayed at this festival. Too bad some didn't like it. I wasn't enamored of the '91 remake (palm trees, palm trees, palm trees!!!!!) and thought it was an overblown remake of HoDS, rather than being "true to the original" (a statement that has been oft used with regards to those who didn't like the Depp/Burton film). But I watched it religiously and was very upset at its cancellation. No one "down-played" those from that version who attended, with all glory, laud and honor, other DS festivals. Then there was the 2004 version that never saw the light of day, and had plenty of critics, but it appears they had no problem showing the unfinished pilot at following festivals over and over and over again.
The Depp/Burton film should've been the who reason for this festival, held up high and honored (just as the other versions based upon the OS have been honored). People involved in the movie should've been invited to attend (maybe they were, I don't know). Again, so what if some in DS fandom didn't like it because it didn't stand up to their "ideal" of the original. They didn't have to come. They could've stayed home and sulked. Nothing about any of the remakes (and that includes HoDS and NoDS) was true to the OS. All had stuff that deviated from the OS and were blatantly stupid. Heck, much in the OS was stupid. I know this has been discussed before, but having Barnabas trying to figure out the world of 1972 in the Depp/Burton film made far more sense, even when done comedically (of course it would be comedic), than all the remakes that had him showing up at Collinwood a few days after being released, perfectly clothed by Birkenstock's (would Barnabas know and understand how to use a zipper?) and fitting right in. That was stupid. It was stupid when Jonathan Frid did it in the OS and HoDS, and it was stupid when Ben Cross did it in '91. (I don't know how it was handled in the aborted '04 remake because I never saw it.)
Stupid.
But we loved it all. It's DS. The Depp/Burton film is DS, just as much as is the OS, HoDS, NoDS, '91 and '04. To try and "keep it on the down-low" at that "festival" so some fans wouldn't get upset and make a scene is simply shocking. Millions were spent bringing it back to us and it has made $335 million dollars world wide. That's not something to ignore, but to celebrate.
But I will say, that JP person trying to auction off huge cut-out billboards starting at a hundred smackers each, or else threatening to send them to the trash is also stupid. I always wonder if the JP guy has his head screwed on tight. I have thought for a long time that it's been time for the Curtis family and anyone else associated with DS to find some way to flush him. The guy doesn't have an ounce of business sense inside his head. He scowers youtube and other places to remove anything that doesn't make money for whatever he does regarding this franchise. Having lots of DS stuff on youtube and elsewhere in cyberspace is free publicity and brings in more potential customers for the stuff he wants to sell to make more money. He can't figure that out? Call out the lawyers?
Now that's really, really stupid.
Gerard