The Five Most Acclaimed Fan Films
These days, the latest installments of the world’s most popular franchises boast budgets that rival those of small countries. Your average amateur can’t even hope to compete. Except sometimes they can — for viewers, reviews and even awards.
Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation
Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation is the rare fan film that not only has a Rotten Tomatoes score, it’s 100 percent. That’s all the more impressive considering it was shot over the course of seven years in the ‘80s by teenagers in Mississippi, meaning the actors visibly age from scene to scene. The shot-for-shot remake fell into the hands of Eli Roth, who arranged for its screening at a film festival in 2002, bringing it to a wide audience. It was even mentioned in an episode of The Goldbergs, which is the true measure of success.
Live Action Toy Story
The creators of Live Action Toy Story, also a shot-for-shot remake, probably never imagined being covered by the likes of The Verge, Slate and Wired, let alone favorably, but following the 2013 YouTube release, the raves poured in. The film racked up three million views in three days, which is definitely more than some Pixar opening weekends.
Star Trek: Of Gods and Men
Star Trek: Of Gods and Men is unique among fan films in that it was cast almost entirely with actors from the official Star Trek series, from Nichelle Nichols and Walter Koenig from The Original Series to Enterprise’s Gary Graham. It was basically a fan’s wet dream. Upon its 2008 release, it won SyFy Portal’s award for Best Web Production.
The Green Goblin’s Last Stand
Like Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation, 1992’s The Green Goblin’s Last Stand enjoyed only a small but dedicated cult for the first 10 years after it was released. In 2002, however, it was screened alongside a making-of documentary at several high-profile film festivals, and the documentary even won a few awards at Sundance. It also has the Stan Lee stamp of approval, which is worth a thousand little wreaths.
Troops
1997’s Troops isn’t your average fan film. It’s a mockumentary filmed in the style of Cops set in the Star Wars universe, and it is that awesome. In fact, it’s so awesome that, following its premiere at San Diego Comic-Con, George Lucas himself declared its events canon, and writer/director Kevin Rubio was eventually hired to write for the Star Wars: The Clone Wars TV show, kicking off an illustrious television career.
We take it back — that is a fan’s wet dream.
