Fanboys Release Date & Review

A lot of places are covering the San Diego Comic Con, and a blog I frequent, Cinematical, has posted up their review:

SDCC Update: Cinematical Has Seen 'Fanboys'!

... and, ya know, it's pretty darn adorable.

Last night a special screening of Fanboys was held here in San Diego, and Cinematical was on hand to witness what producer Kevin Spacey (in attendance) called "the third annual screening of Fanboys -- next year, we're going to series!" Director Kyle Newman and writer Adam Goldberg were there -- as well as an assorted number of suits, one imagines -- and they were met by a packed house of nutty Star Wars fans. The theater had absolutely no air conditioning and it was standing room only, so you can understand these weren't ideal screening conditions. Nevertheless, the first words started scrolling up ... and the folks in attendance ate up every minute of the film from then on out.

Opening in theaters (either wide or in limited release -- Weinstein hasn't decided yet) on September 19 (a date announced by Newman last night), this is apparently the final cut of Fanboys. I won't go into the whole two-year-labor-of-love thing because Scott still needs to swing by here and throw out his review. I will say, though, that this is not just a film for Star Wars fans -- it's a film for any geeky dude or dudette who's ever horsed around with their friends, gone on a nutty adventure and inserted random movie quotes into every other line of dialogue. This flick has so many friggin' Star Wars references -- and movie references in general -- that it's just a ball to watch them all hit the screen at warp speed. And the cameos! All I'll say is that when Judd Apatow came on to help things move along, he brought with him a bunch of friends.

Oh, and one more thing: Out of all the dude sweat in this film, Kristen Bell totally steals the show. What a cutey.

Fanboys. September 19.

Very good news! I can't wait!

Fanboys to hit Theaters in September!

Some good Fanboys news: the film will be screened at this year's San Diego Comic Con, and the first 300 people in line at the Lucasfilm’s 7th Annual Star Wars Fan Movie Challenge Awards, held on July 24th at 8:30pm in Ballroom 20 at the San Diego Convention Center at the con will receive free tickets. Additionally, the film will be released with the cancer plot, which is fantastic news.

Additionally, Cinematical, a movie blog, has reported that the movie will be released in September of this year. I can't wait - and it's about time - this movie has been in limbo for a while. It'll be nice to finally see it. Hopefully, there'll be a good 501st turnout for this!

Source: http://www.cinematical.com/2008/07/21/fanboys-to-screen-comic-con-and-hit-theaters-in-september/

Fanboys News

A short blurb from the SciFiWire came up today, stating that Comedy Central bought the rights for Superhero movie, along with the yet-to-be-released film, Fanboys, which features several members of the 501st and their gear.

Comedy Central, which has agreed to pay the Weinstein Co. $2.7 million for cable rights to Superhero Movie as part of a deal that also includes pre-buys of two unreleased titles, including the Star Wars-themed Fanboys, Variety reported.

Following up with Variety, they announce that Fanboys and The Promotion were both part of the deal.

Comedy Central nabs Weinstein trio
Pact includes 'Superhero Movie,' Fanboys'
Spoof 'Superhero Movie' will become available to Comedy Central starting in September 2010.
"Superhero Movie" is blasting its way onto Comedy Central, which has agreed to pay the Weinstein Co. $2.7 million for cable rights to the picture as part of a deal that also includes pre-buys of two unreleased titles: "Fanboys" and "The Promotion."
Comedy Central will end up paying TWC about 11% of the final domestic box office of "Fanboys" and "The Promotion."
There's no release date yet on "Fanboys," directed by Kyle Newman, which deals with a group of young people who trek cross country in 1998 to sneak into George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch to steal a print of "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" before the movie's release.

Comedy Central gets "Superhero Movie" in September 2010, "Fanboys" in December 2010 and "Promotion" in March 2011.

Full Article

What seems to be significant here is the mention of box office receipts, which leads me to believe that the Weinsteins are still looking at a theatrical release for the movie, which has been delayed several times now and has been plagued with a bit of controversy over the content of the movie. (The revised version aka, cancer free blurb is still up on the Weinstein's webpage). Hopefully, they will be locking down yet another release date, hopefully sooner, rather than later.

Media and the 501st

Here's a really good example of the media as a whole not fact checking and generally lumping all fan groups together. Reuters and the Hollywood Reporter have, along with numerous other websites, attributed the 501st with the recent protests over Superhero movie.
That being said, apparently only a single person showed up to the protest in New York. One. I'm not terribly surprised, and I'm not surprised that the movie flopped anyway.

