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CURRENT STATUS

The Eagle Obsession is actively being pitched to major distributors right now by our producer’s representative, Paul Hazen of Handshake Partners — a 25-year industry veteran who has placed over 300 films. 4K UHD discs are done June 22 and begin shipping the following week. A revamped website with additional ways to order and stream the film is coming soon.

Both The Eagle Obsession and its companion documentary, Beyond the Eagle Obsession: 50 Years of Fandom, are confirmed to screen at Manchester: 1999 — the official 50th Anniversary Celebration of Space: 1999 — September 11-13 in Manchester, England. The film just won its 13th award — a Bronze Telly at the 47th Annual Telly Awards, selected from nearly 14,000 entries across 55 countries.

Regardless, this film didn’t happen overnight. Here’s the full story.

THE JOURNEY — A TIMELINE 

August 2022 — The Eagle Obsession is conceived. Jeffrey Morris begins developing the project — writing, researching, and building the creative vision for a documentary that would explore how the Apollo program and the visionary science fiction of the 1960s and ’70s inspired a generation.

Early 2023 — Six months of development and pitching. The project takes shape. Funding strategies are explored. The scope becomes clear: this will be a global production spanning multiple countries with an extraordinary cast.

June 2023 — First self-funded shoots begin. Morris puts his own money into production to get the cameras rolling.

July 2023 — Filming at Wonderfest in Louisville, Kentucky with Nick Tate (Captain Alan Carter, Space: 1999). Filming in Colorado with bestselling author Kevin J. Anderson.

September 2023 — Visual effects work begins with Tobias Richter. A Kickstarter campaign launches — then is cancelled after private investors step in to fund the production. This is the moment the project goes from a passion project to a real film.

October 2023 — Filming with Todd Morton in Indiana.

December 2023 — A whirlwind month of international production. Filming with Apollo 16 astronaut Charles Duke in Florida. Filming with Jan Wenneberg in Denmark. Filming with Academy Award-winning VFX legend Brian Johnson in England. Three countries in one month.

Q1 2024 — The full-scale Eagle Transporter cockpit is built by Makinarium UK — working lights, operational controls, functional screens. Cost: over $150,000. This is not a prop. This is a piece of cinema history.

March 2024 — Filming in Arizona with childhood friend and neuroscientist Dr. Anna Barab and SpaceX Inspiration4 astronaut Dr. Sian Proctor. Filming in California with Oscar-winning VFX artist Bill George and Emmy-winning actress Barbara Bain. Filming in Minnesota with fifth-grade students in Blaine who build their own Eagles.

May 2024 — Filming in Omaha with aerospace designer Aldo Spadoni.

May-June 2024 — Return to England. Filming with the completed Eagle cockpit. Additional filming with Brian Johnson and Nick Tate. Filming with author and space historian Piers Bizony at the Lightroom in London during the Tom Hanks Moonwalkers exhibit.

July 2024 — Filming in New York with William Shatner.

Fall 2024 — Final shoot in Minnesota: a practical visual effects sequence using physical models, with Todd Morton and Jan Wenneberg traveling in to participate.

November 2024 — Post-production begins. Editing, color correction, sound design, music scoring by Michael Nelson, visual effects compositing by Tobias Richter. A reimagined cover of Steve Miller’s “Fly Like an Eagle” is recorded. Music rights are negotiated with the publisher — ultimately secured in perpetuity.

November 2024 – May 2025 — Post-production continues. This is the part of filmmaking nobody sees — the hundreds of hours of footage shaped into a 90-minute story. Sound mixed. Color graded. Visual effects composited shot by shot. Music scored to picture. It is painstaking, invisible work, and it is where a good film becomes a great one.

Summer 2025 — Test screenings with select audiences. Feedback gathered. Further editing based on that feedback. The film gets tighter, stronger, more emotionally precise.

October 2025 — The Eagle Obsession makes its world premiere at the Twin Cities Film Fest. It also screens at the Toronto International Film Festival and at the Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival, where it wins the Audience Award.

