James Cameron denies "offensive" rumor he's working on a Titanic sub movie

James Cameron filming Titanic
(Image credit: Paramount/20th Century Studios)

Titanic director James Cameron has spoken out on rumors that he'll be directing a project about the OceanGate submersible disaster. 

Earlier in July, British tabloid The Sun published a story with the headline "DIVE DEEP Titanic director James Cameron in talks with major streaming network to create drama series on doomed Titan sub". 

"I don't respond to offensive rumors in the media usually, but I need to now," Cameron wrote on Twitter. "I’m NOT in talks about an OceanGate film, nor will I ever be."

Back in June, news broke that a submersible carrying five passengers had gone missing on its way to visit the Titanic wreck, which lies thousands of feet below the surface of the sea. The sub, named Titan, was operated by the company OceanGate. A mammoth rescue mission was launched, but it was ultimately discovered that, tragically, the sub had imploded just under two hours into its trip. 

The sub was carrying OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, businessman Shahzada Dawood and his son Suleman Dawood, businessman Hamish Harding, and Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet – all five were killed in the implosion. 

In the aftermath, Cameron undertook several interviews to discuss the disaster: the director is an accomplished deep sea diver who has visited the Titanic wreck 33 times and has dived to Challenger Deep – that's the deepest known point of the sea bed – alone in a sub that he helped design and build (becoming the first ever person to make the trip solo). 

Currently, Cameron is working on the Avatar sequels. Avatar 3 was recently delayed to 2025, while Avatar 4 is slated for 2026, and Avatar 5 for 2028. 

While you wait, see our guide to all the upcoming major movie release dates for everything the year has in store. 

Molly Edwards
Senior Entertainment Writer

I'm a Senior Entertainment Writer here at 12DOVE, covering all things film and TV for the site's Total Film and SFX sections. I previously worked on the Disney magazines team at Immediate Media, and also wrote on the CBeebies, MEGA!, and Star Wars Galaxy titles after graduating with a BA in English. 

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