Here's the article:

"Star Wars" fans picket in support of delayed film
By Borys Kit and Gregg Goldstein, Reuters
LOS ANGELES — Angry "Star Wars" fans, aggrieved about editing changes to an upcoming Weinstein Co. comedy inspired by the sci-fi franchise, picketed theaters playing the studio's latest film, with both sides claiming some sort of victory.

Protesters, organized by a fan group calling itself the 501st, showed up in "Star Wars" gear on Friday at AMC Theatres in New York and Los Angeles that were playing "Superhero Movie."

They want to draw attention to the fate of "Fanboys," about four diehard "Star Wars" fans who break into George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch in order to see "The Phantom Menace" on the eve of its release. The film was originally set for the release last August, but a cancer storyline worried Weinstein, which shot a second version of the film. Fans were outraged.

Weinstein said last week that it will release the two versions on DVD, and a studio source later said that is exploring two theatrical versions. The announcement did nothing to satisfy the fans, who vowed to proceed with their picket of "Superhero Movie."

But the exact number of fans who donned "Star Wars" gear differs depending on which side is talking.

The 501st claims 14 members showed up in New York, but an AMC spokesperson said there was no protest, and a Weinstein source cited a YouTube video posted Friday night showing one protester saying no one else was there. The video has since been removed by the user.

The group also claimed more than 20 showed up at AMC's theaters in L.A.'s Century City district, but an AMC rep said this was limited to one person in a Darth Vader costume on the street outside the theater. A Weinstein source said eight protesters did appear, and were taken out for pizza by one of the filmmakers.

"We've been working on this movie for many years and if someone is going to take time out of their personal life and support our film, whatever that support may be, at the very least what we can do is say thank you and buy them a couple of slices of pizza for caring about this project as much as we do," "Fanboys" producer Matthew Perniciaro said.

"They seemed to take the term 'phantom menace' to a whole different level. I guess they weren't that organized. Apparently getting Star Wars fans to give up their Friday night isn't as easy as it looks," one source said.

Organizers learned quickly that it's all about location, location, location. For Los Angeles, the group chose a mall in Century City rather than a public area. Malls are private property and AMC and Weinstein Co. personnel were able to shut down protesters, visibly identifiable in "Star Wars" costumes or geekwear such as a Green Lantern T-shirt, almost as soon as they stepped foot into the outdoor mall.

"Guards were everywhere," said one protester, who declined to be identified. "At one point, I counted nine, no joke. They hired a whole force and whenever someone showed up looking around for the protest, they were surrounded by guards and told to leave instantly or be arrested. I guess you can't really hold a protest on private property."

The 501st claimed victory by pointing to "Superhero Movie's" dismal performance at the boxoffice.

"We're really not too concerned with how many people did or didn't show up at the protests," said the group. "'Star Wars' fans showed their support for 'Fanboys' by not showing up at theaters all over the country. Our primary goal was to make sure that that 'Superhero Movie' tanked on its opening weekend."

The movie mustered up a gross of only $9.5 million despite several predictions of a $14-milion-$19 million bow.

Full Article Here


Bold parts are the incorrect ones.

Note that we aren't the ones behind the protest, and note that we have in no way claimed that the dismal performance was due to the one guy.

The 501st Legion and "Fanboys"

The Legion finally issued a statement regarding our involvement with the Fanboys boycott that the media seems to have latched onto:

The 501st Legion and "Fanboys"

The 501st Legion is not involved as an organization in any protests, boycotts, or movements related to the film “Fanboys”, nor do we have an opinion or position on the film (which has not yet been released). A few of our more than 4,000 members in 47 countries participated in the project, and accordingly may have their personal opinions about the current issues surrounding it. But their participation in this film was not coordinated through or sanctioned by the Legion.

Our organization is an all-volunteer costuming club that focuses on official Star Wars promotions and charity work. Mounting protests is counter to the Legion's mission and would detract from the time and energy that we currently devote to more meaningful causes.

If you would like more information on the 501st and what we are all about, please feel free to contact us! www.501st.com

- Legion Command

Thus far, a number of news sites have reported that the 501st is behind these proposed protests. We've even been contacted about them, hense the above statement. This is what I was afraid of, that we'd be piggybacked onto this. I really hope that nobody goes out in armor for this one.

