A Movie About OceanGate’s Tragic Submersible Implosion Is Being Developed

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Just two weeks after announcing a new docu-series based on the tragedy of OceanGate’s Titan submersible is in the works, MindRiot Entertainment revealed a fictional sister project of the same name is also set for development, as reported by Deadline today.

Titled Salvaged, the narrative feature will explore segments of time before the submersible’s deployment, during the search for the vessel and after the Titan’s wreckage is uncovered. According to Deadline, The Blackening producer E. Brian Dobbins is on board to co-produce.

“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,” said MindRiot founder Jonathan Keasey, who is set to co-write the film alongside Justin MacGregor.

In June 2023, details of the tragedy went Internet viral as a large-scale search took place to find the submersible and its five missing passengers, who were en route to see the remains of the Titanic — about 12,500 feet below the ocean’s surface. By June 22, officials confirmed the Titan had been involved in a “catastrophic implosion,” according to CNN, and remnants of the vessel were found near the Titanic almost a week later.

“The Titan Tragedy is yet another example of a misinformed and quick-to-pounce system, in this case, our nonstop, 24-7 media cycle that convicts and ruins the lives of so many people without any due process,” Keasey told Deadline.

The Salvaged docu-series will hone in more specifically on the life of Kyle Bingham, who served as OceanGate’s mission director from 2018 to 2023 until he was killed in the Titan implosion. Before the Titan’s failed expedition, Bingham had previously conducted two successful trips to the Titanic and taken dives all over the world.

Despite being a fictional project, the film will be promoted alongside MindRiot’s fresh crop of docuseries programming.