Principal photography began on 23 Feb. in Cape Town, South Africa<\/p>\n
Warner Premiere has announced the start of production on FREE WILLY: SOUTH AFRICA, with filming that commenced on February 23 for five weeks in Cape Town, South Africa.\u00a0 The announcement was made by Diane Nelson, President, Warner Premiere.<\/p>\n
FREE WILLY: SOUTH AFRICA is set for a release exclusively on DVD in 2010 and tells the charming tale of Kirra, a young Australian girl who is sent reluctantly to stay with her grandfather, Gus, in Cape Town.\u00a0 When a young orca whale, Willy, is trapped by a storm in Gus\u2019s run down water theme park, Kirra slowly but surely finds herself adapting to the new surroundings and an ever-growing friend.\u00a0 But, when Gus\u2019s latest attraction starts eating too much, he is tempted to sell Willy to an unscrupulous competitor.\u00a0 The race is on for Kirra and her friends to find Willy\u2019s family and return him to the ocean\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cThe FREE WILLLY films are known worldwide for being inspirational, family-oriented, quality entertainment and we\u2019re very excited to be continuing this tradition with \u2018Free Willy: South Africa,\u2019\u201d said Nelson.\u00a0 \u201cWith a heart-warming, compelling story line and a terrific cast, we\u2019re sure this film will be a hit with new audiences of all ages as well as fans of the earlier releases.\u201d<\/p>\n
FREE WILLY: SOUTH AFRICA stars 10-year-old actress, singer, wildlife crusader and dancer Bindi Irwin as Kirra.\u00a0 Already a household name and Emmy Award winner through her wildlife documentary series, fitness DVDs and music albums, Bindi is the daughter of the late Steve Irwin, the world-renowned Australian wildlife expert and conservationist, whose work she is carrying forward.\u00a0 Beau Bridges plays Gus, Kirra\u2019s curmudgeonly grandfather.\u00a0 A Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actor with a career spanning five decades, Bridges has most recently appeared in the hit television shows \u2018Stargate SG-1\u2019 and \u2018The Agency.\u2019<\/p>\n
Writer\/Director Will Geiger\u2019s most recent film \u2018Elvis and Anabelle\u2019 starred Blake Lively, Joe Mantegna, Mary Steenburgen and Max Minghella and won the Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking Award at the Newport Film Festival.\u00a0 His previous film \u2018Ocean Tribe\u2019 won the Best Director Award at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival and the Audience Award at Newport.\u00a0 \u201cFree Willy: South Africa\u201d is a South African and German co-production being produced by David Wicht of Film Afrika (\u2018The No. 1 Ladies\u2019 Detective Agency\u2019, \u2018Goodbye Bafana\u2019), Laura Lodin (National Geographic Films) and John Stainton who has directed and produced all of Steve and Bindi Irwin\u2019s television series and movies.<\/p>\n
The FREE WILLY films have enchanted family audiences since they first hit theatres in 1993.\u00a0 The universal themes of ecology, exploitation, the intelligence of marine life and the relationship of people with animals are all explored through the stories.\u00a0 The FREE WILLY theatrical film releases have a combined domestic gross box office total of $190,922,484* and have sold almost 3 million video units to-date.\u00a0 (*Adjusted for inflation)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Principal photography began on 23 Feb. in Cape Town, South Africa Warner Premiere has announced the start of production on FREE WILLY: SOUTH AFRICA, with filming that commenced on February 23 for five weeks in Cape Town, South Africa.\u00a0 The announcement was made by Diane Nelson, President, Warner Premiere. FREE WILLY: SOUTH AFRICA is set<\/p>\n