No, James Cameron Is Not Making A Movie About The Titan Disaster

On June 18, 2023, a tiny submersible called the Titan plunged under the waves of the Atlantic Ocean, taking its passengers down to view the wreckage of the RMS Titanic, the enormous ship (and potent symbol of humankind's hubris) that sank on its maiden voyage back in 1912. A small group of extremely wealthy people was on board OceanGate's Titan, including Stockton Rush, explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, Hamish Harding, Shahzada Dawood, and Dawood's son, Suleman. It has been widely reported that the Titan lost contact with the surface only 165 minutes after its first dive. It was later discovered that, in a mirror to the Titanic disaster, the Titan imploded after those 165 minutes, killing all its passengers. 111 years after it sunk, the Titanic is still claiming victims.  

Filmmaker James Cameron famously adapted the Titanic disaster into the 1997 film "Titanic" starring Leonard DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. It used state-of-the-art visual effects to tell a doomed love story set on board the doomed vessel, and remains, to this day, one of the most successful films of all time. Describing the film in further detail would be an exercise in redundancy. 

Cameron has long been an enthusiast of diving and deep-sea exploration and famously used miniature subs and other high-tech vehicles to observe and film the sunken hull of the Titanic himself. Cameron directed two documentary films — 2003's "Ghosts of the Abyss" and 2005's "Aliens of the Deep" — about the Titanic and to record other deep-sea adventures. Because of his familiarity with undersea vessels and the Titanic, rumors naturally began to arise that Cameron was working on a TV series based on the Titan disaster. 

Such rumors are immensely tasteless, and Cameron has confirmed several times over that he is 100% not interested in such a project.

Indeed, Cameron feels it's offensive to even consider that he should make a movie about OceanGate's Titan and the passengers on board. In a post on the filmmaker's Twitter account, he said very succinctly: 

"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."

This was in response to a story printed in The Sun claiming to have insider information on Cameron's upcoming projects. As reprinted in the Hollywood Reporter, the Sun claimed: 

"The Titan disaster is already being looked at as a major series for one of the world's biggest streamers — and James is the first choice for director. It is a subject close to his heart. He told the story of the Titanic so compassionately it feels like a natural step for him to take this on. Retracing the steps of those on board the Titan is a massive undertaking, but there would be a lot of time, money and resources dedicated to it." 

The language of the Sun piece is clearly speculative ("it feels like," "would be," etc.). Cameron was not quoted in the piece, nor was anyone from "one of the world's biggest streamers," whichever one it may be. This was merely conjecture about someone who had made undersea disaster movies before. Such rumors were also likely magnified by Cameron's appearance on many national news broadcasts to talk about the Titan. Because he had also designed submersibles and visited the Titanic, his professional input was requested. Cameron spoke openly about what happened with the Titan ... and how things went wrong.

On ABC News, Cameron said: 

"Many people in the [submersible] community were concerned about this sub and even wrote letters to the company saying that what they were doing was too experimental and what they were doing needed to be certified. [...] 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 died as a result. It's a very similar tragedy at the exact same site. It's astonishing and really quite surreal."

So, yes, Cameron himself noted the similarity between the hubris of the Titan disaster and the hubris of the Titanic disaster. He encouraged other amateur divers to make sure everything was 100% safe and tested before trekking down to see the wreckage of the Titanic. The Titanic wreckage, incidentally, is about 12,500 feet down. (For context, Mt. Fuji is 12,300 feet tall.)

The Titan tragedy swept the news cycle, and the fate of those on board wasn't revealed until several rescue operations had been executed. Everyone noted the dark poetry of the scenario, and some immediately — too soon, really — felt that the tragedy would be grist for a classic Hollywood melodrama. That may be true, and perhaps a drama might someday, in the distant future, be filmed. Cameron, however, will most certainly not be the filmmaker to do it. He is currently working on the next "Avatar" movie, which is now expected to arrive in theaters in December 2025.