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Now streaming on Prime Video, Thirteen Lives follows the incredible true story of the 2018 mission to rescue 12 boys and their soccer coach from Thailand's flooded Tham Luang Nang Non cave system. Although global media widely covered the high-stakes events, director Ron Howard thrusts audiences into the chaotic center with the same intensity and attention to detail he brought to his other classic "true story" films, such as Apollo 13 and Rush.

With such a big-name filmmaker and a recognizable cast that includes Colin Farrell and Viggo Mortensen, it would be easy to assume Thirteen Lives is a glitzy, exaggerated dramatization. Thankfully, however, the survival film is impressively authentic and respectful, with the only exceptions being relatively small details and omissions.

Updated March 16, 2025, by Arthur Goyaz. Thirteen Lives is a hair-raising dramatization of a harrowing true story. This article is updated to include more related information about the movie and the...

Netflix has set a Sept. 22 release date for “Thai Cave Rescue,” its six-part mini series about the dramatic events of July 2018 when 12 boys and their football coach were trapped in flooded limestone caves near Chiang Rai.

Their plight sparked an unprecedented international rescue effort that ended with the loss of just one life and a flurry of film and TV productions.

The Netflix series is at least the fourth on-screen retelling of the rescue tale and will follow two other efforts releasing over the next weeks. Netflix touts its series as “the most authentic and expansive retelling yet.”

First into the market, in 2019, was “The Cave,” by Thai-British director-producer Tom Waller, which mixed reconstructions and news footage. It gave prominent position to Europe-based rescue diver Jim Warny playing himself. And it broke ground by clearly depicting the controversial decision to fully sedate the boys during their extraction. Despite pushback from provincial officials,...

(Welcome to SlashClips, a series where we bring you exclusive clips from hot new Digital, Blu-ray and theatrical releases you won't see anywhere else!)

In this edition:

Cave Rescue Ali & Ava The Nan Movie One Moment Infrared

First up we have a trailer debut for Lionsgate's "Cave Rescue," a thriller based on the real-life Tham Luang cave rescue incident from 2018. It stars Jim Warny ("The Rescue"), Ekawat Niratvorapanya ("Girl From Nowhere"), and Lawrence de Stefano ("The Flight Attendant") and opens in theaters, on demand, and digital August 5, 2022, with the Blu-ray arriving on September 13. Here is an official statement from director, producer, and...

The post Clips Round-Up: Cave Rescue Trailer, Ali & Ava Tells A Midlife Love Story & More! [Exclusive] appeared first on /Film.

The 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue was one of the most shocking and captivating stories the world experienced during the last years, as it captivated global interest for the 17 days the operation to rescue the twelve members of the football team (aged 11 to 16) and their 25-year-old assistant from the cave they were trapped in, lasted. The rescue efforts involved over 10,000 people, including more than 100 divers, scores of rescue workers, representatives from about 100 governmental agencies, 900 police officers, and 2,000 soldiers; and it required ten police helicopters, seven ambulances, more than 700 diving cylinders, and the pumping of more than a billion liters of water from the caves. Tom Waller focuses on the people and the events of the rescue while he dedicates the movie to Beirut Pakbara, a rescue diver who died during the operation.

The film deals with the events that led to the trapping of the team very briefly,...

Writer/Director/Producer Tom Waller (Thomas de Warrenne Waller) was born in Bangkok to a Thai Buddhist mother and Irish Catholic father. He graduated from the Northern Film School in Leeds, England in 1995 and his first film project as producer and director was “Monk Dawson” (1998) aka “Passion for the Priest”.

He was nominated in 2012 for two Thai National Film Association Awards: Best Director and Best Screenplay for his murder mystery Mindfulness and Murder (2011), and won the Best Director award at Dhaka International Film Festival for his biopic, “The Last Executioner” (2014), also Best Picture “Tukkata Tong” Golden Doll award (Thailand’s equivalent of a Golden Globe) in 2015. He founded in 1996 his production company De Warrenne Pictures, one of Thailand’s leading full service production companies serving foreign productions.

On the occasion of his latest film “The Cave” being screened at the BFI London Film Festival we speak with him about the emotional drive of the project,...

If you haven’t been living in a (different) cave for the last year and a half, chances are you were on the edge of your chair for more than 2 weeks last summer, following the misadventures and the rescue of 13 children trapped in the flooded underground cave complex of Tham Luang, in Chiang Rai, Thailand. The news reports about the boys, a junior football team called “Wild Boars” and their coach, were followed by the whole world with trepidation while support and assistance were arriving from everywhere. Thai-Irish director Tom Waller has now turned these 18 days into a film, “The Cave”, that had its World premiere at the Busan International Film Festival, European premiere at the BFI London Film Festival and North American premiere at the Vancouver Film Festival. The rescue was successful in the end, and the boys were all brought back to safety, however the mission costed the...

