According to The Hollywood Reporter, 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."

Harvey Weinstein is a hack and The Weinstein Company is hands down the worst movie studio in the business today.

They hardly ever release hit films. I don't get how they even stay in business as since they split from Disney they've struggled mightily.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3ib32aa438464bc12534332654fb67783c

As planned, "Star Wars" fans attempted to hold protests in support of Kyle Newman's unreleased "Fanboys" movie at Friday's screenings of the Weinstein Co.'s "Superhero Movie" on both coasts, but whether any substantial protest occurred is a subject of debate.

A "Star Wars" fan group known as the 501st called for fellow fans to show up at the AMC Theatres in New York and Los Angeles.

The 501st claims 14 members showed up in New York and, when confronted by two security guards, chose to go inside and pay to see "21" instead. But an AMC spokesperson said there was no protest, and a source close to the film 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 that more than 20 showed up at AMC's theaters in Century City and faced even more security guards who asked them to leave the mall, which was considered private property. An AMC rep said the protest was limited to one person in a Darth Vader costume on the street outside the theater. A source close to the film 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 might be, at the very least what we can do is say thank you and buy them a couple of slices of pizza for caring abut 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 protesters can be turned away, though it's unclear how many visibly identifiable people in "Star Wars" costumes or geekwear were turned away.

"Guards were everywhere," said one protester, who declined to be named. "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." An AMC rep denied there was any showdown.



The 501st claimed victory by pointing to "Superhero Movie's" dismal performance at the boxoffice, though given the widespread publicity among the Star Wars online community and media reports, the attendance was far less than expected by even the highest estimates. Despite the fact that the Weinstein Co. received more than 300,000 e-mails from fans, a Weinstein Co. source said there were only around 3,000 e-mails addressed to 150 Weinstein employees.

"We're really not too concerned with how many people did or didn't show up at the protests," the group said. " '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 'Superhero Movie' tanked on its opening weekend."

There's no way to know how the protest may have affected the movie, which opened on 2,960 screens and took in $9.5 million despite several predictions of a $14 million-$19 million bow.

"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 movie, written by Ernie Cline and Adam Goldberg, stars Jay Baruchel, Kristin Bell, Dan Fogler, Sam Huntington, Christopher Marquette and Seth Rogen.

Fan group 501st organized the protests in order to spur the studio to release Newman's version theatrically.