Wired Magazine Fanboys Article

I've known that this'll hit sometime soon, and it's interesting timing that this comes out the same day that we hear that the Weinsteins are thinking twice about their other version of the movie. Wired Magazine did a whole photoshoot with members of the 501st recently, and did an article on the movie:

It's a Wrap! Ernie Cline Has Written the Ultimate Star Wars Fan Movie
By James Lee Email 03.24.08 | 6:00 PM

The Millennium Falcon has landed in Marin County, California. It's not the real Millennium Falcon, of course — it's an '89 Chevy van that's tricked out to look like Han Solo's interstellar freighter. Protruding from the roof is what appears to be the head of R2-D2, and at first glance you'd never guess that it's just the dome from an old security camera. There's no Wookiee sidekick inside the ship, but there is a cheap imitation of the holographic chessboard and a lamp fashioned from a vintage Burger King Star Wars tie-in cup.

"Is there an emergency brake on this thing?" asks the pilot of the bizarre vehicle. He's having a hard time distinguishing the real gauges from the props. And no wonder: The speedometer on this vehicle, which cost all of $300, doesn't work much better than the fake toggles and switches placed over the dash.

The director yells, "Action!" and the ramshackle van coughs and sputters, then tears across the campus of Skywalker Ranch, past Lake Ewok, and toward the main house. A klieg light shines through the windshield, blinding the driver, a middle-aged transportation coordinator on the film who's now thinking of asking for stunt pay. He squints into the light and shouts, "I'm driving by braille here!"

This is the last day of principal photography for Fanboys. "It's a movie about Star Wars fans, made by Star Wars fans," says Ernie Cline, the screenwriter. The plot centers on a group of wannabe Jedis who travel cross-country and break into Skywalker Ranch to sneak a peek at a rough cut of Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace before its release. It's a comedic road flick — though you'll need an encyclopedic knowledge of the George Lucas movie franchise to get the jokes.

Fan films about Star Wars aren't new. Hundreds are made every year, and the most popular get hundreds of thousands of hits on YouTube. There's even an annual awards ceremony at Comic-Con. But Cline's piece of cinematic nerdbait is different. It's being executive produced by the company of Hollywood macher Harvey Weinstein, with help from Kevin Spacey's production shop. It features cameos from actual Star Wars actors like Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, and Ray Park. And Fanboys, out later this year, has the honor of being the first feature to be shot here at the Lucas compound.

All this was made possible by Cline's deep understanding of a powerful unseen force at work in the universe. Not the Force that Jedis use, but the force of fandom itself.

"Man, I am the geek cliché," Cline says as he sits in his office, surrounded by Star Wars action figures and posters. "An obsessive science-fiction-movie-watching, comic-book-collecting, Monty Python-dialog-memorizing, Dungeons & Dragons-playing geek." He's also, naturally, a lifelong Star Wars fan. As a kid in Ashland, Ohio, he dressed as Luke Skywalker on four consecutive Halloweens. As a high schooler in the A/V club, he debated the finer points of the trilogy with his gamer buddies. Even in his twenties, when he was doing customer service for CompuServe, he would still get into arguments over whether Boba Fett could kick Han Solo's ass.

Cline, now 36, wasn't oblivious to his weirdness. If anything, he was self-conscious and contemplative about it. "We all loved the same things, had the same points of reference. Those commonalities fascinated me."

And he realized that these commonalities could make for great entertainment. In 1993, a conversation at Gen Con, the convention for tabletop-game aficionados, devolved into a volley of quotes from the Arthurian spoof Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Cline had a revelation: "I said to myself, I bet every person at Gen Con knows the movie by heart. I bet I could ask people to get up onstage and reenact it on the spot.' And I was right."

Cline hastily assembled an amateur cast to act out the entire film from memory. The impromptu performance drew huge crowds. It was instructive for Cline. "I learned that I could tap into this," he says. "I could enlist other fans to assist in my insane ideas."

Cline moved to Austin, Texas, where he found some success doing a sort of spoken-word geek performance art. If Garrison Keillor's routines are aimed at middle-aged Midwesterners, Cline's monologues targeted nerdy Gen Xers like himself, who had been raised on Transformers and Atari. His rant about kids today who don't understand how tough it was to grow up in the low tech 1980s — no Internet! no Napster! no 3-D videogames! — spread throughout the Internet as an MP3. But his poetry-slam triumphs didn't pay the bills, and Cline took a tech-support job at a local ISP.

