THIRTEEN LIVES: Ron Howard’s Tham Luang Cave Rescue Movie to Film in Australia

Ron Howard’s Thirteen Lives to Film in Australia

Ron Howard‘s new film project Thirteen Lives, based on the 2018 rescue mission of twelve children and their coach in the Tham Luang Nang Non caves of northern Thailand, is set to shoot in March in Queensland, Australia.

The film will follow the true story of the children’s soccer team, which was rescued from the Tham Luang caves following heavy rain and flooding in 2018. After being stuck for days without food or water and running out of oxygen, people from all over the world came together to save the boys, including an expert group of divers from the U.K. and Australia.

The Australian government will provide $9.6 million to MGM and Howard’s production company Imagine Entertainment to help with the production with the country’s Gold Coast region imitating the tropical region of northern Thailand.

Howard commented that “over the years, I’ve both enjoyed and creatively benefited from collaborations with Australian artists and technicians in front of and behind the camera, from Cate Blanchett, Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe and Chris Hemsworth to John Seale, Donald McAlpine and Andrew Rowlands and many others.” He added that “From Thirteen Lives to the animated project I am directing with Animal Logic [The Shrinking of Treehorn] in Australia, I am excited about the opportunity to film and work in Australia and dramatically expand on that list of collaborators whose sensibilities and work ethic I have long admired and respected.”

Paul Fletcher, Australia’s Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts, said that the film’s production is expected to generate over $70.8 million for the Australian economy and create about 435 jobs for Australian cast and crew.

“’Thirteen Lives’ will tell the remarkable story of the effort by many volunteers, including Australians, to undertake an incredibly complex rescue. And I am proud to say that this story will be told here in Australia,” said Fletcher. “In addition to recording this remarkable story for posterity, the production itself will create vital job opportunities and engage the services of an estimated 300 Australian businesses.”

He added that the production will utilize a “significant amount of cutting-edge visual effects work,” creating opportunities for local post production, digital, and visual effects companies.

Universal Pictures International has the distribution rights for Australia.

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