Fanatic Films

**Fanatic Films** is an American film production studio that is a subsidiary of Raydon Entertainment, LLC. The studio is known for their production of non-profit fan films based on the *Star Wars* franchise created by George Lucas and owned by The Walt Disney Company. Raydon Studios Motion Pictures distributes the films produced by Fanatic Films for free on their YouTube channel.

The company was originally established in 2012 as FANtastic Pictures and released their first film as Fanatic Films, *Vader Remembrances: A Star Wars Fan Film*, on May 5, 2017.

## History

The studio was founded in 2012 as FANtastic Pictures when development began on a film based on the *Godzilla* franchise and a short film based on the *Nightmare on Elm Street* franchise. A 45-minute script entitled *Elm Street* was completed in late 2012 although Raydon Entertainment chose to abandon the project by 2013 in order to focus on the Cascade Comics Cinematic Universe. Despite canceling *Elm Street*, development continued on *Godzilla* with teaser posters being released on February 17, 2013 and March 20, 2013, revealing the title as *The Secret Origin of Godzilla*, with an unspecified 2013 release date. In September 2013, Raydon Entertainment and FANtastic Pictures announced a new release window of summer 2014 and revealed the third teaser poster which featured the first glimpse of Godzilla and teased the appearance of an original wolf-like monster.

Sometime between October 2013 and March 2014, Toho Co., Ltd. contacted Raydon Entertainment and issued a cease-and-desist on the film project, citing copyright infringement and likely confusion with the then-upcoming *Godzilla* reboot from Legendary Entertainment. After a number of meetings between Toho and Raydon, an agreement was made that would allow *The Secret Origin of Godzilla* to be released as a graphic novel rather than a feature film. The publishing agreement was only for the one graphic novel and did not cover any sequels. The novel was eventually released in 2015 to a lukewarm reception.

With production shutting down on *The Secret Origin of Godzilla*, FANtastic Pictures officially closed their doors without releasing a single film. Despite this, Raydon Entertainment began work on a live-action *Avatar: The Last Airbender* film with a draft being completed in mid-2015 under the title of *Avatar: The Last Airbender – Book One: Water* and was intended to be the first in a trilogy of films. A second draft was completed in late-2016 and in 2017 the film was officially set up at Fanatic Films, a rebranded FANtastic Pictures, and was given a modest budget of $5,000. No further updates were given at the time.

On September 18, 2018, it was announced that original *Avatar* creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko would be teaming up with Netflix to produce a live-action remake of the original series, throwing the future of Raydon's fan film into doubt without any news in a year. The studio responded in October by saying they had placed the film on hold and that they were in negotiations to acquire the license to an "international icon," with that deal being their number one priority. The film was later revived in 2021 as an officially licensed adapation set up at Moonlight Pictures.

Fanatic Films began developing a *Star Wars* script in fall 2015 inspired by the hype surrounding the then-upcoming seventh *Star Wars* film *The Force Awakens*. The script was completed by March 2016 with production slated to begin later that year. Studio president Brandon Baker wrote the script and was announced as director and executive producer in April 2016. The film was given a very limited budget of only $500 to ensure its amateur status in order to avoid copyright infringement issues.

By 2016, Fanatic Films began development on a live-action *Scooby-Doo* with a draft being completed in early-2018 under the title of *Scooby-Doo in the Zombie Apocalypse* and was intended to be an R-rated adaptation of the 1998 animated film *Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island*. The script contained direct references to the films *Night of the Living Dead* and *World War Z*, as well as the television adaptation of *The Walking Dead*. The film's title and basic premise was inspired by a 2013 set of photos featuring a group of cosplayers as the Mystery Inc gang in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. Photographer Jeff Zoet became aware of the film's existence in late-2018 and threatened to sue Raydon Entertainment over copyright infringement. The studio agreed to end development on the film in exchange for the lawsuit being dropped.

Despite abandoning their original concept, Raydon continued to develop a script for a potential *Scooby-Doo* film and in May 2020, a scriptment was completed entitled *Mystery Incorporated* that would keep the R-rating edge but replace the zombie apocalypse with a traditional story of a haunted bed and breakfast. The story was set 15 years after the events of *Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!* and was largely told from Shaggy's point-of-view. Raydon was extremely impressed with the pitch and green-lit the film, initially setting it up at their non-profit fan film division **Fanatic Films** while they worked on a pitch for Warner Bros.

Approximately one month following the home media release of *Scoob!* on July 21, 2020, Raydon Entertainment pitched *Mystery Incorporated* as a live-action reboot to the film series that could run in parallel with Warner Bros.' shared Hanna-Barbera animated multiverse. Warner Bros. liked the pitch and agreed to distribute the film if Raydon put up the production costs and if marketing was obvious that the film was not intended for younger audiences. Raydon subsequently moved the film from Fanatic Films to Moonlight Pictures in October 2020.

By 2017, development on a Joker origin script began with Raydon Entertainment hoping to acquire the film rights to the character. DC Films and Warner Bros. subsequently announced in August 2017 that a Joker film had entered development without the involvement of Raydon Entertainment. Development on the script nonetheless continued with the project set up at Fanatic Films.

A new script focused on the origins of Batman and Robin as well as Joker and Harley Quinn was started in May 2018 by studio CEO Brandon Barker with the script being completed by August 2018. Raydon revealed that the film, titled *Batman Broken*, would be animated using machinima and would be filmed inside of *Grand Theft Auto Online*. Assets within the game started being acquired by the studio including a Batmobile, penthouse apartment, yacht, Wayne Enterprises Tower, Batcave, nightclub, totaling a miniscule $350. The very limited cost in production encouraged Raydon to begin development on a number of sequels and spin-offs.

By spring 2019, Raydon began negotiating with Warner Bros. for the film rights to Batman after a number of cast members dropped out of the fan film. In September 2019, Warner Bros. announced an animated Batman film would be released by Raydon subsidiary Moonlight Pictures in October 2020 as an HBO Max original film.

After canceling a number of films and acquiring the licenses for others, Fanatic Films finally released their first film, *Vader Remembrances*, on May 5, 2017.