“Winter” to Star in Movie – Green Light

Clearwater Marine Aquarium announced yesterday that Warner Bros.-based Alcon Entertainment has given the green light to Dolphin Tale. Co-founders and co-CEO’s Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson will produce the film with Richard Ingber, Alcon’s President of Worldwide Marketing, who brought the project to the company.

Steve Wegner and Robert Engelman will executive produce. Charles Martin Smith (Air Bud and The Snow Walker) will direct from a script by Karen Janszen (A Walk to Remember) with revisions from Smith and Jordan Roberts (March of the Penguins). The script is based on an original treatment by Noam Dromi. Casting is currently underway.

Inspired by the true story of “Winter” the dolphin, Dolphin Tale is about a young boy who befriends an injured dolphin who lost her tail after it was tangled in a crab trap line. Through their bond and friendship, the boy motivates everyone around him to help save the dolphin by creating a prosthetic appendage to replace the dolphin’s missing tail. Winter’s strong survival instincts become an inspiration to people with special needs throughout the world.

Winter’s amazing story is told in detail in Winter’s Tail: How One Little Dolphin Learned to Swim Again, a book recently published by Scholastic, and in the film Winter: The Dolphin that Could, sold at www.SeeWinter.com. Winter’s story has become the most-watched animal story in recent years, having previously been featured in most major news outlets, including the BBC, USA Today, Time Magazine, Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, National Geographic for Kids, and coverage in hundreds of international and national market newspapers and TV affiliates.

State Johnson and Kosove: “We are very excited about doing this project and bringing Winter’s extraordinary story to the big screen. We are committed to only filming wild dolphins in their natural habitat and the dolphins at Clearwater Marine Aquarium, whose motto is ‘Rescue, Rehabilitate and Release.’” Alcon’s latest releases The Blind Side, starring Sandra Bullock, and The Book of Eli, starring Denzel Washington, have both been worldwide successes.

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