The prompt action follows the high demand from Hollywood production companies who want to make a movie about the marathon cave rescue operation of the Mu Pa (Wild Boars) Academy football club and its coach who were trapped in flooded Tham Luang cave in Chiang Rai.

“Five international film production companies have proposed to the Commerce and Foreign ministries that they make a movie and a documentary about the rescue operation,” Vira said at Government House.

Chaired by Wissanu Krua-gnam, the National Film Broad agreed to set up a special film board committee to oversee the filming. The committee will include officials from the Culture, Commerce and Tourism and Sport ministries.

“The committees will be concerned about the accuracy of the story, the rights of the [team], the rescuers and other related agencies, as well as the image of Thailand. They will also be concerned about the impact of film production to the film locations,” Vira said.

“We are pleased to support both Thai and international film productions to make a movie and documentary on “Mu Pa” if they follow Thai laws,” Vira said.

The ministry did not reveal the name of the recent production companies that expressed interest. However, two American producers have been scouting Tham Laung for their potential movie – before the last five members of the team were rescued on July 10.

Michael Scott, managing partner of Pure Flix films and co-producer Adam Smith have been conducting preliminary interviews around the cave site.

The Discovery Channel produced an hour-long documentary, titled “Operation Thai Rescue”, that will be aired in Thailand on July 23 at 8.55pm.

A similar project – “The 33” directed by Patricia Riggen – told the story of the 2010 mining disaster in Chile that trapped 33 miners for two months. Although it had a cast of Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin and Juliette Binoche, the $26 million (Bt870 million) budget film made only $24.9 million at the box office worldwide.

Shifting away from Colombia, where Narcos spent three seasons, “Narcos: Mexico” will explore the origins of the modern drug war by going back to its roots, beginning at a time when the Mexican trafficking world was a loose and disorganised confederation of independent growers and dealers.

Witness the rise of the Guadalajara Cartel in the 1980s as Felix Gallardo takes the helm, unifying traffickers in order to build an empire. When DEA agent Kiki Camarena moves his wife and young son from California to Guadalajara to take on a new post, he quickly learns that his assignment will be more challenging than he ever could have imagined. As Camarena garners intelligence on Gallardo and becomes more entangled in his mission, a tragic chain of events unfold, affecting the drug trade and the war against it for years to come.

Michael Pena will play Kiki Camarena, a family man and an undercover DEA agent who garners valuable intel through a series of informants around Gallardo and his newly minted Guadalajara cartel, but quickly finds himself in way over his head as he realises he had completely underestimated the sophistication of Gallardo’s system.

Diego Luna will play Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo (“Felix”), the leader of the Guadalajara cartel, the biggest narco in the history of Mexico and the founder of the modern Mexican drug trade. Quiet but bold, inscrutable but sharp-minded, to all appearances he is a benevolent leader, loyal to his friends, associates, and employees…but his ambition comes before all else.

Additional casting for the series includes Aaron Staton (“Mad Men”) as Butch Sears and Alejandro Edda (“Fear the Walking Dead”) as Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman.

“Narcos: Mexico” will premiere globally on Netflix later this year.

The eight-episode third season begins production in Kansas City on July 16, with co-hosts Antoni Porowski (Food & Wine), Bobby Berk (Interior Design), Karamo Brown (Culture), Jonathan Van Ness (Grooming) and Tan France (Fashion). It will stream in 2019.

The “make-better” series recently received four Emmy Award nominations for its inaugural return season with recognition in the Structured Reality Program, Casting, Picture Editing and Cinematography categories.

It’s been 15 years since “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” revolutionized reality television. The series turned to Netflix in 2018 going global and introducing audiences around the world to a modern aesthetic, diverse perspectives and a brand new Fab Five. Netflix’s new Fab Five are forging relationships with men and women from a wide array of backgrounds and beliefs often contrary to their own, touching on everything from self-love and faith, to immigration and how to make the perfect homemade poke bowls and more.

The animated fantasy comedy, whose voice cast includes Adam Sandler and Selena Gomez, follows Count Dracula and his family as they get away from their hotel for their own vacation.

It swatted away last week’s number one, “Ant-Man and the Wasp,” in at second with takings of $28.8 million over the three-day weekend, according to industry tracker Exhibitor Relations.

