Netflix announces deal for film about Thailand's cave boys

FILE - In this Sept. 6, 2018. file photo, members of the Wild Boars, the soccer team that was rescued from a flooded cave, give thanks in front of Thailand King Maha Vajiralongkorn's image during an event titled "United as One" in Bangkok, Thailand. The U.S. streaming video giant Netflix has officially announced Tuesday, April 30, 2019, it will join with the production company for the movie Crazy Rich Asians to make a film about last July's dramatic rescue of 12 village boys who were trapped with their soccer coach in a flooded cave in northern Thailand for more than two weeks. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 6, 2018, file photo, members of the Wild Boars, the soccer team that was rescued from a flooded cave, attend a public discussion in Bangkok, Thailand. The U.S. streaming video giant Netflix has officially announced Tuesday, April 30, 2019, it will join with the production company for the movie Crazy Rich Asians to make a film about last July's dramatic rescue of 12 village boys who were trapped with their soccer coach in a flooded cave in northern Thailand for more than two weeks. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe, File)

Netflix has announced it will join with the production company for the movie Crazy Rich Asians to make a film about last July's dramatic rescue of 12 village boys in northern Thailand who were trapped with their soccer coach in a flooded cave for more than two weeks.

Netflix and SK Global Entertainment said Tuesday in Bangkok they have acquired the rights to the story from 13 Thumluang Co. Ltd,, a company that Thailand's government helped establish to represent the interests of the boys and their coach.

Thailand's Culture Ministry in March first unveiled the deal, announced as a miniseries. Deputy government spokesman Weerachon Sukoondhapatipakat was quoted then as saying that the families of the cave survivors would each be paid 3 million baht ($94,000).