"We're going to dive 'em out." Screen Daily has debuted the first official trailer for The Cave, the very first (of many in the works) narrative feature based on the daring cave rescue in Thailand that captured the world's attention in June/July of 2018. Directed by filmmaker Tom Waller, who was born in Thailand, the film features a few of the real divers playing themselves, however they cast Thai actors to play the kids and their soccer team coach. It took 18 days, with teams from around the world, to rescue all 12 of the children from deep inside the Tham Luang cave. Tom Waller's The Cave film stars Ekawat Niratvorapanya as the coach, plus Jim Warny and James Edward Holley. This looks exactly as expected without any surprises - a very powerful, heroic recreation of this harrowing cave rescue in northern Thailand. Check it out below. Here's the first official trailer...

“The Cave,” Tom Waller’s reconstruction of the dramatic rescue of a schoolboy soccer team from waterlogged caverns in northern Thailand begins its festival career this week at the Busan International Film Festival.

Interest in the story has been running strongly since the dramatic events of June and July 2018, with at least half a dozen films versions announced and a Netflix-backed series in the works.

Several of those projects appear to have faltered, though a National Geographic documentary is believed to be still moving forward.

But Waller, who holds Thai and British passports and is an experienced local production manager for foreign films shooting in Thailand, used his unique set of connections to get his film rolling quickly. Shooting took place in Thailand, the U.K. and Ireland from November last year.

“Us being shown at Busan first, it’s playing the film on a world stage,” Waller told media.

Real-life divers and other rescue volunteers that last year led a successful multi-national mission to save 12 boys and their soccer coach from a cave in northern Thailand will play themselves in the upcoming Thai movie The Cave.

Those set to reprise their roles in Thai-Irish director Tom Waller's indie include Belgian cave rescue diver Jim Warny and dive instructors Erik Brown from Canada, Mikko Paasi from Finland and China's Tan Xiaolong. The real rescue effort at the Tham Luang cave involved over 10,000 people, including more than 100 divers, dozens of aid workers, some 100 government ...

Real-life divers and other rescue volunteers that last year led a successful multi-national mission to save 12 boys and their soccer coach from a cave in northern Thailand will play themselves in the upcoming Thai movie The Cave.

Those set to reprise their roles in Thai-Irish director Tom Waller's indie include Belgian cave rescue diver Jim Warny and dive instructors Erik Brown from Canada, Mikko Paasi from Finland and China's Tan Xiaolong. The real rescue effort at the Tham Luang cave involved over 10,000 people, including more than 100 divers, dozens of aid workers, some 100 government ...

Several of the real-life heroes whose actions in rescuing a soccer team from a flooded cave in Thailand made world headlines a year ago this month will play themselves in upcoming movie “The Cave.”

They include rescue diver Jim Warny from Belgium, dive instructors Erik Brown from Canada and Mikko Paasi from Finland, and Chinese cave-diving instructor Tan Xiaolong. American journalist Todd Ruiz, who covered the events in the Tham Luang caves for the Khao Sod English-language newspaper, reprises his role as a reporter.

The film, in Thai, Chinese and English, is directed by Thai-Irish director Tom Waller. He wrote the story with writers Don Linder and Katrina Grose, who previously collaborated with him on “The Last Executioner.”

Thai teen heartthrob Ekawat Niratworapanya heads the acting cast. He plays the football coach who led 12 schoolboys into the caves near Chiang Mai. When the Wild Boars team became trapped by suddenly rising floodwaters,...

In today’s film news roundup, National Geographic is making a Thai cave rescue movie, AMC has a big weekend at the box office, Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s “Fast Color” gets a release date, and AFI Fest sets its dates.

Movie Development

Yet another movie is in the works about last year’s cave rescue in Thailand.

National Geographic Documentary Films has greenlit a feature about the 2018 rescue of a Thai soccer team trapped deep inside a flooded cave.

Kevin Macdonald (“One Day in September”), John Battsek, P.J. van Sandwijk, and Michael Lesslie are working on the pic about the Wild Boars youth soccer team of 12 boys and their assistant coach being trapped for two weeks before being rescued.

The film, tentatively titled “Thai Cave Rescue,” will chronicle the perilous world of cave diving, with exclusive access to British cave divers Richard Stanton, John Volanthen, Chris Jewell, Jason Mallinson, Connor Roe,...

National Geographic Documentary Films has greenlit a documentary on the Thai cave rescue, the 2018 rescue mission that saved a youth boys soccer team escape after being trapped inside for 18 days, an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.

Kevin Macdonald, known for “The Last King of Scotland” and “One Day in September,” a documentary about the terrorist attacks on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, is directing the feature documentary that includes exclusive interviews with British and Australian cave divers, and local Thai officials and volunteers who played a part in the rescue.

The documentary, which currently has a working title “Thai Cave Rescue,” is being produced by John Battsek and P.J. van Sandwijk along with executive producer Michael Lesslie.

Also Read: Ron Howard to Direct Paradise Wildfire Documentary for National Geographic

The boys were rescued from Tham Luang Nang Non cave in the Chiang Rai Province in Thailand.