Even before the 12 boys and their soccer coach had safely emerged from the cave, Hollywood was at the Chiang Rai site, plotting the inevitable movie from the dramatic cave rescue that resulted in the death of a former Thai Navy SEAL.
If all goes to plan, the story that has captivated the world is going to be a major motion picture courtesy of Pure Flix, the Arizona-based Christian entertainment studio behind 2014 hit God’s Not Dead.
You knew this was coming, right?
Congratulations to the British divers who found the Thai children. Looking forward to them being Americans in the Hollywood movie version. #CaveRescue #cave
— Mike Fischer (@gamegoglobal) July 4, 2018
Pure Flix managing partner Michael Scott was at the rescue site while the operation was ongoing. In a video announcing their planned film — which as of yet has no distribution — Scott said he had a personal connection to the events as his Thai wife had grown up with retired Navy SEAL Sgt. Samarn Kunan, who tragically died while placing oxygen tanks along the cave’s escape route.
“I couldn’t be more excited. This story has meant so much to me as I have followed it in Thailand this summer,” he said in a video posted to his company’s Twitter account.
“My wife actually grew up with the Thai Navy SEAL that died in the cave. To see all that heroic bravery in the cave, and to get all the divers out, it’s just such a touching event and so personal to me.”
Pure Flix joins the rest of the world in thanking God for answering prayers for the successful rescue of those trapped in the cave in Thailand.
Managing partner Michael Scott, from his home in Thailand, has been helping at the cave rescue in Chiang Rai the past 4 days. pic.twitter.com/htt1vN9oU1
— Great American Pure Flix (@PureFlix) July 10, 2018
“I see this as a major Hollywood film with A-list stars,” Scott told the Australian Associated Press.
Of course, given Hollywood’s less-than-awesome track record of filmmaking when it comes to Asian stories and near-constant mishandling of casting said stories, it didn’t take long for the meme machine to get rolling.
The eye rolls and the jokes quickly blazed across Twitter, with netizens offering up their predictions of how exactly Hollywood will screw up this can’t miss, “based on a true story” drama, and which white actors will be cast to play the boys and coach.
The movie of the Thai boys trapped in the cave will star Matt Damon as all of the boys
— I'm @Ketanjoshi.co on Bluesky (@KetanJ0) July 8, 2018
There is already talk of turning the dramatic events of the Thailand cave rescue into a movie.
If Hollywood stays true to form, the story will be set in eastern Kentucky and all the characters will be white except the one played by Scarlett Johansson.
— Victor Laszlo (@Impolitics) July 11, 2018
Can you imagine how Hollywood will interpret the Thai cave rescue? Bruce Willis as the teacher, Merryl Streep as his wife, Will Smith as a diver who is afraid of water that comes back for one last dive to save the kids
— Calling All Astronauts (@CAA_Official) July 11, 2018
Others took the idea to the next level with some mocked-up posters.
“Shot entirely in Georgia.”
https://twitter.com/PeterShinkoda/status/1016800421233324033
We’d like to imagine this plot further: A baseball team’s field trip to Mexico has gone incredibly wrong.
https://twitter.com/Firstplacelast/status/1016835058085351425
This one ups the star power by taking a bit of artistic license and putting Elon Musk in the key role he’d hoped to play, along with his “impractical” submarine. Perfect. Now you’ve got a role tailor-made for Tom Hanks.
Hollywood producers already in Thailand to acquire rights to Cave rescue story pic.twitter.com/YR5urYlN3G
— TheCriticalReviews (@CritiReview) July 11, 2018
So … are we being too defeatist here? Think this movie’s gonna kill it at the box office? Let us know in the comments. And hey, while you’re at it, hit us up with your best mock cave poster.
