The Weinstein Company has taken Fanboys from director Kyle Newman and they’ve started working with some people at Judd Apatow’s company to try and make the film funnier and, I guess, more mainstream. To try and “salvage” the movie, the Weinstein’s have created two cuts of the film. The first cut keeps the original premise of friends trying to break into Lucasfilm ranch to see Episode 1 early due to one of the group’s cancer diagnosis. The second cut removes the entire cancer storyline from the film. When a company does editing like this, it’s usually because a movie isn’t coming together in the editing room and they’re trying to figure out how to make it work. But in this instance, I think the Weinstein Company is being incredibly stupid. And there is a reason I can say that. I saw the original cut of Fanboys a long time ago and found the film very funny and great for what it is…a low budget love letter to Star Wars and the fans who love the movies.Look, I’ll admit that Fanboys isn’t the greatest movie. It’s not going to win any awards and it won’t ever be some huge mainstream movie. But the film isn’t trying to be a 4 quadrant hit. The best thing about the film is…there are so many people who have seen and love Star Wars, that if even a fraction of them pay to watch this film it’ll be a big hit for the money it cost to make.

And that’s why it’s so frustrating to watch the Weinstein Company fumble the ball so badly. It’s clear they have no idea what to do with the movie, or how to market it. And honestly…it makes no sense. The film has a huge cast and it even has Seth Rogen playing around 4 characters in the film…including a die hard Star Trek fan. How hard would it be to market this? Not very. I guess the films I would compare Fanboys to would be Free Enterprise and Swingers. Both movies were made very cheap, and both films were made with a lot of love. That’s Fanboys. One day the Weinstein Company will get their head out of the ass and simple release the original cut. When they do, millions of Star Wars fans will see a fun little movie and they’ll wonder why the Weinstein’s ever debated releasing the film. Anyway, many fans out there have been waiting years to see the movie. And now that the word is out that the cut that finally gets released might not have the cancer storyline in it…. they’ve gotten creative. So here’s a poster that someone came up with to make their point. I couldn’t agree more.