It's a situation eerily similar to the way the Rebellion achieved galactic victory by discovering that the Empire’s muffler ports had not been properly secured against proton torpedoes (stupid contractors). Star Wars–philes upset that Harvey Weinstein had reshot portions of the upcoming Star Wars–phile comedy Fanboys got the production giant to promise to release an unaltered version. Well, on DVD, anyway.

How did the fanboys (sort of) save Fanboys? By declaring an Internet-organized boycott of the Weinstein Company's Superhero Movie this weekend. Although that seems on the face of things the least threatening boycott ever — given the potentially meager audiences for Superhero Movie in the first place — it makes a certain kind of sense.

Fanboys is about four Star Wars fans who scheme to sneak onto George Lucas’s property in order to sneak a look at The Phantom Menace; one of the gang has cancer, lending the whole affair a last-waltz feel (at least before Weinstein Co. interceded). Superhero Movie is an assembly-line, crotch-humor-based spoof of Spider-Man/X-Men/etc. that therefore counts the comic-book/fantasy/Star Wars geek population as a target audience. So, if an Internet boycott were ever to work, it would be this one.

It’s odd, though, to think that the whole fracas is about putting a plot thread about cancer back into Fanboys in order to make it the shaded dramedy it was apparently intended to be. Put another way, America’s sci-fi geeks are striking for the cause of emotional subtlety and artistic integrity… and if they get what they want, they’ll see Superhero Movie. But such is the nature of compromise, we suppose, and lo, such is the nature of [blogger gets hit in nuts by generic, non-trademark-infringing supervillain]. —Ben Mathis-Lilley

Fans press Weinstein on 'Fanboys' [HR]

Note: "On the other hand, Harvey optioned Wolf Boy, so he's okay in our book!"