Among the handful of new titles arriving on Netflix on July 1 is James Cameron’s “Titanic,” an addition that is rubbing some people the wrong way given last week’s tragedy aboard the OceanGate Titan submersible. Five members traveling inside the Titan were killed when the submersible imploded while en route to visit the wreckage of the Titanic in the Atlantic Ocean.
Some users on social media have criticized Netflix for bringing Cameron’s “Titanic” to the streaming platform so soon after the submersible tragedy. As one user wrote, “Netflix is overstepping the boundaries of decency on this timing.” Many people are accusing the streamer of attempting to capitalize on the Titan deaths by adding “Titanic” to its library.
“People died in a tragic accident at the Titanic site and now to capitalize on the moment to garner viewers is beyond distasteful,” another Twitter user wrote.
While the timing of “Titanic” streaming on July 1 might be bad optics, it’s unlikely Netflix is trying to capitalize on tragedy. Sources familiar with the arrangement say the timing of “Titanic’s” arrival on Netflix is a coincidence as the streamer’s licensing deals are ironed out long in advance. The Titan members’ deaths were announced on June 22. If “Titanic” is arriving to Netflix on July 1, then Netflix ironed out the licensing deal more than few months prior to that date (in other words, long before the Titan submersible went missing).
OceanGate’s Titan submersible was designed to take five people to a depth of 4,000 meters to visit the wreckage of the Titanic. The trip cost around $250,000 per person and could take up to 10 hours. The members who died in submersible tragedy included British businessman Hamish Harding; British Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman; former French Navy diver Paul-Henry Nargeolet; and OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush.
As a long-time member of the diving community who has made several of his own trips to the wreckage of the Titanic, James Cameron appeared in several television interviews after the Titan deaths were announced.
“People in the community were very concerned about this sub,” Cameron told ABC News. “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 it needed to be certified.”
Cameron 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. For us, it’s 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.”
“Titanic” will only be available in Netflix’s U.S. and Canada markets starting July 1.