November 2025 — The film screens at the American Film Market (AFM) at AMC Century City in Los Angeles. This is where the search for distribution formally begins.

December 2025 — Screenings at the Rio Cinema in London (capacity crowd, BBC Radio London interview), and a special screening in Skanderborg, Denmark. The film’s international audience is proven.

Q1–Q2 2026 — Physical media and streaming access begins rolling out to crowdfunding supporters. 4K UHD discs enter production. The companion documentary, Beyond the Eagle Obsession: 50 Years of Fandom, enters post-production. Screenings at the Moonbase ’99 Convention in Modena, Italy, the Melbourne Science Fiction Film Festival, and StarCon in Bellaria, Italy.

May 2026 — Paul Hazen of Handshake Partners is signed as the film’s producer’s representative. Professional sales materials are created. Paul begins pitching to 23 major independent and specialty distributors. The Eagle Obsession wins a Bronze Telly Award.

That’s the journey so far: nearly four years from conception to where we are today. Dozens of shoots across four continents. An extraordinary cast. A full-scale cockpit built from scratch. 13 awards. Screenings in six countries. And a professional distribution campaign now actively underway.

And throughout all of it, Morris was fundraising — raising nearly $1.5 million across the life of the project to bring it to life. There was no studio check. No corporate backing. Every dollar was raised through investors, crowdfunding supporters, and Morris’s own pocket.

What that money produced wasn’t just one film. It was two. The Eagle Obsession at 90 minutes and Beyond the Eagle Obsession at 70 minutes are completely different movies — different subjects, different casts, different footage, different visual effects. Beyond the Eagle Obsession includes additional footage shot in Denmark in December 2025 and in Minnesota in January and April 2026. Both films feature entirely original VFX by Tobias Richter and original animation by Kelly Brown. Two full documentaries with original content shot around the world, for the cost most productions spend on one.

For context: this is normal. Independent documentaries routinely take years to produce and distribute. The Oscar-winning Searching for Sugar Man took its director nearly four years and every dollar he had. Hoop Dreams was filmed over four and a half years. The Act of Killing took eight years from first shoot to release. Most independent documentaries take three to five years from conception to screen — and that’s before distribution, which can add another year or more. Our timeline is right in line with the industry.

We understand it appears glacial from the outside. But in reality, what happened here is extraordinary. A small independent team produced two feature-length documentaries with A-list talent, original visual effects, international production, and a full-scale spacecraft cockpit — and did it for a fraction of what a studio would spend on a single film. The reason it took time is because we were building something real, not cutting corners.

HOW DISTRIBUTION ACTUALLY WORKS

Here’s the part most people don’t see: finishing a film is only half the battle. Getting it to audiences is the other half — and for independent films, it’s often the harder half.

When a studio makes a film, distribution is built in. Disney makes a movie, Disney releases the movie. For independent filmmakers, distribution is a separate process that happens after the film is complete. You have to find a company willing to put your film in theaters, on streaming platforms, and on store shelves. That takes time, negotiation, and the right partner.

We screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. We screened at the American Film Market. We evaluated proposals from multiple distribution companies. Some weren’t the right fit. Some couldn’t provide what we needed. We made the decision to work with Paul Hazen — someone with the relationships, track record, and industry credibility to get the film in front of the right people. It took until May 2026 to lock that in. We also have a relationship with Filmhub for digital distribution.

Paul is now actively pitching The Eagle Obsession to major distributors. He hopes to have a deal for theatrical and streaming in place this summer. These are the companies that put films in theaters and on the platforms you watch every day. This is a professional, strategic process being led by someone who has done it over 300 times.

We know it feels slow from the outside. From the inside, it’s moving fast.

WHY WE DIDN’T JUST PUT IT ONLINE

We’ve been asked this a lot. Why not just upload it? Why not put it on YouTube? Why not sell it directly from day one?

Because that would have killed the film’s value.