The 20th release in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe sees ex-con Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) languishing under house arrest in San Francisco after being caught, as his shrinkable superhero alter-ego, fighting some of the other Avengers in “Captain America: Civil War” (2016).

Struggling to balance home life and Ant-Man duties, he’s confronted by old flame Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), alias the Wasp, with an urgent new mission.

Third place went to Universal’s new release “Skyscraper,” with earnings of $25.5 million.

Packed with action, it sees Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson star as an ex-FBI agent who has to rescue his family from the newly built tallest skyscraper in the world, after terrorists set it ablaze.

In at fourth was “Incredibles 2,” dropping one place with takings of $16.2 million. After earning $28.4 million last week, it pushed past Pixar stablemate “Finding Dory” (2016) as the top-grossing animated film of all time.

Ranking fifth was Universal’s “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” taking $15.5 million.

The movie, which has raked in more than $1 billion globally, sees Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard struggle to contain dinosaurs rescued from a tropical Pacific island and sheltered temporarily at a California mansion.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

“The First Purge” ($9.1 million)

“Sorry To Bother You” ($4.3 million)

“Sicario: Day of the Soldado” ($3.9 million)

“Uncle Drew” ($3.2 million)

“Ocean’s 8” ($2.9 million)

“Mission: Impossible – Fallout” is the sixth in the action spy series and stars Cruise as agent Ethan Hunt along with Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Henry Cavill and Alec Baldwin.

The film, directed by Christopher McQuarrie, follows Hunt and his team as they race against time to recover stolen plutonium after a mission goes wrong.

Cruise, 56, known for performing many of his own stunts, jumped from the cargo door of a plane at 7,500 metres (25,000 feet) for one scene and broke an ankle trying to jump between two buildings during filming in London.

All three episodes will be available at the same time to more than 125 million Netflix members in 190 countries, including India.

“Ghoul”, produced in partnership with Phantom Films, Ivanhoe and Blumhouse, stars Radhika Apte and Manav Kaul and marks Netflix’s first venture into the horror genre in India.

“‘Ghoul’ is a thrilling horror series, both frightening and insightful. Its high production value, a chilling performance from Radhika Apte, and quality writing are sure to scare Indian and global audiences alike,” says Simran Sethi, director of International Originals.

“It has been a great experience working closely with Netflix and our partners at Phantom and Ivanhoe to produce “Ghoul”. This is Blumhouse’s first foray into the horror genre in India and we’re excited to share this project with horror enthusiasts around the world,” says Jason Blum from Blumhouse,

Vikramaditya Motwane, Phantom Films, adds that ““Ghoul” is a first in class, edge-of-your-seat horror series and we are incredibly proud of it. This is our second collaboration with Netflix (after ‘Sacred Games’) and yet another strong example of commitment towards high quality content. We are extremely proud of ‘Ghoul’ and cannot wait for audiences around the world to experience an elevated horror narrative from India.”

Kilian Kerwin, Ivanhoe Pictures, adds: “‘Ghoul’ is a collaborative effort to tell a story that is rooted in India, in a manner that will appeal to audiences around the world. Our goal is to create incredible entertainment that speaks to audiences from diverse cultures, and we’re very proud of this series, which is sure to be a must-watch in the horror genre globally.”

From the makers of “Insidious”, “Get Out” and “Udta Punjab” – “Ghoul” is a chilling series about a prisoner who arrives at a remote military interrogation centre and turns the tables on his interrogators, exposing their most shameful secrets.

Based on Arabic folklore, “Ghoul” is set at a covert detention centre at which military officials question and often torture suspected terrorists. Nida (Rathika Apte), a newly minted interrogator who turned in her own father as an anti-government activist, arrives at the centre to discover that some of these terrorists are not of this world, and she must fight for not just the truth behind the military’s hyper-nationalist goals, but for her survival in the face of demons, both human and not.

With homegrown animation “9 Satra” picking up more than Bt100 million in box office takings earlier this year, hopes are high that “Krut Mahayut Himmaphan” (“Krut: The Himmaphan Warriors”) an epic war story about fantasy creatures in the Himmaphan forest, will do even better.

The animation starts with a battle between the monster Raksod and the kingdom of Krut, which is all but decimated in the war. The nine remaining garuda warriors led by Watchara Krut fly across the vast Natee Sidantara Ocean seeking help from Himmaphan Warriors, among them Kochasee (a half-elephant half-lion creature), Norasingha (a half-lion half-human creature) and Kinnaree (a half-bird half-human creature). They agree and the Himmaphan alliance joins forces to fight against the brutal annihilation by coldhearted creatures who want to conquer the world.

