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Fanboys, which chronicles four Star Wars fans breaking into the Skywalker Ranch to steal a copy of The Phantom Menace for their dying friend, is receiving a heavy backlash from the fan community. Apparently, The Weinstein Company has taken everything out of the movie that made it original in order to appeal to a wider audience.

I really don't need to explain my obsession with Star Wars, as most of you have been following my ongoing Star Wars tattoo sleeve. The idea behind Fanboys is deliciously nerdy: A friend dying of cancer won't be able to see The Phantom Menace by the time it's released in theaters. So his friends, who are all Star Wars nerds themselves, set out to break into Skywalker Ranch and steal a copy for their dying friend.


I don't know about you, but this sounds genius. Nerdy, action-packed, sentimental, and hilarious: Fanboys, directed by the beloved Kyle Newman, has all the makings of a cult hit. Right?

You'd think so. But The Weinstein Company is receiving a storm of flak from fans across the internet because of this story:

• 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."

Literally, this sounds like a complete disaster, as far as movies are concerned. When you've built up so much organic support for your film from legitimate fans who will obsess over your product, why change everything that matters?

Unfortunately, it gets worse:

• 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 persuade 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.

I don't want to get to upset, since the rumor about screener "plants" is unverified, but if the Weinsteins choose to go with this updated version that will appeal to people who want nothing but a vulgar comedy, I can't imagine I'll enjoy it at all.

Which version would you want to see: The original plot, focused on a group of nerds' dedication to their dying friend, or a mass-produced and vulgar road-trip type of scenario?