Frankie Stein: Presumably lost Spark Plug film (2012)

That website might have more clues than originally thought. This film wasn't "briefly" mentioned, it was on that site for years until SparkPlug bit the bullet.

The earliest capture mentioning Frankie-Stein is from November 2008, with the penguin film listed as "now in production" and Frankie-Stein given a Spring 2009 date. This rules out Frankenweenie as a basis since although it started production in 2007, it didn't start filming until 2010. web.archive.org/web/20081120092937/http://sp3d.net/

The next capture skips right to 2010, mentioning Piper Penguin as "just completed" and Frankie-Stein as "now in production." For the following 2 years, the website stays the exact same. web.archive.org/web/20100502034314/http://www.sp3d.net:80/

After that point, the site turns into a blank WordPress blog. SparkPlug released films into 2014, so we can't say this was when the company officially died. However, judging by their final output (Scooter the Penguin in 2012 to match Happy Feet Two, followed by the Car's Life sequels hovering around Cars 2's release), I can craft a theory for this film.

I think Frankie-Stein did start production in 2008 and was an original film like Piper Penguin (that film was made 2 years after Happy Feet and even it's earliest 2007 logo looks more like Ice Age than anything, web.archive.org/web/20071123122326/http://www.sp3d.net/PenguinsART.htm ). Production was scrapped around the same time SparkPlug decided to abandon a web presence (we'll say late 2010) as they became strapped for cash and retreated back to mock busting. They make Scooter around Happy Feet Two but troubles in the company delay that film to late 2012. After that, they revert to Car's Life to make dough off the evergreen Cars franchise until they finally bite the dust.

My theory has plenty of holes, I'm sure. But I think it makes more sense than the film being a rare release.