It looks like Hollywood's race to adapt the heartwarming, real-life tale of a Thai soccer team's rescue from a flooded cave is coming along equally as quick, if not frankly a little quicker than a SpaceX submarine. The story, which saw 12 athletes and a coach retrieved safely, already has two competing films in development. One day after faith-based production company Pure Flix announced its take, Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu took to Twitter to declare a second adaptation is in the works, one that will not "whitewash" the ordeal.
THR reports that Ivanhoe Pictures—which is re-teaming with Chu for its Thai rescue project—has been hand-picked by Thailand's Navy and government to go forward with the movie. Additionally, Pure Flix noted that its version would not necessarily be a faith-based movie and that the studio is looking at a budget between $30 million and $60 million with Adam Smith of Kaos Entertainment attached to co-produce. No word yet on a screenwriter for either film.
Not that I'm here to choose sides or anything, but also I totally am, and Crazy Rich Asians—which premieres August 15th, just FYI—looks absolutely amazing. #TeamChu. And even though the typical Hollywood race to monetize any and all real-life drama is characteristically skeezy on a few levels—I'm pretty sure pre-production on this started before the water reached the cave—this story at least had one hell of a happy ending. We will update this story the moment Elon Musk decides to somehow make the situation about him.