Movies Watch Colin Farrell and Viggo Mortensen brave a shocking cave rescue in Ron Howard's Thirteen Lives trailer The film is based on the true story of a junior football team and their coach who were trapped inside a collapsed and flooded cave for 18 days during the summer of 2018. By Justine Browning Justine Browning Justine Browning is a former editor at Entertainment Weekly. She left EW in 2023. EW's editorial guidelines Published on June 28, 2022 02:08PM EDT Ron Howard's knack for adapting true stories into films has been on full display in productions like Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man, and Rush. And now that he's tackled shocking tales of space exploration, genius mathematicians, sea disasters, and more, he's embarking on a new frontier: the unbelievable Tham Luang cave rescue mission that shook the world in 2018. Thirteen Lives centers on a junior football team and their coach trapped inside a collapsed and flooded cave for 18 days. The fate of the boys, ranging from 11 to 16 years old in age garnered international media coverage, with many glued to the harrowing mission. Colin Farrell, left, and Viggo Mortensen in 'Thirteen Lives'. Prime Video Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, and Joel Edgerton portray rescuers John Volanthen, Richard Stanton, and Richard Harris. "It looks easy, but when it's flooded, it's impossible," Farrell's Volanthen breathlessly tells his men in the heart-stopping trailer, which debuted Tuesday. We're then given a glimpse as to how they manage to pull off said impossible effort. Penned by William Nicholson, the screenwriter behind similarly themed films Unbroken and Everest, the thriller was initially slated to be released in April. However, following positive test screenings held by MGM, it was pushed to later in the year, signaling it may be an awards contender. The remarkable events were previously chronicled in the documentaries The Cave and The Rescue in 2018 and 2021. Thirteen Lives will be released in select cinemas July 29, before hitting Amazon Prime on Aug. 5. Watch the trailer above. Want more movie news? Sign up for Entertainment Weekly's free newsletter to get the latest trailers, celebrity interviews, film reviews, and more. Related content: Why Viggo Mortensen wanted to explore dementia in directorial debut Falling Viggo Mortensen to reunite with Green Book director in The Greatest Beer Run Ever Ron Howard defends Hillbilly Elegy against critics slamming 'political thematics'