In early 1998, he and other geeks stuck at their desks across the country spent every free moment hitting Refresh on nerd-friendly sites in hopes of finding details about the first new Star Wars movie in 15 years. It was the perfect escape from the monotony of his work and the pain in his personal life. "My mother had died of cancer the year before, and I was in a morbid frame of mind," he says. So morbid that he found himself entertaining an irrational and unspeakable fear: What if he died before the premiere of Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace?

"It seemed like the most horrible scenario at the time," Cline says. The prospect of seeing the movie was a reason to get up in the morning, something he anticipated with every fiber of his being. "Like all the other fanboys, I was being more careful on the highway."

The sites he followed were focusing on the postproduction work they imagined was happening at Skywalker Ranch. The 2,500-acre site is named after Luke Skywalker, protagonist of the movie that made Lucas rich and famous. "Skywalker Ranch is this mythical place for fans," Cline says. He remembers hearing rumors about the magical fortress in the hills outside San Francisco during gaming sessions in the 1980s. One urban legend held that a group of die-hard fans actually broke in and got their hands on a few precious minutes of footage that had been trimmed from the original Star Wars. The story stuck with Cline. "It was like invading a castle, a D&D adventure in the real world," he says, laughing.

This was all Cline needed to create his screenplay, Fanboys. The story is set in 1998, a few months before the release of Phantom Menace. Cline's characters, a group of dweebs from a small town in Ohio, cannot wait for the film's release. Literally. So they drive to Skywalker Ranch to steal a furtive look at a rough cut.

"I read Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces, which Lucas cited as an inspiration," Cline says. "And I mapped out this hero's journey that would parallel the one in Star Wars." In Fanboys, Skywalker Ranch represents the impenetrable Death Star. The young film buffs are the ragtag band of rebels who try to infiltrate the Imperial HQ. The decrepit pizza-delivery van they use to drive cross-country is their Millennium Falcon.

For six weeks in the fall of 1998, Cline spent every spare moment working on the script ... and rewatching the original trilogy "about 20 times" on VHS. He was so excited with the final product that he decided to quit his job, find local actors willing to work for nothing, and finance the project with his meager savings. "I was doing almost everything myself," he says. "Directing, camera-operating, lighting, location-scouting." He soon realized this approach was all wrong. "I could see that trying to make the movie this way was going to give me a nervous breakdown and result in a film that wouldn't live up to my script," Cline says. To realize the epic he envisioned, he needed lots of money. And lots of other fanboys.

The ultimate fanboy has to be Harry Knowles. He even has the battle scars to prove it: In 1995, he wrenched his back at a convention while pulling a cart loaded with more than 1,200 pounds of movie memorabilia. Knowles started the Web site Ain't It Cool News while convalescing, and soon he had an army of spies in the film industry and at test screenings who sent him tips, leaks, and early impressions. By 1998, he had an estimated 1.5 million daily readers.

"I met Harry when he and his dad were selling movie collectibles at a garage sale," Cline says. Later, the two bonded over their shared love of sci-fi while haggling over a vintage Barbarella poster. Knowles was on his way to becoming an Internet celebrity, and Cline often bumped into him at advance movie screenings and premieres around Austin.

Cline saw this immense nerd conduit that Knowles had created, and he had a brilliant insight: He wrote Knowles into Fanboys, with an eye toward having him play himself. Knowles would fill the Yoda role of wise mentor. His character would help the protagonists infiltrate Skywalker Ranch in exchange for the first review of the anticipated film. Knowles read the screenplay and posted a gushing review on his site: "The script reads damn well ... Cline is a geek that started out like many of you, and like some of you he's following up on his dream to do more than just stand in lines and buy merchandise."

The post caused a stir in Hollywood. "Everybody in the industry reads that Web site," Cline says. "I got national press attention." His script was optioned in 2002 by a young producer named Matt Perniciaro. But there were still problems; Cline's script was a cornucopia of copyright infringements. No production company would get involved unless Lucas blessed the project and removed the threat of a lawsuit.

Cline grew increasingly dispirited as the last of the three Star Wars prequels was released and all he had to show for his effort was a few hundred dollars a year to renew the option. His screenplay was like Han Solo at the end of Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back: encased in carbonite, hibernating.

