Netflix viewers have been left furious by the streaming giant’s "shameless" decision to air the movie Titanic just days after five people died on the Titan submersible visiting the famous wreck.
The company has been accused by some of cashing in on the disaster while the Titanic is back in the headlines, with online commenters blasting the decision to stream the 90s blockbuster now.
The Titan submersible suffered a “catastrophic implosion” after losing contact with the surface on Sunday (June 18), the US Coast Guard said, on its tenth visit to the site of the Titanic wreck 2.3 miles deep.
Debris from the undersea exploration, which was carrying five passengers, was found 1,600 feet from the bow of the Titanic on Thursday (June 22) after a desperate search coordinated by the US Coast Guard.
The director of the movie Titanic, James Cameron, is a keen underwater explorer himself and has made numerous media appearances following the tragedy in which he criticized the design and safety standards of the Titan sub.
The implosion killed the sub’s designer Stockton Rush, 61, alongside French Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet, 77; British billionaire businessman Hamish Harding, 58; and British-Pakistani father and son Shahzada Dawood, 48, and his son Suleman.
James Cameron had been friends with Titanic expert Paul-Henri Nargeolet for over 25 years before his death.
Cameron is a keen deep-seas explorer and first visited the Titanic wreck site in 1995 to capture footage of the wreck, which would later be used in the film. He was also the first person to make it solo to the deepest part of the ocean, the Challenger Deep, in 2012.
The Titanic director has been outspoken in his criticism of the design of the Titan sub, which used a mix of Carbon Fiber and titanium and a porthole that was reportedly not rated for such deep dives.
Netflix ’s decision to air the film so soon after the tragedy has been branded as bad taste by some online commenters. Responding to the announcement on Twitter one user slammed the move saying: "This is CRAZY shameless".
"Nah this is insane," said another.
"Netflix just couldn't help themselves huh," accused a third while another simply said, "they’re so nasty for this".
However it is unlikey the streaming giant is deliberately trying to cash-in on the tragedy, the movie and been on and off the platform over the last few years and the Netflix release schedule is decided months ahead of time.
The movie itself was the subject of ridicule in the press ahead of its premier in 1997 after it went over budget and over schedule - at $200 million it was the most expensive film ever made at the time.
But critics were silenced when the motion picture released, wowing audiences and critics worldwide and becoming the highest-grossing film ever made, a title it held for 12 years until Cameron’s next feature film Avatar knocked it off the top spot in 1997.
The Mirror has contacted Netflix for comment.
