THE Force is strong with these ones. Like Darth Vader choking a lowly commander with a wave of his hand, “Star Wars” enthusiasts have put Harvey Weinstein in a figurative headlock, and the studio boss has relented. They may have trouble getting a girlfriend, but bringing a Hollywood heavyweight to his knees is evidently child’s play. Go figure.

The battle between the two factions erupted over “Fanboys,” a comedic ode to “Star Wars” geeks opening Friday. The long-delayed movie (a trailer first appeared in 2006) has taken a journey to the screen that’s contained all the elements that made the beloved sci-fi trilogy so enjoyable: conflict, betrayal, redemption and gay robots.

Well, maybe not that last one.

“Fanboys,” written in the late ’90s, is about four Ohio slackers who take a road trip to California and break into George Lucas’ Skywalker Ranch. They hope to view a rough cut of the upcoming “Star Wars: Episode I” after discovering their friend has cancer and may not live to see it in theaters.

“Fanboys” was originally shot for less than $4 million by director Kyle Newman, but when Weinstein saw an early cut, the cancer subplot left him cold. Newman disagreed and the project was ultimately taken out of his hands.

“To me, there’s no point in them going on the trip [without the cancer story line],” Newman says. “Otherwise, it’s just these punk, criminal kids who want to break into a building. There’s no heart.”

The Weinstein Company reportedly spent $2 million to reshoot four scenes under the supervision of Shauna Robertson, a producer who works frequently with Judd Apatow, and director Steve Brill (of the Apatow-produced “Drillbit Taylor”). The goal seemed to be to make the comedy broader. The cancer subplot was also completely edited out.

“They tried to make it bigger, slightly different, and yeah, that opens it up to more people, but you may lose the core audience,” Newman says.

The new cut of the film also reportedly made fun of “Star Wars” fans, and when word hit the Web about what was going on with “Fanboys,” geekdom went ape. Grass-roots

organizations sprang up, including one called Stop Darth Weinstein, and threatened the movie studio with a boycott. Dissenters also flooded Weinstein with hundreds of thousands of e-mails demanding that “Fanboys” be

returned to its original form.

The flap got so bad that Weinstein, on a trip to China last year, was greeted by one of the country’s cultural ministers wearing a “Stop Darth Weinstein” T-shirt. (The minister was reportedly tricked into believing it said “Welcome Weinstein Company” by an unidentified American.)

“[The Weinstein Company] was trying to ‘executive’ it into something it’s not. The fans said, ‘Go back to the version that we saw,’ ” Newman says.

At this point, Weinstein bowed to the pressure. Newman was brought back and given two days to fashion a new cut out of various versions that had been created over the years. In the final theatrical cut, the cancer story line is definitely downplayed, but Newman says the film is “very close” to what was originally planned.

“As a filmmaker, I’m just happy the major story is getting told,” he says. “I had to make one or two concessions. They’re fine trad-eoffs, and I’m content with it. This is still the best version of the film. There are one or two things that, tonally, are different than we would have liked, and are different from what we shot, but that’s part of filmmaking.”

The previously disgruntled fans, at least, are happy. Most have lifted their boycott of Weinstein, and now it remains to be seen how many will turn out to the theater on opening weekend. If you’re planning to join them, just know you’ll probably be sitting next to a Wookie.