The story of Fanboys isn't entirely fresh, but its outcome is revealing. Several years after early scripts circulated the internet, Fanboys, which chronicles the attempts of a couple of geeks to invade George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch, began suffering from last minute changes by The Weinstein Company. When the company became involved in the production in 2005, it gradually lowered the profile of the film, and hired Judd Apatow's producing company to come on board and reedit it. The biggest casualty? A plot line that involved one of the would-be trespassers dying from cancer. The emotional tenor of this development tested well with the movie's target audience, who was sad to read reports of its demise.
Dismayed that The Weinstein Company was tearing up a paean to what many fanboys considered to be a variation their own story, the real fanboys turned to their best resource: the Internet. At Stop Darth Weinstein!, visitors are greeted by Weinstein Company head honcho Harvey Weinstein dressed up as Darth Vader, and threats from the fanboy community that they'll boycott TWC's upcoming release of Superhero Movie!, which is targeted at their demographic, if Fanboys doesn't get a proper release.
The Weinstein Company has listened to the outburst of anger, kinda. Various news stories cite a press release from the company explaining that they're considering releasing two versions of the film (one with the cancer, one without). Both versions will see a DVD release—and the possibility of two theatrical releases is a "maybe."
Obviously, "maybe" isn't enough for the diehard supporters of the original cut. "You appear to have completely MISSED THE POINT OF OUR ENTIRE BOYCOTT!" screams an administrator on the main page of Stop Darth Weinstein. "The reason we're boycotting your studio is because you have taken FANBOYS away from the Star Wars fans who made it and given it to a director who has publicly declared his hatred for Star Wars fans! Against the wishes of the original filmmakers and your entire target audience, you have mutilated the original story to turn it into a movie that ridicules Star Wars fans!" The reference is to Fanboys director Steve Brill, hired to reshoot several scenes in the film, which was originally directed by diehard Star Wars fan Kyle Newman with help from several cohorts. The poster goes on to say that the fanboy boycott of Weinstein Company's films will continue.
Weinstein's personality, cultivated in the heyday of Pulp Fiction, symbolized one of the the last remnants of an age when movie producers could be dictators of sorts, overpowering film production and forcing their own idea of a commercially viable product to the screen, and audiences would see it, dammit. Such ruthlessness is no longer possible in the age of user-generated cinema, when enough fan demand on the web can get an entire movie made (see: Samuel Jackson, Snakes on a Plane). There have been other cases where online petitions have had major impact, although it rarely reaches this kind of fervor: In 2004, Fox's animated program Family Guy was brought back for fourth season after getting cancelled when thousands of people signed an online petition and bought the DVDs, breaking sales records all over the country. A similar situation unfolded with CBS's Jericho, which fans managed to bring back for a second season, although it was cancelled again last week. Now there's this magnificently satiric battle cry:
Critical evaluations aside (the clip overstays its welcome), that is quite the compelling Harvey impression.
The case of Fanboys is ultimately a unique one, marking the evolution of the audience into something more powerful than it has ever been before. At SXSW, Four Eyed Monsters co-creator Susan Buice suggested, at a roundtable discussion hosted by Bside Entertainment, that "fans" no longer exist; they have been replaced by "peers." Consumers now feel that they have the power to interact directly with their chosen mode of entertainment. In the case of Fanboys, these peers are creating their own personalized democracy. More power to 'em.
--Eric Kohn