4 May – The Tham Luang cave rescue that took place in Thailand in 2018 proved to be such an awe-inspiring incident that various film productions clamoured for movie rights even as the event was unfolding. The latest news reveal that Oscar-winning director Ron Howard will also be helming a big screen version of the rescue mission. Collider reported that Howard will be directing from a script by William Nicholson. The duo makes a good team since Nicholson is an Oscar-nominated writer while Howard is well known for his award-winning works, such as "A Beautiful Mind" and "Apollo 13". The upcoming movie, called "Thirteen Lives", follows the rescue mission of 12 members of the Wild Boar boys' soccer team and their assistant coach, who were trapped 1,000 meters underground in a flooded cave for more than two weeks. All 13 were successfully saved but the incident did claim two lives: Saman Kunan, a retired Navy SEAL who ran out of air during the rescue mission, and Beirut Pakbara, a rescue diver who contracted a blood infection during the mission and died from it a year and a half later.
CAA Media Finance is currently looking for a studio to take "Thirteen Lives" on as a mid-budget project. One movie based on the incident was already released last year, "The Cave" by Tom Waller, which features some of the real-life divers. Apart from that, other projects based on it are still in the works. "Crazy Rich Asians" director Jon M. Chu is currently working on his own non-whitewashed Netflix miniseries with "Bad Genius" helmer Nattawut Poonpiriya, while Kevin MacDonald is developing a NatGeo documentary and "Free Solo" directors Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi are helming a movie for Universal.