That all changed in 2005, a few months after the prequels concluded with the release of Episode III — Revenge of the Sith. The production company Trigger Street, created by actor Kevin Spacey, stepped in. "I thought the script was hilarious," Spacey says. "It takes the huge impact that these films have had — the way they've intertwined with people's lives — and humanizes it."

Spacey was a fanboy icon himself, revered for his roles in The Usual Suspects and Superman Returns. He'd actually met Lucas while playing Lex Luthor, so he simply called the director and asked him for permission to make Fanboys. "George was surprised I wasn't calling him looking for a part. That'll be the next call I make to him," Spacey says. "He couldn't have been more helpful and more encouraging about the movie."

With Lucas on board, Hollywood got interested again. "DreamWorks wanted to make it," Cline recalls. "I heard that Steven Spielberg was taking the script home to read. I couldn't sleep or think." Producer Harvey Weinstein eventually agreed to finance the film.

Kyle Newman, the director of Fanboys, was an NYU film-school grad who'd done an award-wining short film and a documentary that drew raves at Sundance. But what made him perfect for the project was his exhaustive Star Wars knowledge. "He's a bigger fan than I am," Cline says, with a gravity that conveys what a remarkable feat that is.

"I was born in '76, saw it at a drive-in in '77," Newman says. "My first words were R2-D2' and C-3PO.'" Newman tapped production designer Cory Lorenzen, who had made the testicle-shocking time-travel device for Napoleon Dynamite. But the two soon realized that the $4 million or so the Weinstein Company had ponied up just wasn't enough to make the film that Cline had envisioned.

"The budget couldn't sustain what was in the script," Lorenzen says. There was only one way to get the film made: Use the force.

Newman went to every fan site and message board and invited geeks to help. Fans from as far away as Florida put their costumes and memorabilia in the back of their cars and made their way down to the main shoot in Albuquerque, New Mexico. They wrangled props and made sure the correct lightsabers were used. "Their expertise was priceless," Newman says.

"It's as though we said, Hey, Star Wars fans, come help us make our movie for nothing,'" Cline says. "And they did." It was like his impromptu production of Holy Grail at Gen Con on a much grander scale: He had created the perfect entertainment for geeks, and geeks wanted a part in making it.

The Fanboys production formed an alliance with the 501st Legion, the largest organization of amateur Stormtroopers in the galaxy. They appeared as extras and did crowd control. Ken VanLyssel, a Web developer by day and a member of the 501st by night, became an unpaid wardrobe consultant. For a scene in which a character eats peyote and hallucinates that he's getting humped by an Ewok, VanLyssel himself created a small furry costume. "He would check in and say, Look at the teeth I made from a melted plastic cup,'" Lorenzen recalls.

Several celebs — William Shatner, Seth Rogen, Kevin Smith, Kristen Bell — jumped at the chance to be in the film. But the most ballyhooed cameos are by actual Star Wars alums: Lando Calrissian and Darth Maul and Princess Leia herself, Carrie Fisher. She doesn't slip back into her metal bikini, though. She plays a doctor who helps the stars of the film on their pilgrimage. "She had great comic timing," says Newman. "She had a lot of memorable quips, and she does some other creative things with her lips that I'm sure fans will be talking about," he adds cryptically.

Back at Skywalker Ranch, Chris Marquette, who plays one of the fanboys, is getting into character. He's about to shoot a climactic scene: The rebels have infiltrated the ranch, only to be captured. But they manage to snag a rough cut anyway.

Before filming began, the actors got a crash course in Lucasfilm arcana. "I had stacks of DVDs for each of them to study," Cline says. "The bootleg Star Wars holiday special, the making-of documentary, Saturday morning cartoons, action figure commercials."

None of this prepared Marquette for the precious cinematic artifacts on the ranch. "I'm like, Oh my God, that's the spellbook from Willow,'" he gushes. He channels the enthusiasm into his performance. When Newman shouts, "Action!" Marquette stumbles into the frame as if he were concussed, as if he had just achieved enlightenment or won the lottery, as if he were the first fan in the world to see Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace.

Marquette jumps into the van, and the fanboys race off, their mission accomplished. In the final version of the film, the car's engine noise will be replaced with the sound of the Millennium Falcon making the jump to hyperspace. "Skywalker Sound is letting us use their original sound effects," Newman says. "Lucas is extremely controlling of his brand, but he grew to trust us."

