Fanboys creator and co-screenwriter Ernie Cline has confirmed that director Kyle Newman has been brought back to recut Fanboys.
“I’ve just received word that the director Kyle Newman has just completed a new cut of the movie with the original plot intact, and that it’s the version that will be released later this year,"and “We’re hoping that the Weinstein Co. announces the release date soon.”For those that don't know:
Set in 1998, the story tells of a group of friends, anxious for the premiere of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, decide to break into Skywalker Ranch and steal an early print of the film. The reason: One of them is suffering from cancer and wishes to see the film before his death.
The movie was pushed back and delayed because director Kyle Newman was given more funding to shoot additional scenes that the original budget did not include. Getting the cast back together would only be possible in September 2007, thus the movie's release date had to be moved to 2008.
The movie was again pushed back because the re-shoots could not take place before November/December 2007. These re-shoots were directed by Steven Brill and not by Kyle Newman. On January 14th, web blogger The CineManiac broke the story that the movie was being re-edited to remove the cancer plot from the movie and replace much of it with raunchy, vulgar humor. Ain't It Cool News picked up the story and confirmed that the two different versions of the movie (with and without the cancer plot) were screened to different test audiences in Burbank, CA, in January 2008 to see which one would rate higher. As for a new release date, Director Kyle Newman stated in a Movie Geeks United! interview that the movie would hopefully come out in April 2008. Upon hearing about the changes being made to the movie, dedicated Star Wars fans united and started an Internet campaign where fans rebel against the plot changes and demand that the original version that includes the cancer storyline be released in theaters.
They seem to have succeeded!
