Warner Bros. & AGBO’s ‘Free Willy’ Reimagining Taps Mary-Margaret Kunze & Jade Halley Bartlett To Pen Screenplay

Warner Bros. Pictures has tapped Mary-Margaret Kunze and Jade Halley Bartlett to write the film reimagining of Free Willy that the studio has in the works with the Russo brothers’ AGBO.

The first Free Willy film was released by Warner Bros. Pictures in 1993, launching a franchise of movies about the beloved orca whale that swam into theaters as well as an animated television series. There was also a direct-to-video continuation.

AGBO’s Angela Russo-Otstot, Michael Disco and Kassee Whiting will produce the project, with executive producers including Anthony Russo & Joe Russo, and Lauren Shuler Donner. Courtney Baker will co-produce.

Kunze and Bartlett are creative partners who together helm Biscuit Belly Productions. Bartlett made her directorial debut on Lionsgate’s Jenna Ortega-starrer Miller’s Girl (2024), which she wrote and directed with Kunze producing. 

Jesse Ehrman and Cate Adams are overseeing for Warner Bros. Pictures.

Kunze most recently served as a non-writing Co-Executive Producer on The Boroughs from The Duffer Brothers’ Upside Pictures and Netflix. In 2021, she was a non-writing executive producer on A House on the Bayou(Epix) and The Thing About Pam (NBC), both with Blumhouse Television. Previously, she was a creative executive at Marvel Television and a co-producer on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC), Cloak & Dagger (Freeform), Daredevil (Netflix), and The Runaways (Hulu). 

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Bartlett is a screenwriter, director, and producer from Memphis, Tennessee. She landed on The Black List in consecutive years with Miller’s Girl in 2016, adapted from her original play, and MAD in 2017, based on Chloe Esposito’s novel. Most recently, she created the Netflix series Icebreaker, based on the novel by Hannah Grace. 

Kunze is repped by CAA and Henry Huang at Heroes & Villains Entertainment. Bartlett is repped by UTA and Henry Hunag at Heroes & Villains Entertainment.