“Krut” is different from other commercial productions in that it comes not from a studio but Rangsit University’s digital art faculty though it has still been made by a group of professional animators led by Chaiporn Panichrutiwong, who is also a lecturer at the faculty.

The project was born when the university’s president and founder Dr Arthit Ourairat asked Chaiporn to come up with an animation centred on the Ayutthaya Kingdom. Chaiporn agreed and with an Bt80-million budget in hand, convinced the founder of Rangsit University to make it as a feature film.

Chaiporn then took the idea to acclaimed director Wisit Sasanatieng asking him to write the script. Wisit agreed in turn but also came up with another idea – adding the Himmaphan forest to the story.

Each character, says the director, is based on historical fact. Watchara Krut is inspired by Phraya Vachiraprakarn – the courageous solider who helped liberate Ayutthaya from Burmese occupation in 1767. He went on to establish the city of Thonburi as the new capital, as Ayutthaya had been almost completely destroyed by the invaders.

“Creating human characters in 3D doesn’t impart a sense of flesh and blood, at least not to me. It’s stiff, the eyes of the characters are lifeless and they have no spirit. So presenting the story in the fantasy Himmaphan world is a better option and it also allows room to add more ideas into the story as well as character details,” says the director.

For Chaiporn, the Krut or garuda character is perfect as the hero, its smart character and winged appearance making it more like a soldier than other Himmaphan characters like the Naga or snake.

The other characters like Kochasee, Norasingha and Kinnaree represent cities on Thailand’s east coasts – Rayong, Chantaburi and Trat – where King Taksin sought allies before returning to fight the Burmese troops and finally proclaim sovereignty from Burma. Another character, Phichai Krut, is reminiscent of King Taksin’s warrior Phraya Phichai, while the city of Krut is the Ayutthya Kingdom.

“Taking this approach made us really enjoy the creative process and allowed more imagination to flow into the story. Many scenes in the animation will probably remind audiences of Siam’s history when we lost Ayutthaya for the second time, but they can also enjoy the movie without thinking about the historical background,” says Chaiporn.

The director of 2002’s “Pang Pon the Animation” – Thailand’s first 3D animation – Chaiporn is co-directing the film with Prapas Chonsaranon, who helped write the script for Workpoint Entertainment’s “Yak: The Giant King”.

The most difficult part in this project, he adds, is directing the movements of the main character Krut. “I don’t want the character moving swiftly like animation characters usually do. For “Krut”, less is more and it makes the character appear more powerful. Sometimes he just stands still and we just add a small amount of motion – like moving his eyes or his shoulder,” he says.

Chaiporn says he was inspired by the face of the actor Nadech Kugimiya, a former student at the RSU’s faculty of communication arts, in designing Watchara Krut.

“His face has elements that fit the garuda’s character particularly his thick eyebrows,” he explains.

Four years ago, the first movie poster he presented to Dr Arthit named Nadech as the star and Chaiporn was hoping he would voice the part.

That idea faded while he was working on the animation and realised it wouldn’t be easy to convince a superstar like Nadech, alumnus or not, to work on the project.

And so Chaiporn decided to use professional dubbing actors led by Rong Kaomoonkadee and Montree Jenaksorn, both of whom have won critical acclaim for their work.

Then came a surprise – Nadech asked Chaiporn if he could do the voiceover. The director was quick to agree and has been delighted with the result.

“It wasn’t easy for him as this was the first time he’s done a voiceover. He spent three to four hours a day working on it and he’s done a great job, so much so that many people even don’t recognise his voice. And of course having Nadech on the credits benefits the marketing strategy as well.”

There is, of course, nothing new about using big stars to voice animations – Hollywood does it all the time to boost marketing. Chaiporn, though, says in general he prefers professional voice actors, “I worry that if we use big names, their dubbing won’t sit well with the characters, and that means they will be less convincing. Nadech is an exception because I created Watchara Krut based on him,” he says.

Growing up with Thai, Japanese and American animations, Chaiporn says that the spirit of Thainess shows through in his work. “It’s in the details like Hanuman’s eyebrows, a take on the traditional Thai painting style known as laay. In this film, laay is added into the Naga’s skin and its scales.

