“Titanic”, a work of director James Cameron, will arrive on Netflix right after the Titan submersible tragedy.
On June 26th (local time), Variety reported that James Cameron’s “Titanic” (1997) is included in the list of works scheduled to arrive on Netflix on July 1st. Notably, this timing is just after the Titan submersible tragedy, where 5 people died on their trip to visit the wreckage of the Titanic under the sea.
As a result, many people express their anger, claiming that Netflix and director James Cameron are taking advantage of a devastating tragedy to make money and calling their move “distasteful”.
According to some, Netflix is basically profiting off dead bodies and capitalizing a horrific incident, at the same time adding to the pain of the bereaved families.
On the other hand, many predict that “Titanic” will undoubtedly top the viewing charts once it’s available on Netflix, regardless of concerns.
However, sources told Variety that the aforementioned timing is purely coincidental. According to them, Netflix and James Cameron went through months of contract negotiations before reaching an agreement on profit sharing, and their decisions have nothing to do with the recent tragedy.
Meanwhile, James Cameron previously sparked a controversy by comparing the Titan tragedy to the sinking of the Titanic.
“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 up full speed into an ice field on a moonless night,” the director told ABC News.
At the time, amidst the grief of the victims’ families, James Cameron’s statements were seen as insensitive.
“He made millions of dollars from the success of ‘Titanic’, and the CEO of OceanGate (a company that offers submarine expeditions to explore the wreckage of the Titanic) is the same. Both of them are just exploiting this horrifying event to make more money,” commented one netizen.
Source: Variety, k14
