The Lost Bus

"Inspired by a true story of survival."

2025 2h 10m EN

👍

7.0

SOLID

★7.0TMDB · 846

DramaThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A determined father risks everything to rescue a dedicated teacher and her students from a raging wildfire.

“Inspired by a true story of survival.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Matthew McConaughey
Kevin McKay
America Ferrera
Mary Ludwig
Yul Vazquez
Chief Martinez
Ashlie Atkinson
Ruby Bishop
Kimberli Flores
Linda
Levi McConaughey
Shaun
Kay McConaughey
Sherry
John Messina
John Messina

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Paul Greengrass
Writers: Brad Ingelsby, Paul Greengrass
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Mid-budget at $90M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released last year.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CAST

Did you know

229+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Paul Greengrass, shot by Pål Ulvik Rokseth. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by James Newton Howard. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Editor William Goldenberg shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera and Yul Vazquez carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Inspired by a true story of survival.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Paul Greengrass directs. Pål Ulvik Rokseth behind the camera. James Newton Howard scores. William Goldenberg cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Mid-budget at $90M — the now-extinct middle tier of Hollywood.
2Released last year.
3229+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
4Directed by Paul Greengrass, shot by Pål Ulvik Rokseth. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by James Newton Howard. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor William Goldenberg shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera and Yul Vazquez carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Inspired by a true story of survival.".
9IMDB entry: tt21103218 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 11 themes, including "california", "based on novel or book", "based on true story", "struggle for survival".

The technical file

Cinematography: Pål Ulvik Rokseth
Original score: James Newton Howard
Editing: William Goldenberg
Production design: David Crank
Costume design: Mark Bridges
VFX supervisor: Charlie Noble
Sound: Oliver Tarney
Stunt coordinator: Jake Dashnaw
Runtime: 130 min · 2h 10m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $90,000,000
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Lost Bus (2025)

Also by

Paul Greengrass

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-10-15
★ 6/10
Ok, so there’s no volcano, but otherwise this is a pretty straightforward hybrid of “Dante’s Peak” (1997) and “Speed” (1994) only here it is Matthew McConaughey who’s driving the bus. Of course, we have the usual dysfunctional family background for the recently divorced and struggling “Kevin” as he tries to reconcile with his disinterested son “Shaun” (his own real life son Levi) who has come to stay with him and his wheelchair-bound mother (his own real life mother Kay). He has been doing his school run when he espies plumes of smoke coming from the hillside above their town, a town where wind gusts of sixty miles per hour are common and where it hasn’t rained for months - so the vast expanse of forest is a tinderbox. Next thing, one of the high-altitude power lines has become disconnected and it’s sparks have started a conflagration that has soon taken hold, causing chaos and leaving a group of children stranded in their school in the path of the flames. With nobody else available, “Kevin” quite reluctantly volunteers to drive to collect them. By now, he’s guessed the dangers they are all in, and so isn’t best impressed when he meets their rather fastidious teacher “Mary” (America Ferrera) but those reservations - like just about everything else - melt away as the fires closes in around them and their journey becomes a matter of life and death. McConaughey does fine here, but the real problem is the complete lack of jeopardy throughout. Despite some crack(l)ing visual effects accompanied by some really quite effective audio, there simply isn’t any way this film is going to end with lots of sprogs being charbroiled inside a big yellow bus! Once that is settled, the rest of this is quite well paced but really nothing special. It’s based on true events and at times it does showcase some of the freneticism that ensued as the authorities fought valiantly to arrest a series of fires that were making mincemeat of all of their ground defences and grounding their air ones, too. It also spotlights the worst in human nature as looters and opportunists take advantage of the breakdown of law and order. If anything, this film does remind us of just how little mankind can be when nature gets fed up with us, and also of however devastating the damage, how readily it can rejuvenate - but that hasn’t really got much to do with the quality of the actors nor of the meekly written dialogue. It’s a compelling watch, but I suspect once will do.

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