Originally appeared on E! Online
A movie based on the tragic story behind OceanGate's Titan submersible is taking voyage.
"The Blackening" producer E. Brian Dobbins has teamed up with MindRiot Entertainment to make a fictional film covering the five-day search for the missing sub—which ended when officials determined the watercraft had imploded while diving to the Titanic wreckage, claiming the lives of its five passengers—according to Deadline. Dobbins will produce the project, while MindRiot's Justin MacGregor and Jonathan Keasey have been attached to write the script.
"Our film will not only honor all those involved in the submersible tragedy, and their families, but the feature will serve as a vessel that also addresses a more macro concern about the nature of media today," Keasey said in a statement to the outlet. "Truth is all that matters. And the world has a right to know the truth, always, not the salacious bait crammed down our throats by those seeking their five minutes of fame. Life is not black and white. It's complicated. There's nuance. Always nuance."
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News of the movie comes three months after the OceanGate sub went missing on June 18, setting off a massive search before its estimated 96-hour oxygen supply ran out.
The vehicle's passengers—OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush, billionaire Hamish Harding, explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet and businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son Suleman Dawood—were determined to have died in an underwater implosion after searchers discovered debris from the sub "consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber" on June 22, per the U.S. Coast Guard.
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"These men were true explorers who shared a distinct spirit of adventure, and a deep passion for exploring and protecting the world's oceans," a June 22 statement from OceanGate read at the time. "Our hearts are with these five souls and every member of their families during this tragic time. We grieve the loss of life and joy they brought to everyone they knew."
A director for the submersible film has not been announced, though James Cameron—who helmed the 1997 blockbuster "Titanic" —previously slammed "offensive rumors" about him being involved in a silver screen adaptation of the tragedy.
"I'm NOT in talks about an OceanGate film," he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on July 15, "nor will I ever be."
