Forming a very strong bond with an orca whale named Willy, Jesse soon makes it his mission to help the young orca and free him back into the wild ocean.

Miami’s modern-day ‘Free Willy’ must be saved | Commentary FILE – Trainer Marcia Hinton pets Lolita, a captive orca whale, during a performance at the Miami Seaquarium in Miami, March 9, 1995.

“Free Willy” once had a different ending: The whale ends up at SeaWorld. The directors rejected the ending because it wasn’t powerful enough for a movie. But this is real life.

An ambitious plan to return Lolita, a killer whale held captive for more than a half-century, to her home waters calls to mind the release of the star of the movie ‘Free Willy’.

The podcast follows the real-life fight to release the orca actor who played the titular whale in the 1993 film Free Willy.

Charlotte Rampling and Richard Harris are the heavy-hitting Oscar nominees facing off with a big plastic whale.

When Free Willy splashed on to the silver screen in 1993, little did people imagine the wave of applause the film would ...

Dave Phillips was one of the numerous whale experts who helped the orca star of Free Willy return to the wild Now, Phillips is working to help two other whales in captivity at a closed marine park ...

"My life changed forever when I saw 'Free Willy' at three years old, and maybe, just maybe, coming to this screening will ...