As filming wraps, a Porsche drives up to the main house on the ranch. It's Rick McCallum, a producer on all of the Star Wars movies. He's game for an impromptu cameo in Fanboys, one that can be inserted into the escape scene that was just shot. As Marquette again runs out of Lucas' house and hops into the van, McCallum follows him outside and watches the Chevy screech away. He shakes his head and mutters, "Nerds."

There's two other articles along with this, one about the controversy over the film's change, and another urging people to submit your tribute photos.

Changes in Fanboys

I'll be dammed: the Darth Weinsteins movement might actually be working. I posted up a rant on a couple other blogs that I run, basically addressing some of the issues that they were complaining about - I thought that they didn't have any chance, and I still think a lot of their logic is unfounded. That being said, it's nice to see that they are getting some results, or at least making the Weinstein Company think twice about releasing the new version to theaters. I've always suspected that we'll see both versions on a DVD.

However, this article does have some problems with it.

Fans press Weinstein on 'Fanboys'
By Gregg Goldstein and Borys Kit

March 24, 2008

The geeks have been heard.
Faced with a grass-roots boycott of its films, bicoastal protests at screenings of its Friday opener "Superhero Movie" and a campaign calling its co-chairman "Darth Weinstein," the Weinstein Co. said Monday that it now plans to release two versions of "Fanboys." The company said it will release the two versions on DVD, and a company source later said that is exploring two theatrical versions.
"Fanboys," about four diehard "Star Wars" fans who break into George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch in order to see "The Phantom Menace" on the eve of its release, wrapped production two years ago and has been stuck in limbo as a tug-of-war between Harvey Weinstein and the filmmakers waged over competing versions of the movie.
The latest announcement did nothing to satisfy the filmmakers, who accuse the company of only putting out the announcement in order to sidestep a meltdown at this weekend's boxoffice.
"This is more about avoiding picket lines at 'Superhero' than it was about making a decision about the release of our movie," said Kevin Mann, one of the producers.
Mann -- along with producer Matthew Perniciaro, director Kyle Newman and writer Ernie Cline, who originated the story -- worked on "Fanboys" in 2003 with Kevin Spacey's Trigger Street coming on board in 2005. The cast, including then up-and-comers Jay Baruchel, Kristen Bell, Seth Rogen and Dan Fogler, all signed up for a script that one year made the Blacklist, the annual industry ranking of the top scripts in town. Footage began making the rounds at "Star Wars" festivals, while 40 minutes of "Fanboys' " rough cut was screened at Star Wars Celebration and Comic-Con, where it was enthusiastically received by a standing-room-only crowd last year.
The Weinstein Co. picked up the project in late 2005, and following production slated "Fanboys" for release Aug. 17, 2007. That got pushed back to a Jan. 18 release. Then it went off the grid altogether.
Insiders said the root of the problem was Weinstein's issue with the underlying story in "Fanboys." The cross-country adventure is put in motion because one of the characters is facing cancer. Late last year, the company decided it would do reshoots, hiring Judd Apatow's producing partner Shauna Robertson to oversee a $2 million reshoot of four scenes done by director Steve Brill ("Drillbit Taylor"). That, combined with re-editing, created a version that excised the cancer subplot.
"Harvey feels it's hard to market, especially with this cast," an insider said. "He wants to market to a more teen audience. The filmmakers wanted a dramedy along the vein of 'Stand by Me.' "
The Weinstein Co. this year began testing both versions. Unprompted by the filmmakers, "Star Wars" fans began uniting to oppose the noncancer version, led by the 501st, a "Star Wars" fan group named after a fictional battalion. The group created a Web site that provided updates on developments while also lampooning Harvey Weinstein by Photoshopping him in Darth Vader drag.
The test screenings yielded a minuscule win for the noncancer version -- one insider said the difference was only two test points -- but that only emboldened the geeks. And some of the producers remained unmoved.
"The original reason we wanted to get involved with this script was because it was a comedy with heart," Mann said. "In my opinion, when the cancer was taken out, the heart went with it."
The new announcement still leaves the movie up in the air. It still has no release date, only a promise that both versions will be available on DVD. Late Monday, a Weinstein source said, "We're making a very strong attempt to make both films available theatrically as well."
The 501st was unimpressed with the Weinstein Co.'s move.
"This is clearly a vain attempt by the Weinstein Co. to avert 'Star Wars' fans' impending boycott of all of their films," the group said. "It's not going to work, Darth Weinstein. There was never any doubt that you would release both versions of the movie on DVD, probably months apart, so as to leech as much money from 'Star Wars' fans as possible. Our boycott will continue until the Weinstein Co. announces that they are returning control of 'Fanboys' to the 'Star Wars' fans who made it, releasing the original version in theaters and doing away with their anti-fan version of the film altogether."
The company Monday acknowledged that it had received more than 300,000 e-mails, which factored in its decision.
"While the later version tested very well with audiences, the grass-roots support we have received for the first version simply cannot be ignored," a Weinstein spokesman said.
The filmmakers had a more measured response than the fans, hoping to be given a chance to work the film some more.
"If they want to excise the cancer or reshoot again, I'll cooperate," Trigger Street producer Dana Brunetti said. "One tested better than the other, so I see both sides to it.
"We're too close to the movie to be objective, but we know which we consider better," he added with a laugh. "I've always been content with the (original cut of) the movie."
Harvey Weinstein has a history of tangling with filmmakers over their films' edits, earning him the moniker "Harvey Scissorhands" in some circles, but he seems to have met his match with a legion of "Star Wars" fans.
The possibility of a theatrical release was encouraging to both Newman and Brunetti.
"It will be interesting to see what version comes out theatrically, if it does at all," Brunetti said. "We're hoping to meet somewhere in the middle between the two."
Gregg Goldstein reported from New York; Borys Kit reported from Los Angeles.