In the film industry, distribution windows matter. If a film is widely available online before it has a theatrical release, most distributors won’t touch it. The theatrical window — even a limited one — establishes the film’s market value, generates press coverage, and creates the data that streaming platforms use to determine what a film is worth. Skip that step and you leave money on the table — money that goes toward paying back the investors who funded this project, the artists who created it, and the infrastructure needed to make more films like it.

We made a film that cost nearly $1.5 million. People invested their money believing it would be treated as a professional product with a professional release. We owe it to them — and to you — to do this right.

WHAT’S AVAILABLE NOW AND WHAT’S COMING

Here is exactly what is happening:

4K UHD discs are done June 22 and begin shipping to crowdfunding supporters the following week. Additional discs will be available for sale on our website in July while we finalize the broader distribution plan. Pre-order now at shop.futuredude.com. Blu-ray and DVD editions are in the works. We need to hold off on a larger retail release until we see what the acquiring distributor wants to do with the rollout — but we are making sure fans can get the film in their hands this summer.

Paul Hazen is actively pitching both The Eagle Obsession and Beyond the Eagle Obsession to major distributors. We expect to have clarity on the distribution path this summer.

We have been invited to screen the full film at Star Trek Las Vegas in early August — the largest Star Trek convention in the world, during the franchise’s 60th anniversary year. Details to come.

Both films are confirmed to screen at Manchester: 1999, the official 50th Anniversary Celebration of Space: 1999, September 11-13 in Manchester, England. The Eagle Obsession screens Saturday. Beyond the Eagle Obsession screens Sunday.

Beyond the Eagle Obsession — 65-70 minutes of new interviews, stunning VFX, original animation, and footage from the US, UK, and Denmark — is completing in late June 2026. It includes a 10-minute tribute to Gerry Anderson featuring an interview with his son Jamie, and goes deep into the fan community that kept the Eagle alive for 50 years.

A revamped website is coming with additional ways to order product and stream the film.

We are also in discussions with The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation about a permanent exhibit featuring the Eagle cockpit, and with Arizona State University about an educational partnership.

THE AWARDS KEEP COMING

While we’ve been building the distribution plan, the film has continued to win. 13 awards across 11 festivals and competitions in 6 countries:

– Bronze Telly Award, 47th Annual (selected from nearly 14,000 entries across 55 countries)

– Audience Award, Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival

– Raw Breakthrough Award, Raw Science Film Festival

– Best Documentary and Best Narration, Outer Rim Sci-Fi Film Festival

– Best Documentary, Miami International Sci-Fi Film Festival

– Outstanding Excellence, Documentaries Without Borders International Film Festival

– Award of Excellence Special Mention, IndieFEST Film Awards

– Award of Excellence Special Mention, Impact DOCS Awards

– Award Winner, Palermo International Film Festival

– Award Winner, London International Filmmakers Festival

– Award Winner, Critics Choice International Film Festival

– Finalist, Twin Cities Film Fest (Robert Byrd Best Documentary, Bill Cooper Best Minnesota Feature)

– 9.5 rating on IMDb

THE CULTURAL MOMENT

The timing of this film has only gotten stronger since we completed it. Project Hail Mary — the Ryan Gosling space film — has become the second-highest grossing film of 2026, crossing $660 million worldwide and proving audiences are hungry for hopeful, science-forward content. Artemis II flew humans around the Moon for the first time since 1972. The Star Trek 60th anniversary is a year-long global event. The Space: 1999 50th anniversary community is at peak activation.

The Eagle Obsession was made for this moment. And it’s arriving.

THANK YOU

To everyone who has waited, who has backed us, who has shared the trailer, who has written to ask when they can see the film — thank you. Your impatience is the best compliment we could receive. It means you care. It means the film matters to you the way it matters to us.

We’re almost there. Stay connected at eagledocumentary.com and shop.futuredude.com. Follow us on social media. And when the day comes that you can finally sit down and watch this film — whether in a theater, on your television, or holding a 4K disc in your hands — we think you’ll agree it was worth the wait.