Within a day of the emergence of the last of the boys and their adult coach from the flooded cave near Chiang Rai, faith-based studio Pure Flix Entertainment (the God’s Not Dead franchise) announced plans for a film adaptation of the story under its mainstream imprint Pinnacle Peaks (Little Women). The next day, beginning with a furious tweet saying “I refuse to let Hollywood #whitewashout the Thai Cave rescue story!,” director John Chu (Now You See Me 2, Crazy Rich Asians) and Ivanhoe Pictures revealed they had secured rights to the story from the Thai navy and government.