First of all, the 501st had nothing to do with this. We have members who are part of the Darth Weinsteins movement, who might have even started it, but as a group, there's no official opinion. We want to stay out of these things, mainly to keep the group's name in a good light for the larger organizations - we don't want to close doors.
This isn't the work of the 501st.
Second, the 501st isn't named for a fictional battalion - the fictional battalion in the movies was named after US.
I'm really hoping that this won't be a direct to DVD film, and I do hope that the second version won't make it to theaters.

More Fanboys Woes...

More Fanboys news has hit the web this morning, and it’s not good. Apparently, the reshoots have been designed to bring the film down to a lower common denominator, more profanity, nudity and no cancer plot. While I’ve been advocating people to withhold judgment, rather than jumping the fence and condemning the movie just yet, this just doesn’t help things.

I’m looking forwards to this movie. I want to look forwards to this movie. I’ll most likely see it opening night. However, whether it’s going to be the original version or the new version will be the major determining factor in whether I will be trooping to the film in armor or not. If it’s the original version, I’ll be there in line, early, in armor. If it’s the newer version, I’ll slink in and sit towards the back.

While I’m not ready to condemn the film yet, I’m not happy with apparent lack of cancer plot and the wrangling that the film companies are doing to this to get what sounds like a sub-par film out to the general public. From what I’ve been hearing, a lot of the heart and soul of this film will be removed. The reasons that the 501^st has such a keen interest here is because of that heart and soul, because it closely parallels with our goals.

Here’s the two articles:

Weinsteins Turning on Fanboys with Revised Fanboys

We've all heard the term 'fanboy' tossed around at one time or another within various categories of obsessions. Probably the most well known usage is for those die-hard followers and fans of Star Wars. Admittedly, I'm not one of those people. But I do know well enough not to mess with them (e.g. cutting in line at a premiere, god forbid), and I certainly wouldn't fuck with a film titled after them. It seems the Weinstein Company isn't so cautious and apparently is materially altering the original concept of Kyle Newman's Fanboys, much to the dislike of many.

Fanboys was originally about a fictitious group of devoted Star Wars fans who make their way to Skywalker Ranch in order to steal an early copy of Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Such a pursuit sounds insane, sure; but they were doing it for their friend who was dying of cancer, and they wanted him to experience the movie before succumbing to his illness. The essence of the film is largely split between the funny, unique dedication of Star Wars fans and the bond of friendship. Sounds like a great, interesting, potentially hilarious flick, right? Most everyone that saw early cuts of director Kyle Newman's version thought so.