Chaiporn is also quick to stress that even though the film has been funded by an educational institute, it has been made by a professional team with experience in making animations. Some students were of course involved, but their contributions were limited to model making and drawing.

“This animation is uncompromising and not appropriate for young children as some of the scenes are violent. I don’t want to make a lighthearted animation suitable for young children, I want to make an animation for adults to enjoy. With its war content, watching “Krut” is like watching a war epic like “Tamnan Somdej Phra Naresuan Maharaj” or “Suriyothai,” he adds.

And part of the budget has also been used to fund a new digital animation centre for the university.

“They are glad to become the first university to make an animation for wide audience. The new facility is great but the project has also created new human resources for the animation business,” he says.

The sixth Thailand International Film Destination Festival is back and from today until Sunday, cinephiles can enjoy movies featuring the Kingdom at Paragon Cineplex.

The festival, which aims to promote Thailand as the “World’s Best Film Location”, has as its theme “Colourful Thailand A True Sense of Thailand’s Film Destinations”, and focuses on the diversity of eight tourism clusters defined by the TAT, showcasing their beauty, traditions, and culture.

Last year, more than 810 foreign films, TV shows, music videos and documentaries were shot in Thailand, generating Bt3 billion. This was largely thanks to Thailand’s incentive measures, which attract filmmakers from around the world, and saw the filming of US movies “Changeland” and “Triple Threat”.

As ever, the festival includes a short film competition. “This year, the activity follows the government’s policy in promoting tourism in Thailand, focusing on the eight clusters and in line with the strategies for tourism and sufficiency economy concept. For this reason, we invited Thai and international students to illustrate the beauty of Thailand through their films,” Anan Wongbenjarat, director general of the Department of Tourism, explains.

The invitation drew applications from 277 teams in 39 countries and this number was eventually whittled down to 24, who headed off to the eight clusters to focus on presenting the Thai way of life, natural beauty, culture and local traditions of from their own perceptions. Eight prizes will be given out to the winning team of each cluster and a Grand Prize will be given to the winner.

On the Thai side, 36 teams signed up and 15 were selected to make a short film on the sufficiency economy. The judges include film directors such as Nonzee Nimibutr, Pratchaya Pinkaew, Soros Sukhum, and Sophon Sakdaphisit and they will be handing out one Grand Prize as well as awards to two runners up.

The results will be announced next Tuesday at a star-studded awards ceremony at KBank Pic-Ganesha, Siam Square One.

The highlight of the festival is “Thailand on Screen”, which this year brings seven films  three American (“Kick Boxer 1”, “Kick Boxer 2” and “All I See is You”) and films from Japan, Korea, Sweden and France that have generated a buzz among international viewers. They’re all being screened at the cineplex free of charge from today through Sunday.

Reservations can be made by calling (097) 045 8526 or be going along to the Paragon Cineplex ticket booth.

Find out more at http://www.ThailandFilmDestination.com

Television industry watchers are expecting past winners to relive old glories today as Hollywood’s awards season kicks into high gear with the announcement of the Emmy nominations.

The Television Academy’s 22,000-plus members were given two weeks last month to sift through a crowded field of several thousand entries for the small-screen equivalent of the Oscars.

Critics agree that it hasn’t been a vintage year for new TV, with very few shows breaking through. Still, perennial favourites have largely delivered and the medium continues to out-innovate cinema.

“As someone who has traditionally been more about movies than TV, the richness of the small screen landscape these days genuinely excites me,” says Hollywood entertainment journalist and producer Simon Thompson.

“It’s taking risks that Hollywood is still hesitant to take, and so far they are paying off.”

Pundits say that while perennial awards darlings like “Saturday Night Live” have been tapped to bag the most trophies come September, the race for the most nominations remains up in the air.

The Emmys recognise shows that were on in the 12 months to May 31, meaning several big-hitters are absent, from “Better Call Saul” to “House of Cards” and “Veep,” shows that have earned almost 100 nominations combined.

Netflix’s “House of Cards” has been keeping a low profile since its star, double Oscar winner Kevin Spacey, became embroiled in Hollywood’s sexual misconduct scandal, and returns next year minus its star.

HBO’s “Game of Thrones” made television history in 2016, becoming the most decorated fictional show since the awards began nearly seven decades ago, and returns after a year off.

