Fanboys is a 2008 film directed by Kyle Newman and starring Sam Huntington, Chris Marquette, Dan Fogler, Jay Baruchel, and Kristen Bell. The US nation-wide theatrical release is announced for January 18, 2008. Although the title is the same and the plot description is somewhat similar, the film is unrelated to the earlier fanfilm of the same name.
Fanboys, set in 1998, tells the story of a group of Star Wars fanboys who take on a road trip to Skywalker Ranch to fulfill the wish of a dying friend to see Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace before the film's release.
Sam Huntington and Kristen Bell had previously worked together in two episodes of Bell's now-defunct noir show, Veronica Mars.
After George Lucas was given an advanced screening of the rough cut of the film, he enjoyed it and gave it his "stamp of approval". He then contacted the filmmakers with his authorization to use Star Wars sound effects. Filmmaker and Star Wars fan Kevin Smith also viewed an early version of the film and asked for and was allowed a cameo in the film.[1] Just recently, the movie was pushed back once more (to January 2008) because director Kyle Newman was given more funding to shoot additional scenes that the original budget did not include. Getting the cast back together will only be possible in September 2007, thus the movie's release date had to be moved to 2008.[2]
A rough cut of the full film was shown in public for the first time at Star Wars Celebration Europe on July 14th, 2007. The screening was followed by a Q&A session with director Kyle Newman.