The 1997 movie Titanic, directed by James Cameron, is returning to Netflix on July 1, 2023. The movie, which tells a love story set on the RMS Titanic, has gained renewed interest because of the recent news of a lost tourist submersible, the Titan, that was taking customers to see the Titanic wreckage.
The Titan submersible went missing on June 18, 2023, less than two hours into its planned trip to the wreck, and was later found to have imploded, killing all five people on board. The five people on board were Paul-Henri Nargeolet, a 77-year-old submersible dive pilot and friend of Cameron; Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman, businessmen from Pakistan; and Stockton Rush and Peter Hsing, co-founders of OceanGate, the company that operated the lost sub.
A formal inquiry into the cause of the implosion has not yet been launched because maritime agencies are still busy searching the area where the vessel was destroyed, and it is not clear who will have the authority to lead the investigation.
Cameron, who has made 33 dives himself to the wreck, having made not only the Oscar-winning movie but also the documentary Ghosts of the Abyss, spoke out about the tragedy in an interview with ABC News.
He added: “I’m struck by the similarity of the Titanic disaster itself, where the captain was repeatedly warned about ice ahead of his ship and yet he steamed at full speed into an ice field on a moonless night, and many people died as a result. And for a very similar tragedy where warnings went unheeded to take place at the same exact site — with all the diving that’s going on all around the world — I think it’s just astonishing. It’s really quite surreal.”
He also called the death of Nargeolet “impossible for me to process”. Nargeolet was a veteran of more than 30 dives to the Titanic and had worked with Cameron on several projects.
OceanGate also released a statement on Twitter, saying: “We are deeply saddened by this tragic event and our thoughts are with the families of those who lost their lives. They were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure.”
The Titanic disaster occurred on its maiden voyage in 1912, sinking after hitting an iceberg. Cameron’s film about the tragedy, starring Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, won 11 Oscars and made over $2 billion at the global box office.
Relevant articles:
– ‘Titanic’ Returning to Netflix Next Week, PopCulture.com, June 24, 2023
– Investigation into how the Titanic-bound submersible imploded begins, Boston.com, June 24, 2023
– Titanic-bound OceanGate submersible implosion investigation launched by US and Canada authorities, Boston Herald, June 24, 2023
– US and Canada start the process of determining how the Titanic-bound submersible imploded, ABC News, June 24, 2023