Back in the days when there was news other than the Coronavirus situation, the story of a group of Thai teens trapped in a cave was a big story in 2018. It's the subject of several competing film projects already, but here comes a big gun in the shape of Ron Howard, who is planning to direct Thirteen Lives.
Gladiator writer William Nicholson, who tackled a story of real-life struggles with Unbroken, has crafted the script, and according to Deadline, this could be another Apollo 13 for Howard, the story of triumph over adversity.
The story of the Thailand Wild Boar boys football team, who became trapped in a cave on a field trip with their coach, dominated the news cycles for a while, with a mammoth rescue effort made all the more difficult when monsoon rains swept in. While the kids were rescued, a retired Thai Navy SEAL died in the attempt when his oxygen ran out.
Studios are now in a bidding war for the Howard/Nicholson film, and whichever company wins it will know it has to compete with Universal's take (which has Free Solo's Jimmy Chin and Chai Vasarhelyi attached to make it), a planned Netflix miniseries from Jon M. Chu and a National Geographic documentary that Kevin MacDonald is putting together.