A reimagining version of the 1993 smash hit Free Willy may soon be hitting theater screens.
Warner Bros. has teamed with The Russo Bros. (Avengers: Endgame) to produce the pic. In turn, the siblings have hired Mary-Margaret Kunze and Jade Halley Bartlett to write the script. Lauren Shuler Donner, who produced the original film, is also on board as a co-producer.
Free Willy centers on a troubled 12-year-old runaway named Jesse, who gets caught vandalizing a local marine park. For his community service, he’s put to work at the facility, where he ends up crossing paths with Willy, a miserable, uncooperative killer whale torn away from his ocean home.
Against all odds, the rebellious kid and the lonely Orca form a deep bond, and Jesse actually manages to get Willy to perform tricks when no one else can. But things take a dark turn when the park's corrupt owner realizes the whale isn't going to be a lucrative tourist attraction. Instead of letting him go, the owner hatches a scheme to kill Willy and make it look like an accident so that he can collect on a $1 million dollar insurance policy.
Made on a fairly modest $20 million budget, the movie absolutely crushed expectations by raking in $153.7 million globally. Critics genuinely loved it, pointing out its heart, the incredible wildlife shots, and a fantastic breakout performance by 12-year-old Jason James Richter.
It also didn't hurt that Michael Jackson provided the theme song, "Will You Be There," which climbed straight into the Billboard top 10.
The film’s cultural impact went way beyond theater walls, though, sparking a massive real-world environmental movement.
Free Willy also turned into a proper franchise, spawning two immediate sequels: Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home in 1995 and Free Willy 3: The Rescue in 1997. Prior to the current reboot plans, an attempt to revive the IP was made back in 2010 with a straight-to-video release called Free Willy: Escape from Pirate's Cove, which starred Bindi Irwin.
Back when Saturday Morning Cartoons were still a thing, Free Willy actually had a fairly popular cartoon spin-off in the States, which followed the successful 1993 film.
Warner Bros. and Nelvana rolled out Free Willy: The Animated Series from 1994 to 1995. To make a weekly cartoon work, the show added some major fantasy elements, granting Jesse the superpower to speak directly with Willy and his marine mammal friends. In epic '90s fashion, instead of basic corporate greed, the duo spent 21 episodes battling a cyborg eco-villain who used high-tech submarines and toxic weapons to destroy the ocean.