28 Fan films

A fan film is a film or video inspired by a film, television program, comic book, book, or video game created by fans rather than by the source's copyright holders or creators. Fan filmmakers have traditionally been amateurs, but some of the more notable films have actually been produced by professional filmmakers as film school class projects or as demonstration reels. Fan films vary tremendously in quality, as well as in length, from short faux-teaser trailers for non-existent motion pictures to full-length motion pictures. Fan films are also examples of fan labor and the remix culture. Closely related concepts are Fandubs, Fansubs and Vidding which are reworks of fans on already released film material.

Adi Shankar's Bootleg Universe is the personal project of Indian-American producer Adi Shankar, which initiated as a series of unauthorized popular culture satires and evolved into a full fledged entertainment company.

Babylon Park is a spoof of Babylon 5 and South Park that debuted on the internet in 1998, created by Christopher Russo. It presents the Babylon 5 cast with South Park character designs. It spawned several short films, including later productions with actual cast and crew from Babylon 5.

Bel-Air is a 2019 short fan film written and directed by Morgan Cooper, based on the 1990s sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. The film serves as a mock trailer for a darker, more dramatic re-imagining of the sitcom in the style of Ryan Coogler films. It was uploaded on YouTube on March 10, 2019.

Born of Hope: The Ring of Barahir is a 2009 fantasy-adventure fan film directed by Kate Madison and written by Paula DiSante based on the appendices of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1954–55 novel The Lord of the Rings. The film centres on the communities affected by Sauron's war; the Dúnedain bloodline; and the story of Arathorn II and his relationship with Gilraen as they would be the parents of Aragorn, who became a key leader against Sauron.

Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown is a 1986 American animated short film directed and animated by Jim Reardon, who would later become director and storyboard consultant for The Simpsons, and one of the co-writers of the Oscar-winning 2008 animated feature film, WALL-E. The cartoon was made while he was at CalArts. This cartoon, done entirely in black-and-white, has a rough, unfinished-looking style.

Chimera is an American comic book published by CrossGen Entertainment from March to July 2003. It is a mini-series that ran for four issues. Chimera is most notable for its artwork. Produced by Brandon Peterson the artwork is a blending of traditional and computer-enhanced techniques.

Diary of a Camper is a short American film made using id Software's 1996 first-person shooter video game Quake, released in 1996. It was created by United Ranger Films, then a subdivision of a popular group of video game players, or clan, known as the Rangers. The film was first released over the Internet as a non-interactive game demo file. The video is generally considered the first known example of machinima—the art of using real-time, virtual 3D environments, often game engines, to create animated films. The story centers on a lone camper, a player waiting in a strategic location instead of seeking active battle, who faces five members of the Rangers clan in a deathmatch, a type of multiplayer game in which the goal is to kill as many opponents as possible.

Done the Impossible is a 2006 documentary film on the fan following for Firefly. Its focus is on how fans came to love the show and played a part in the production of its feature film continuation Serenity.

Fallout: Nuka Break is a live-action fan-made web series made by Wayside Creations and set in the Fallout video game universe. Its direct setting is derived from both Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas. Nuka Break features three main characters, a "Vault dweller, his ghoul companion, and a slave they freed from New Vegas". Along with the sets, puppets are used for some of the scenes, while CGI is used for the gun battles and other scenes. The series features actor Doug Jones as a guest star, playing Mayor Conners, and voice actor Vic Mignogna as the merchant/narrator.

France Five , originally titled Jūshi Sentai France Five and later known as Shin Kenjūshi France Five , is a French Mini-series directed by Alex Pilot and produced by Buki X-4 Productions in the 2000s (decade). It is an homage to Toei's popular Super Sentai series, which was extremely popular in France in the 1980s and the 1990s. As a nod to Super Sentai titles having certain motifs, France Five has each member themed after certain aspects of French culture.

The Green Hornet is a 2006 French short film, based on The Green Hornet character created by George W. Trendle and Fran Striker.

Half-Life: Escape from City 17 is a two-part Canadian short film written, developed, and filmed by the Purchase Brothers. The film is set in the Half-Life universe, during the events of Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode One. Both films were critically acclaimed. Part One was released on February 13, 2009; and Part Two was released on August 24, 2011.

The Hunt for Gollum is a 2009 British fantasy fan film based on the appendices of J. R. R. Tolkien's 1954–55 book The Lord of the Rings. The film is set in Middle-earth, when the wizard Gandalf the Grey fears that Gollum may reveal information about the One Ring to Sauron. Gandalf sends ranger Aragorn on a quest to find Gollum.

Legendary Giant Beast Wolfman vs. Godzilla is an unreleased Japanese fan film project directed and produced by Shizuo Nakajima. The film stars Ema Ishihara and Shitosi Shima.

Live Action Toy Story is a 2012 comedy-adventure fan film produced by the Arizona-based Jonason Pauley and Jesse Perrotta; it is a shot-by-shot recreation of the 1995 computer-animated film of the same name, with the toy characters animated through stop-motion or filmed moving with wires and strings.

Metal Gear Solid: Philanthropy is a 2009 Italian non-profit fan made film series created by Hive Division, a team of Italian students and filmmakers. It is a film based on the highly successful Metal Gear video game series. It is written, directed and edited by Giacomo Talamini, a 27-year-old Italian student filmmaker who also stars in the movie as Solid Snake.

