While there’s always an air of cynicism around harrowing real-life events turning into brilliant Hollywood movies, especially when the danger of slipping into cloying sentimentality is very real, Ron Howard’s film thirteen lives has won widespread acclaim from critics and audiences alike.

At the time of this writing, the Academy Award-winning filmmaker’s account of the rescue mission being mounted to save a young Thai soccer team and their coach from being permanently trapped in an underwater cavern system that it floods has a Certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score of 88 percent. with the user rating even higher at an impressive 94.

While the story arguably would have been better played on the big screen, it’s shaping up to be another home run for Prime Video, after the platform stepped in to secure official distribution rights to what could yet become a potential competitor to the original. awards season in the months to come. to come.

According to FlixPatrol, Thirteen Lives has taken over the number one spot in 16 countries, to comfortably sit as the streaming service’s number one title globally. That’s no surprise, when Howard’s name still has a lot of cache, the events themselves were under intense media scrutiny in 2008, and the ensemble cast features such household names as Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell and Joel Edgerton.

Howard has often tended to be inconsistent behind the camera, but he’s back shooting flat out for what seems like the first time in a while, and he couldn’t have picked a more exciting project to get back into shape with. .