That nightmarish Sonic movie poster is real

There's a Sonic movie in the works. That much you probably knew, given the viral reaction to the film's first teaser image. Now, the Sonic movie nightmare continues with a new poster - now confirmed to be real - that does things with Sonic's legs that shouldn't be done to any one, let alone an anthropomorphic hedgehog.

The creepy poster popped up on social media this week in unverified form. It showed Sonic's legs in one of the most unnatural positions I've ever seen legs in. Also, yep, that's fur, as we knew it would be from the teaser image.

The poster is now confirmed, via a tweet from GameSpot senior social media producer Gajan Kulasingham.

Sega and Paramount Pictures are working together on the Sonic movie, which is due out next year. Our Matt Wales described Sonic's new look beautifully this week, so I'll just leave it here:

"They've transformed Sonic's smooth, slightly rotund classic look into something resembling an excessively hirsute human with a bulbous Sonic-shaped head and a punishing anaerobic fitness regime. Who is also blue. The overall effect, I'd argue, is more 'limbering up for a sweaty night out down at the fetish bar' than 'endearing reimagining of a beloved video game character for a new family friendly movie franchise'."

On to this latest poster, and Sonic's legs look wider apart than they have any right to be. But, is it possible to recreate the pose in real life? Does the pose make sense according to the rules of science? Some have tried to work that out.

There's a third, as yet unverified Sonic movie poster also doing the rounds, that looks like a proof of concept rather than something we'll see officially advertising the film (is that supposed to be Chris Pratt?!).

Either way, the Sonic film is sure to set some sort of meme record when it comes out.

Let's give the last word to Patrick Casey, the writer of the Sonic movie: