Govt ‘has not sold film rights for Tham Luang cave rescue’

By NATTHAWAT LAPING, 
KORNRAWEE PANYASUPPAKUN 
THE NATION 

 

The 12 Mu Pa footballers and their coach.

 

THE GOVERNMENT has not granted intellectual rights of the rescue of the Mu Pa (Wild Boar) football team and their coach to any filmmakers despite several reports saying that Universal Pictures has secured deals with the Australian divers and the football team, Lt-General Weerachon Sukondhapati-pak said yesterday.

 

Weerachon is spokesperson of the committee tasked with handling intellectual rights for the epic Tham Luang cave rescue. 

 

The panel, set up in July, is comprised of officials from the culture, tourism, foreign and human development ministries and also includes reputable names from the Thai film industry. 

 

Apart from handling the rights of the much-heralded rescue in Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district, the panel is also tasked with screening information, and safeguarding the children’s privacy and the country’s image. It will also oversee the production of the film should the rights be sold. 

 

Earlier, Deadline news media reported that Hollywood’s Universal Pictures had sealed a deal with Australian cave divers Dr Richard Harris and Craig Challen as well as coach Ekkaphol Chantawong and the Wild Boar football team.

 

Deadline news reported that the film would be produced by Dana Brunetti and Micheal De Luca, who have big hits like the “Fifty Shades of Grey” series, “Captain Phillips” and “The Social Network” under their belts. 

 

However, the panel has insisted that it did not give any studio the rights to produce a film on the children’s ordeal, and quoted the coach as saying that he too has not accepted any such deals. 

 

“But we are not sure if Universal Pictures bought the rights from the Australian divers,” Weerachon said. 

 

The parents of one of the Wild Boar team members confirmed that nobody had contacted them to sign a film deal, adding that they entrusted the committee to take care of their rights. 

 

Somsak Tanakham, the Mae Sai district chief, also said Universal Pictures had not contacted him or anybody in his office. 

 

Meanwhile, Bundit Thongdee, president of Thai Film Directors Association, said under the law, Universal Pictures does not have to acquire the rights if the names are changed in the film. 

 

“The studio will only have to acquire rights and permission if it wants to use their real names in the film,” he said. Bundit added that the studio did not have to comply with any Thai regulations if it shoots the film outside the Kingdom. 

 

However, Bundit was positive that a film on the cave rescue would be an inspiring one about solidarity, love and peace, “like how powerful we were when the world was united as one”, he said.

 

The cave rescue saga, which began on June 23, gripped people across the world as efforts to locate the Wild Boar team and their coach kept getting hampered by rising water levels and strong currents. 

 

The Thai Navy Seals, who were joined by many international professional divers, including Australians Challen and Harris, coordinated the complicated operation to find and extract the football team. 

 

One former Navy Seal, Lt-Commander Samarn Gunan even lost his life in the operation. The Wild Boar team and the coach were safely extracted by July 10. 

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30355205

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-09-26

14 minutes ago, webfact said:

However, the panel has insisted that it did not give any studio the rights to produce a film on the children’s ordeal, and quoted the coach as saying that he too has not accepted any such deals.  

It's cute that they think they own the rights to a story told by someone who did something (the rescue) just because it happened in Thailand.

 

They don't.

"...THE GOVERNMENT has not granted intellectual rights of the rescue of the Mu Pa (Wild Boar) football team and their coach to any filmmakers despite several reports saying that Universal Pictures has secured deals with the Australian divers and the football team, Lt-General Weerachon Sukondhapati-pak said yesterday..."

 

This is hilarious.

 

Does the Thai government believe that it owns the rights to a book with a chapter about my holiday in Thailand?

 

"...Meanwhile, Bundit Thongdee, president of Thai Film Directors Association, said under the law, Universal Pictures does not have to acquire the rights if the names are changed in the film. 

“The studio will only have to acquire rights and permission if it wants to use their real names in the film,” he said. Bundit added that the studio did not have to comply with any Thai regulations if it shoots the film outside the Kingdom..." 

 

Er... so if they use nicknames, as virtually every Thai person does, all is good?

 

My only concern in this is that I would like to see the kids get something. And, I somehow doubt that the kids would get much if the government awarded film rights; better let outsiders talk to the families directly and avoid 'sticky fingers'.

 

 

 

Agree with above comment. If the Thais manage it, the kids and their families may get precious little. We all know things work in Thailand. They will be given a token small sum and told to be happy with their in-Thailand fame. 

 

Let Farang properly manage this one and MUCH more money will end up with the families. 

Heaven help us if the Thai junta produce, direct or in any way shape this film. It will be filled with nonsense, superstition, exaggeration, hyper-nationalism (even though the key players in the story were not all officially Thai!) and other things that I am not allowed to say.

