Don't hold your breath, the guy helming this project doesn't have the best reputation for professional work ethic and is currently on Sega's "no call" list.

Plus it's Sonmanic...

Sorry to break this to you, Tony, but Sonmanic/Rich Kuta pulls this particular stunt at least once per year - twice if he's rumbled in his first attempt particularly early - and has done so for over ten years.

He was so "professional" a few years ago that he appeared not to know that Sega wouldn't pay him to make the movie, and had to go around frantically asking message boards to erase his bragging before he got sued for saying that it was all go.

He's got such a reputation for being a nasty piece of work in terms of lying and screwing over the fandom and lack of professionalism in general that he has official notification from Sega that if he tries to contact them or uses their name and implies that he has their consent again, they'll sue - so I really don't know what he thinks that he's playing at this time.

Given his habit of stealing other people's material (and trying to blame it on more other people afterwards - until he gets caught), it wouldn't shock me if that isn't even his footage.

I've known this guy for years - since he was in high school and even before he was trying to convince the MF to pay for his university course, because he was apparently going to pay us all back with a movie when he graduated.

Try looking him up on Encyclopedia Dramtatica - which I would never normally endorse (because I think it's extremely foul-mouthed, vicious, gross and a general advert for why labeling certain content "mature" is a contradiction in terms - you may consider this a major warning), but which offers a decent potted history in this case.

Every time I read a thread title with the words "Sonic" and "Fan" here on the Knothole forum, I cringe.

Heh, this thing almost got picked up by Universal pictures in 2007?? Wow.

Nah, was just a big, stupid lie. =p