Is James Cameron making a film about OceanGate tragedy? Rumors explored

James Cameron's Oscar-winning movie Titanic celebrated its 25-year anniversary with a re-release into the cinemas in 3D on February 10, 2023. Meanwhile, ever since the OceanGate disaster, the world of cinema has been buzzing with speculations regarding a possibility of a film adaptation of the tragedy.

In a recent tweet dated July 15, 2023, Cameron confirmed that he would not be making a film about the OceanGate tragedy now or in the future.

The Hollywood film director, who directed the 1997 movie, had accused the parent company of Titan of cutting corners which led the submersible to tragedy.

"didn't get certified because they knew they wouldn’t pass", he said referring to the company.

James Cameron criticized the use of carbon-fiber composite in the submersible saying that the material had 'no strength in external compression' to stand the high pressures in the deep sea, especially at a depth of 3,810m (12,500ft) in the icy cold waters.

Cameron, who is also a submersible designer, told ABC News that he had visited the Titanic wreckage a total of 33 times.

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James Cameron on the OceanGate disaster

James Cameron, renowned for his groundbreaking work in the film industry with blockbusters like the Avatar franchise, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and Rambo: First Blood Part II, has always expressed a keen interest in the ocean's mysteries.

From his iconic underwater adventures in The Abyss (1989) to his exploration of the ill-fated RMS Titanic in Titanic (1997), Cameron has been the go-to person in the industry for submerged storytelling.

The director was compelled to speak out about the rumours because they had gained enough traction despite there being no official confirmation of a film adaptation.

Following a report published by The Sun on July 13, 2023, Cameron found it necessary to take to Twitter on Saturday, July 15, 2023, to bust all talk. He tweeted,

"I don’t respond to offensive rumors in the media usually. But I need to now. I’m NOT in talks about an OceanGate film, nor will I ever be.”

The 68-year-old Canadian director has called the speculations to be not only baseless but 'offensive'. The catastrophic implosion of the vessel in June 2023 took five lives - OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, British businessman and explorer Hamish Harding, French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, and the British-Pakistani businessman and his son Shahzada Dawood, and Suleman Dawood.

The search parties concluded 'all exploration and commercial operations' on June 23, 2023, as they discovered a field of debris close to the Titanic wreck with no signs of survivors.

James Cameron, who has been vocal about his insights since the beginning of the harrowing incident, had earlier mentioned how he noticed similarities between the captains of Titanic and Titan.

"A number of the top players in the deep-submergence engineering community even wrote letters to the company saying that what they were doing was too experimental to carry passengers and that needed to be certified and so on", He told Good Morning America and ABC News.

For someone who had been enthusiastic about deep-sea exploration from a young age, Cameron along with a few other engineers had initially written to OceanGate stating their concerns with the vessel's safety.

"In the 21st Century, there shouldn't be any risks. We've managed to make it through 60 years, from 1960 until today, 63 years without a fatality... So, you know, one of the saddest aspects of this is how preventable it really was", James said in an interview with BBC News.

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With a cumulative production budget of a whopping $200 million, James Cameron's cinematic epic Titanic went on to win 11 Academy Awards in 1997 including awards in Best Picture and Best Director categories.

While Titanic garnered much love worldwide, Cameron has made it clear to not film Oceangate tragedy.