However, word comes recently from a variety of sources - most thoroughly Cinematical - that the original, inspiring plot is being taken in a very different direction by The Weinstein Company executives. Gone is the plot line concerning the ill friend, and in its place a forthright escapade of Star Wars fans who seek to steal the Episode I copy out of pure fanboy hunger. Kyle Newman, in fact, is no longer even director - a man who has almost become a hero among these legions of followers. In his place is Steve Brill (who directed Without a Paddle and wrote and directed Little Nicky), who managed a number of late-stage reshoots.

Erik Davis over at Cinematical reports:

"Apparently both versions were screened for test audiences – and the new version only tested two points higher than the old version… But since Weinstein had to justify the fact that they spent an extra $2 million on the re-shoots, they went with the newer, flashier [version]."

The reshot version now lacks the cancer storyline and includes "nudity, lots of F-bombs, the whole works." It seems the Weinsteins are now catering to a lower common denominator. Not only that, Davis' inside source claims there might have been plants in the test audience to artificially inflate the favorability of the new version. Shady!

Outwardly, it seems that the Weinstein Company may be a bit shy releasing a film that is so inside-joke Star Wars-centric that it's hollowing it out a bit for mass appeal. (But why do away with the cancer bit? That aspect of the story at least elevates it to an endearing one of friendship and support.) Of course, changing the script jettisons the to-date cult following of the film, and ensures the general public will only view this story through one mocking, comedic lens.

AICN has posted a letter from "a group of Star Wars fans and the 501st Legion members" who state that they intend to boycott all of the company's films and "attack the Weinstein Company death star, even if it is a suicide mission." If those aren't fighting words… Not that I'm in support of the Weinsteins' new direction, but I'd love to see a massive costumed-up protest!

http://www.firstshowing.net/2008/02/21/weinsteins-turning-on-fanboys-with-revised-fanboys/

And the second article, from Cinematical:

The Dirty Truth About 'Fanboys'

Posted Feb 21st 2008 1:32PM by Erik Davis

Filed under: Comedy, RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, The Weinstein Co., DIY/Filmmaking, Comic/Superhero/Geek

Here's the Fanboys synopsis currently up on IMDb: "Star Wars" fans travel to Skywalker Ranch to steal an early copy of "Episode I: The Phantom Menace" for their dying friend."

Problem is, that's not the movie everyone will see when it eventually hits theaters. There's been a ton of talk surrounding the Fanboy re-cuts; how the cancer storyline was taken out, how Kyle Newman was replaced as director, and how the Weinsteins have pretty much turned Fanboys into a completely different film from what was originally intended. Yesterday, fans wrote into AICN claiming to have donated props for the film, and were upset over all these changes. So upset they were starting a campaign against The Weinstein Co., hoping to get Newman's original cut released instead of this new one.

Thanks to a well-placed, super delegate secret spy source, Cinematical was able to get the real skinny on what was going on with Fanboys. Some of this info is new, some old, but I have confirmed all of it to be true. First off, Kyle Newman definitely was replaced as director for the re-shoots by Steve Brill (Without a Paddle). The "dying of cancer" storyline was completely dumped, and, instead, the fanboys are now trying to sneak a copy of Phantom Menace simply because they're fans and want to see it. According to my source, the story is now "disjointed, nonsensical and lacking any heart."

Oh, there's more ...

Here's where it gets messy: Apparently, both versions were screened for test audiences -- and the new version only tested two points higher than the old version. My super delegate source also claims plants may have been in the audience -- there to pursuade moviegoers to vote against the original version -- but this has not been proven. In two days, after the old version was screened, Brill re-cut the film and they tested it again -- this time it was tighter, dirtier and contained nudity, lots of F-bombs, the whole works. And even with all that, it still only tested two points higher than the old version. But since Weinstein had to justify the fact that they spent an extra $2 million on the re-shoots, they went with the newer, flashier, Without a Paddle-esque version of Fanboys.

This new version, I've been told, is funny, but nowhere close to what it was supposed to be. It was supposed to be for fans who grew up with Star Wars -- it was supposed to be a love letter to George Lucas -- and now it's, well, Without a Paddle 2. The real problem here, I feel, is not so much the fact that the movie was re-shot and re-cut, but that the studio may have been using plants in a test audience to try to get moviegoers to sway their opinion. What the f*ck is the purpose of a test audience then?

There's some more that I can't get into, but there you have it. There's still no word on when the film will arrive in theaters (if at all), but I'll be checking out a cut of Fanboys soon and will report back on how it is.

Neither of these bode well. Let’s hope that LFL will throw some weight around and get the original version back.