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".
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.