Weinstein Co. Pushes Fanboys & Others Around!

Once again, "Fanboys" has been moved from it's release date! The Weinstein Company has decided to shift it and 3 other films to 2009. This news arrives just a few days behind the antcipated shift of "The Road" to 2009 also. Harvey Weinstein conveys that everything is fine and the bumps in dates are all for better positioning and marketing, because the end of this year is already so crowded. Clearly, the Weinstein Co. is trying to make the most money it can out of the upcoming properties considering things are a bit shaky around the studio these days. With top funding executives leaving just after the co-heads of acquistions and production resigned from the studio and the studios senior VP of production and production president who are soon to follow.

Harvey Weinstein told The Big Picture that Fanboys was being pushed to Feburary of 2009 so that it may recieve a strong marketing campaign and be in a far less crowded environment. When asked why the shift Weinstein said, "we can do a major promotion with Comcast, who's arranging for a big advertising tie-in for us on the film." Fanboys was set to release late in November, but now will arrive February 6th 2009.

I saw Fanboys this year at Comic Con and throughly enjoyed it. The film was not only extremely funny, but touching and overall, just a great time. This film does deserve a legitamite marketing campaign, because it can appeal to a broad base of teens & young adults and not just long time Star Wars fans. The film unfortunately, has been kicked around so many times it is beginning to not be funny at all. It seems logical that fans have dubbed Harvey Weinstein as Darth Weinstein! This film deserves a fair shake and for everyone to get a chance to see it, not just fans like myself who had to really work to get screening passes for the film and boy was it ever worth it! Check out it here Fanboys review!

One of the other three films pushed backed by the Weinstein Co. is "Killshot" starring Mickey Rourke, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tom Jane, Diane Lane and the lovely Rosario Dawson. This film to has been around for quite some time and was set for a November 7th release, but it to has been shifted to 2009. Killshot will release a couple weeks before the Oscars considering all the buzz Rourke has recieved over "The Wrestler." Weinstein said, "Everyone has said that Mickey Rourke is amazing in 'The Wrestler' and will be up for all sorts of awards, so we decided to move 'Killshot' to a date a few weeks before the Oscars. That way we can capitalize on all the heat that's going to be around Mickey." If Rourke isn't nominated for an Academy Award, will we see the Weinstein move Killshot yet again?

"Crossing Over" starring Harrison Ford, Sean Penn, Ray Liotta and Ashley Judd was set to release on December 3rd in limited release but has moved now to 2009 despite it's allstar cast. Weinstein spoke of the move for Crossing Over, "We're moving it to January. The market is just too crowded. Every week there are five more movies coming out. It's too crazy. Spring is much better--there are a lot more wide-open dates. The most important thing is to do well by the movie. Having it out in January gives us the opportunity to play the film at the Sundance and Berlin film festivals, which will be a big help to the movie." The last film moved is "Shanghai" which simply, wasn't ready to be released.

Thoughts on the Weinstein Co.? How well will Zack & Miri Make A Porno do for them this weekend? Do you want to see Fanboys after all this time? Are you asking WTF is Fanboys? Strikeback....