That means the defending drama champion from 2016 will be pitted against last year’s winner, Hulu’s dystopian scifi series “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which is also the 2018 favourite.

Other nominations are likely to come from NBC’s family drama “This Is Us” and HBO’s dark sci-fi western “Westworld”, Netflix hits “Stranger Things” and “The Crown,” and FX Cold War spy show “The Americans”.

The most star-studded category, as ever, is best actor in a limited series or TV movie.

The contenders include Al Pacino (“Paterno”), Kyle MacLachlan (“Twin Peaks”), Benedict Cumberbatch (“Patrick Melrose”) and Michael B Jordan (“Fahrenheit 451”).

The early money for the win in September is on a much lesser-known face, Darren Criss (“The Assassination of Gianni Versace”).

“Versace” is one of the few serious contenders this year that can claim to be entirely new, although it is part of FX’s “American Crime Story” brand from the mind of Emmys mainstay Ryan Murphy.

The followup to the acclaimed “The People v OJ Simpson” (2016) is expected to dominate the acting races among the limited series and TV movies – with Penelope Cruz, Judith Light and Edgar Ramirez also hoping for nominations.

The absence of “Veep” is seen as breath of fresh air by many critics, since the HBO comedy and its star Julia LouisDreyfus, out much of 2017 and 2018 with breast cancer, bag Emmys year in, year out.

Its mantle will likely pass to “Atlanta”, the FX comedy created by and starring Donald Glover.

Returning after a two-decade hiatus, “Roseanne” was one of the few depictions of working-class life on US television in the last 12 months, and also of Trump supporters otherwise largely ignored by Hollywood.

But its 65-year-old star Roseanne Barr – a vocal Trump backer who has tweeted farright and conspiracy theorist views – was dropped by ABC last month after making a racist slur on Twitter.

“The fact that so many people in the show, on and off screen, will likely miss out on the acclaim they deserve because of Roseanne Barr’s action is a real shame,” Thompson says.

The New York Post’s Robert Rorke believes that one show that has gone somewhat under the radar, BBC America’s crime drama series “Killing Eve”, deserves to pick up the “dark horse” votes.

“Stars Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer deserve lead actress nominations for their refreshing, offbeat performances, especially given the usual suspects likely to be nominated,” he says.

Second round voting takes place in August while the ceremony itself will be beamed live from the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles on September 17 on CBS – hosted by “Saturday Night Live” duo Colin Jost and Michael Che.

The complaint, filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court in May, accused POW! Entertainment CEO Shane Duffy and co-founder Gill Champion of failing to disclose fully to Lee details of the firm’s 2017 sale to Camsing International.

The entertainment icon contended that they took advantage of him at a time when he was despondent over the death of his wife Joan and suffering from macular degeneration, a condition affecting the eyes.

“The whole thing has been confusing to everyone, including myself and the fans, but I am now happy to be surrounded by those who want the best for me,” Lee said in statement circulated among US media.

“I am thrilled to put the lawsuit behind me, get back to business with my friends and colleagues at POW! and launch the next wave of amazing characters and stories!”

The announcement comes amid a struggle over Lee’s fortune, estimated at more than $50 million, and concerns about his mental and physical health since Joan’s death last year.

The 95-year-old co-creator of many superhero characters, including Black Panther and Spider-Man, alleged that he was duped into signing a fraudulent agreement that gave POW! exclusive rights to his name, identity and likeness.

According to the lawsuit, Lee was unable to read the document due to his eye condition, and doesn’t remember anyone reading it to him, suggesting that his signature may have been forged, copied or induced.

“In addition, POW! took control of Lee’s personal social media accounts, including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, thereby impersonating Lee before a combined 15 million followers worldwide,” the complaint read.

There was no immediate response from POW! Entertainment to the termination and Lee’s representatives were not available, but Duffy said in a statement published by the London-based Guardian newspaper that he was “ecstatic” over the demise of the “ill-founded” suit.

“We recently got together with Stan to discuss our path forward and we and Camsing are pleased with his overwhelmingly enthusiastic reaction,” he added.

In mid-June a Los Angeles court issued a temporary restraining order against Keya Morgan, a man who had been taking care of Lee and has denied accusations of elder abuse.

The order has since been dismissed following confusion in court over who was supposed to be representing the comic book icon.

In April it emerged that Lee was being sued by massage therapist Maria Carballo for sexual assault and battery, which he has denied.