Mortal Kombat: Rebirth is a 2010 American short fan film directed by Kevin Tancharoen, with fight choreography by Larnell Stovall. Based on the Mortal Kombat series of fighting games, the short-film "actually was made by the director to sell Warner Bros. on his vision for a reimagined Mortal Kombat film." The pitch eventually evolved into the web series Mortal Kombat: Legacy.

Operation Bayshield is a short 1997 film made by Clan Undead, a group of video game players. The work was created by using the machinima technique of recording a demonstration file of player actions in id Software's 1996 first-person shooter video game Quake, which could replay such files on demand. The group had seen the first known machinima productions, made by United Ranger Films, and decided to make a comedy film. The result, Operation Bayshield, follows a task force's attempts to thwart terrorists who have chemical explosives. Released on January 23, 1997, the work received praise from contemporary Quake movie review sites and helped to attract others, including Hugh Hancock of Strange Company and members of the ILL Clan, to machinima. It pioneered technical advances in machinima, such as the use of custom digital assets and of lip synchronization.

Pokémon Apokélypse is a 2010 fan-made short film directed by Kial Natale and produced by Dylan Innes and Lee Majdoub. Based on the Pokémon franchise, the storyline takes place several years after the events of the original anime series. Intended as a fan-response to "the common trend of 'dark and gritty' reboots of popular franchises", the film was meant to give a mature spin on Pokémon and be in the same vein as work seen on parody website CollegeHumor. The creators initially intended to reveal the film at the Vancouver Anime Evolution convention, it was not shown due to technical difficulties. Instead on September 14, 2010, it revealed online via a teaser segment distributed through emails sent to various media outlets, which presented itself as a recording of a "secret movie trailer screening" for a film in development. The full film followed shortly thereafter, posted online on September 20.

Portal: No Escape is a short fan film about the Portal video game series directed by Dan Trachtenberg. The film was released on August 23, 2011. As of July 2020, the video has received over 25 million views.

Red vs. Blue, often abbreviated as RvB, is an American comic science fiction web series created by Burnie Burns with his production company Rooster Teeth. The show is based on the setting of the military science fiction first-person shooter series and media franchise Halo. It is distributed through Rooster Teeth's website, as well as on DVD, Blu-ray, and formerly on the El Rey Network and Netflix. The series initially centers on two opposing teams of soldiers fighting an ostensible civil war—shown in increments to actually be a live fire exercise for elite soldiers—in the middle of Blood Gulch, a desolate box canyon, in a parody of first-person shooter video games, military life, and science fiction films. Initially intended to be a short series of six to eight episodes, the project quickly and unexpectedly achieved significant popularity following its premiere on April 1, 2003. The series consists of eighteen seasons and five mini-series. Red vs. Blue is the third longest-running animated webseries of all time, behind Homestar Runner and Neurotically Yours.

The Seal of Nehahra is an American film made in 2000, created by Mindcrime Productions as part of the Nehahra Project. Made using a modified version of id Software's 1996 first-person shooter computer game Quake and released over the Internet as a non-interactive game demo package, the film was the longest released Quake movie — as Quake-based machinima was known at the time. At a total length of three hours and fifty five minutes, it is the longest single-piece machinima production as of 2017. The film received high reviews from the major Quake movie review sites of the time, Psyk's Popcorn Jungle and The Cineplex.

Severus Snape and the Marauders is a 2016 American short film written by director Justin Zagri, based on Harry Potter characters by J. K. Rowling. It officially premiered on March 1, 2016 at the YouTube channel Broad Strokes Productions. The fan film caught the attention of BuzzFeed, Entertainment Weekly, Time, Elite Daily, Business Insider, The Huffington Post, IGN, Seventeen, Moviepilot, MTV, BBC America, PopSugar, The Independent, and The Mary Sue.

Shrek Retold is a fan-made shot-for-shot recreation of the 2001 film Shrek. Released on November 29, 2018 to YouTube, the project was led by YouTuber Grant Duffrin ("3GI") and features the work of over 200 creators, each contributing to a portion of the recreation.

Street Fighter: Legacy is a live-action short fan film based on Capcom's popular fighting game series Street Fighter. The film is a Streetlight Films production, co-directed by Joey Ansah and Owen Trevor, produced by Jacqueline Quella and stars Jon Foo as Ryu, Christian Howard as Ken, and Ansah himself as Akuma/Gouki. Both Ansah and Howard are also the writers of the film.

The Uncharted Live Action Fan Film is a 2018 action adventure short film directed by Allan Ungar and co-written by Ungar and Jesse Wheeler. It is based on the best selling PlayStation franchise Uncharted by Naughty Dog. It was released on YouTube on July 16, 2018, and stars Nathan Fillion, Stephen Lang, Geno Segers, Mircea Monroe, and Ernie Reyes Jr.

Voldemort: Origins of the Heir is an English-language Italian fantasy film directed by Gianmaria Pezzato and with Stefano Prestia as executive producer. It is an unofficial fan-made prequel to the Harry Potter film series. Voldemort: Origins of the Heir depicts the story of Tom Riddle's rise to power as a dark wizard and main antagonist in the Harry Potter saga. Several original characters are introduced in the film: not only the protagonist, but also the other Hogwarts houses' heirs, and several minor characters for the plot.