 

And the idea that the Thai junta are trying to 'look after and protect' the Tham Luang boys is just laughable. We see the way those kids are being dragged through the circus of media appearances and shopping mall appearances (having to crawl through mock caves and the like) - just unbelievable. But hey! The Thais will lap it up and love it all. 

 

One thing is for sure: the junta will milk this for all it's worth.

 

I am guessing filming is already under way somewhere similar to Tham Luang, probably simply in a studio with computerized backdrops.

No reason to get permission or pay money to the junta.

Would be nice if the boys and the main players benefited a little but then this is business.

2 hours ago, webfact said:

THE GOVERNMENT has not granted intellectual rights of the rescue of the Mu Pa (Wild Boar) football team and their coach to any filmmakers

thailand and intellectual rights....; they care only when they can benefit themselves

So they'll shoot it in a studio and outside Thailand, no need to feed usurpers. Solved.

Sri Lanka here we come.

9 minutes ago, Odysseus123 said:

Sri Lanka here we come.

A reference to "Bridge on the River Kwai" which I believe was shot there? Well done.

1 hour ago, Eligius said:

Heaven help us if the Thai junta produce, direct or in any way shape this film.

...and let's hope we won't see in the closing credits: Music by General Waste.

1 hour ago, Eligius said:

Heaven help us if the Thai junta produce, direct or in any way shape this film. It will be filled with nonsense, superstition, exaggeration, hyper-nationalism (even though the key players in the story were not all officially Thai!) and other things that I am not allowed to say.

 

And the idea that the Thai junta are trying to 'look after and protect' the Tham Luang boys is just laughable. We see the way those kids are being dragged through the circus of media appearances and shopping mall appearances (having to crawl through mock caves and the like) - just unbelievable. But hey! The Thais will lap it up and love it all. 

 

One thing is for sure: the junta will milk this for all it's worth.

 

Certainly will be rubbish if the Junta has anything to do with a film based on this rescue.  For a 2 hour film, the first and last 30 minutes will be taken up with Buddhist Monks chanting, there will be 55 minutes of how the PM organsied and directed the rescue ,  three minutes on how  he handpicked the Thai rescue teams and personally instructed them on cave rescue, 1 minutes showing the International rescue persons, 30 seconds on how the PM personally advised Elon Musk why is capsule wouldn't work, 20 seconds on how the PM bestowed Thai citizenship on some of the boys and finally only 10 seconds for the ex Naval Seal who lost his live trying to help those boys.

 

Now where is the popcorn in those special buckets with "I Love Prayut" on the side ?

19 minutes ago, Emster23 said:

A reference to "Bridge on the River Kwai" which I believe was shot there? Well done.

Indeed-t'was the bridge..

 

A poster-I believe it was 'Darcula'-came up with a movie poster titled 'THIRTEEN' It was one of the funniest things that I have seen on TVF.

 

I hope that he is still about so that he can re-post it here.

Why a movie if there is nothing to see.

They probably did not sell the rights because they don’t have them.

I dont like the name Junta in this case. ""Bunglers" seems nicer. Bunch of Dads Army codgers who rightly imo took control from an Elected Thief who cleverly bought the Vote. Be nicer if they just handed Thailand back to Honda /Toyota to run for us. Or even a good Mom n Pop Shop. folks who live in the real Thailand.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

dads Ar

I often wonder why when Teachers say Follow Me these Days a  loud Expletive is heard.!!

 

A movie of How Prayuth saved the kids single handedly while foreigners watched, could be a good comedy.

6 minutes ago, Oziex1 said:

 

A movie of How Prayuth saved the kids single handedly while foreigners watched, could be a good comedy.

Funnily enough, while there will be masses of Thai nationalism (that goes without saying), I think  Prayut will use this film to show how internationally minded he and his 'government' are - how they co-operate with the international community and are held in high regard by that community. I think he will emphasis the notion of 'all the world loves Thailand' and Thailand loves the world. One giant love-fest - headed up and sagely smiled down upon by someone I will not mention ... 

 

It will all be pap and lies, of course. But what do  we expect from such a man and such a junta? This film venture is all part of the junta's re-packaging of itself as 'internationalist' and 'respectable' and wholly legitimate.

 

Hand me the sick bucket!

6 minutes ago, Eligius said:

Funnily enough, while there will be masses of Thai nationalism (that goes without saying), I think  Prayut will use this film to show how internationally minded he and his 'government' are - how they co-operate with the international community and are held in high regard by that community. I think he will emphasis the notion of 'all the world loves Thailand' and Thailand loves the world. One giant love-fest - headed up and sagely smiled down upon by someone I will not mention ... 

 

It will all be pap and lies, of course. But what do  we expect from such a man and such a junta? This film venture is all part of the junta's re-packaging of itself as 'internationalist' and 'respectable' and wholly legitimate.

 

Hand me the sick bucket!

 

Yeah, there was some propaganda on the Thai Airways flight I was on the other day, referring to the cave rescue.

 

Thailand and the world as one or something like that.

https://darknessbelow.co.uk/breaking-news-british-cave-divers-also-rescued-four-trapped-thai-rescuers-in-tham-luang-cave/

So funny they think they own the film rights to an event that happened in Thailand.  Clueless.

2 hours ago, Emster23 said:

A reference to "Bridge on the River Kwai" which I believe was shot there? Well done.

 

A lot of it was shot in Malaysia

6 hours ago, webfact said:

Earlier, Deadline news media reported that Hollywood’s Universal Pictures had sealed a deal with Australian cave divers Dr Richard Harris and Craig Challen as well as coach Ekkaphol Chantawong and the Wild Boar football team.

 

I don't know about sealing a deal, when the Thai authorities are still saying intellectual property issues haven't even been addressed, let alone agreed upon.

But there's even more intrigue than Universal clashing with Thai officialdom. I understand, from Matt Downey, an outdoor pursuits acquaintance and writer of the caving conspiracy book that I recommended last month, that a much more attractive movie project than a straightforward reenactment of the Wild Boars disappearance is being looked at by an even more legendary studio. Let's face it, you can't beat a good old conspiracy . . . Water Cave sounds good don't you think?

So, watch this space, as they say.

The Frog Whisperer being a excellent singer and song writer can maybe write and if we're lucky perform the music in the movie.

Make the movie in Costa Rica. Looks like Thailand. Has many caves. Then fly a bunch of Thais from Los Angeles to be character actors and extras. 

Thailand won't see a cent. A lot less costly for Universal Studios too.

The cave rescue was a bigger propaganda coup than the junta could have ever dreamed of, this story, not particularly interesting to many people including many Thais, will never be allowed go away. Perhaps the production team who made Fifty Shades of Grey, itself one of the most boring, deluded and un-sexy movies ever released, could call the cave drama [which I wouldn't dream of going to see] Fifty Shades of Exploitation and Corruption.

33 minutes ago, Jeremy50 said:

The cave rescue was a bigger propaganda coup than the junta could have ever dreamed of, this story, not particularly interesting to many people including many Thais, will never be allowed go away. Perhaps the production team who made Fifty Shades of Grey, itself one of the most boring, deluded and un-sexy movies ever released, could call the cave drama [which I wouldn't dream of going to see] Fifty Shades of Exploitation and Corruption.

Not yet lunchtime and this gets my post of the day . . . a classic of saying much with little.

5 hours ago, Emster23 said:

A reference to "Bridge on the River Kwai" which I believe was shot there? Well done.

I once had the chance to visit both locations, the one where they shot the movie in Sri Lanka is a much nicer landscape than the the location of the original. Chances are, we will see chandeliers in the cave and everywhere illuminated displays hung up by the authorities warning of flooding during the monsoon season.

 I wonder if the movie will show a sequence about how the british crew rescued 4 Thai Navy Seals after they became trapped during their mission... 

https://darknessbelow.co.uk/breaking-news-british-cave-divers-also-rescued-four-trapped-thai-rescuers-in-tham-luang-cave/

9 hours ago, ukrules said:

It's cute that they think they own the rights to a story told by someone who did something (the rescue) just because it happened in Thailand.

 

They don't.

Yes, and Hollywood and others know that.  The junta should have packaged the story to sell in providing film crews and tax breaks and other incentives.  They probably handled as masterfully as they did Khaosan Road, street food sellers, bike lanes and other triumphs.  It would have been easier to market if made soon after the rescue.  Sure Malaysia made a much better deal.  They have caves too. 

5 hours ago, Esso49 said:

Certainly will be rubbish if the Junta has anything to do with a film based on this rescue.  For a 2 hour film, the first and last 30 minutes will be taken up with Buddhist Monks chanting, there will be 55 minutes of how the PM organsied and directed the rescue ,  three minutes on how  he handpicked the Thai rescue teams and personally instructed them on cave rescue, 1 minutes showing the International rescue persons, 30 seconds on how the PM personally advised Elon Musk why is capsule wouldn't work, 20 seconds on how the PM bestowed Thai citizenship on some of the boys and finally only 10 seconds for the ex Naval Seal who lost his live trying to help those boys.

 

Now where is the popcorn in those special buckets with "I Love Prayut" on the side ?

Didn't know whether to click like or laugh, decided on the laugh--a spot on analysis of the whole thing as well as being funny and clever.