Darth Weinstein has struck again! But this time, it might have more to do with Weinstein Co execs jumping ship and the studio running out of money. Not that Harvey wants to tell you that…

In a move that seems somewhat vindictive after all poor Fanboys has been through, Weinstein Company has moved the film about a group of Star Wars fans braking into Skywalker Ranch to steal a copy of The Phantom Menace to February 2009.

Things haven’t been going too smoothly for the Weinsteins, who have to contend with rumors that they are running out of money. If those rumors weren’t enough to damage the rep, THR went to press last week with an article titled Exodus at Weinstein Co:

Executive vps/co-heads of acquisitions and production Michelle Krumm and Maeva Gatineau quietly left the indie distributor three weeks ago. Production president Michael Cole and senior vp production Carla Gardini will be following suit in the next few weeks. Executive vp marketing Gary Faber is expected to depart by the end of the year.

Worst of all, none of these execs will be rturning and their replacements haven’t been named. There’s just a big old black hole there, which might explain why Harvey went to the LA Times Blog to explain why he was pushing Fanboys, Crossing Over, Killshot and Shanghai to 2009 (joining previously blogged The Road):

“Fanboys”: Harvey says the movie has been moved to January “so we can do a major promotion with Comcast, who’s arranging for a big advertising tie-in for us on the film.”

“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.”

“Killshot”: “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.”

“Shanghai”: “It just couldn’t be ready in time. The movie wasn’t finished shooting until August and the director, Mikael Hafstrom, doesn’t even deliver his cut until early November. He doesn’t want it out now and neither do we. He needs time to make it as great as possible.”