Melanie Lynskey and Robyn Malcolm star in Pike River, the drama based on actual events following the 2010 Pike River Mine disaster in New Zealand that took the lives of nearly 30 men working underground.
The two women – one who lost her son, the other her husband, would make it their mission to bring a negligent corporation to account, no matter the odds stacked against them.
The cast also includes Lucy Lawless portraying unionist Helen Kelly and Tim Gordon as Pike family spokesperson Bernie Monk
Directed by Robert Sarkies (Scarfies, Out of the Blue), Pike River world premiered at the Sydney Film Festival, and opens in US theaters and on digital nationwide on January 30, 2026.
On November 19, 2010 the world watches in horror as an explosion traps 29 men inside the Pike River coal mine on New Zealand’s remote West Coast. Everyone hopes against hope the men are safe and they will return—but they are not safe, and they do not return.
Three-time Emmy nominee Melanie Lynskey (Yellow Jackets, The Last of Us) and acclaimed New Zealand actress Robyn Malcolm (Top of the Lake, After the Party) star as Anna Osborne and Sonya Rockhouse, two rock-solid, ordinary, extraordinary women whose lives are shattered, then unexpectedly rebuilt by a friendship neither sees coming.
Anna and Sonya don’t know each other when the mine explodes, killing Anna’s husband Milt and Sonya’s youngest son Ben. When the truth about the cause of the explosion is revealed, each is filled with outrage at the scale of betrayal, first by the mining company that knowingly sent their men each day into a ticking time bomb, then by the police, government and judicial system who fail to secure justice for the families left behind.
When they get to know each other in the aftermath, Anna and Sonya are each surprised to find in the other an ally to get them through the unendurable and who is willing to fight on when hope of justice begins to fade.
They have nothing left to lose but they have each other, empowering them together to stand up for their community, take on the legal system and stage a protest at the mine that captivates the country, propelling Anna and Sonya onto the national stage to call out those in power who failed their men. Their protest gathers momentum and forces change for the 29 families left behind.
In an interview director Robert Sarkies emphasized the importance of authenticity to the film saying, “One of the key things I wanted to do as a director was tell this story with the authenticity it clearly deserved. Our whole crew went above-and-beyond to get the details right. We had a huge amount of reference material from the families, from media and from the Royal Commission and took a lot of care to portray every aspect as accurately as we could.”
Watch the official trailer for Pike River above.
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