IP's do matter, but a lot of the IP's were forgettable that year and I would guess that people remember Jack and the carnival font on all of the merch, not the Purge or TWD. It was also the year they returned American Werewolf in London, so if they need IP this year, why not bring back a best of IP houses? You could link the Storyteller by saying these are the best horror stories ever told.
True, but another point would be they need The Conjuring, Halloween, etc. Either go big or go home, because Gremlins and Beetlejuice aren't going to save attendance numbers if that's what they're aiming to do. So I'm saying, place those in their back pocket for another year so that they can save the $ on IP use and use them as a wildcard for another year where maybe it will matter. I believe "30" will sell just as much as those two IP's as the "headliners" this particular year.