Photo credit: Thai NavySEAL Facebook Page via AP

Rescue workers hold on to the stretcher of a boy who is being rescued from a cave in Thailand.

CHIANG RAI, Thailand (Achieve3000, October 29, 2018). Have you ever followed a news story and thought, "That would make a great movie"? When producers at Pure Flix Entertainment heard that 12 boys and their soccer (football) coach had been rescued from a cave after becoming trapped by heavy rains, they felt the story had to be told on the big screen.

"We realized that this would make an incredibly inspiring movie," said Pure Flix cofounder Michael Scott a day after the rescue was completed. "Like a lot of people, we know there's not a lot of positive news in the world today."

The story is one of perseverance and cooperation. On June 23, 2018, the boys—members of the Wild Boars soccer team ranging in age from 11 to 16—decided to take what was supposed to be a quick post-practice excursion. They entered the sprawling Tham Luang cave in Thailand's Chiang Rai Province to go exploring. But they soon became trapped when monsoon rains caused water to fill the passageways where they would have exited. Over the next nine days, the group huddled on a small, dry shelf just above the water. They survived by drinking water that dripped from the cave walls.

During that time, Thai officials launched a massive search for the soccer players and their coach. The searchers included Thai Navy SEAL divers. They were joined by diving and rescue specialists from Australia, Britain, China, Laos, Myanmar, and the U.S. But even these experts found it difficult to make their way through the cave as water levels continued to rise due to more heavy rains.

Meanwhile, the boys and their coach weren't giving up. On July 2, they were trying to dig themselves out of the cave when they thought they heard voices.

"We weren't sure if it was for real," 14-year-old Adul Samon later remembered. "So we stopped and listened. And it turned out to be true [that someone had found us]. I was shocked."

The voices belonged to a pair of British divers, who found the boys, smiling with relief but visibly skinny. It was time to get them out of the cave. The water levels, and the dwindling amounts of oxygen in the cave, meant the rescue would be risky. But those things also meant the rescue could not be put off for very long. Highlighting the dangers, one of the rescuers, a former Thai Navy SEAL, died while replenishing oxygen canisters that had been placed along the escape route.

On July 7, relatively mild weather and the considerable effort to pump out water created a window of opportunity. The three-day rescue began. What happened next riveted people worldwide. The rescuers worked together, using diving equipment and pulleys to guide the boys and their coach through the tight, flooded passageways. As time went on, the diving team's confidence, as well as their expertise specific to the cave, increased. On July 10, the last of the boys was rescued.

Afterward, the boys spent several days in the hospital. They had all lost weight, and some had lung infections. But doctors said they were generally healthy, and all of them made a full recovery.

Meanwhile, the rescuers were hailed. Members of the Thai Navy SEAL team, who were among the first searchers to enter the cave and the last ones out, flew to their base at Sattahip on the Gulf of Thailand, where they received a heroes' welcome. The two British divers who were the first to discover the members of the Wild Boars soccer club each received a medal from Thailand's prime minister.

The heartwarming story seems well suited to Hollywood, and Michael Scott of Pure Flix isn't the only one who thinks so. In fact, a number of film producers have proposed making their own movie versions of the rescue. In early September, a Thai film company became the first to announce that it was moving forward on such a project.

No matter who ends up making a movie about the boys' ordeal, the real-life story seems sure to inspire people for years to come.

"The situation went beyond just being a rescue mission and became a symbol of unity among mankind," said former Chiang Rai Province acting Governor Narongsak Osatanakorn. "Everyone worked together without discrimination of race or religion as the ultimate goal was to save the youth football [soccer] team."

Since the ordeal, the Wild Boars have become international stars in their own right. They appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on October 15 and received the VIP treatment at a Manchester United soccer match on October 28—a day before Universal became the seventh film studio to option rights to a story about the rescue.  

The Associated Press contributed to this story.