James Cameron’s Titanic left no room for a sequel, so what is Titanic 2 and does it have any connection to Cameron’s movie? Let’s take a look.
James Cameron’s Titanic is a standalone story – however, there’s a movie titled Titanic 2, but is it connected to Cameron’s now-classic movie? James Cameron’s name has become synonymous with big-budget productions, mostly from the sci-fi genre, but one of his biggest and most ambitious projects ever was far from that: Titanic, a disaster drama movie released in 1997. Titanic was the most expensive movie ever made at the time and went on to become the highest-grossing film of all time, holding that spot for many, many years, and it continues to be one of Cameron’s most impressive works.
Based on the real-life tragedy of the RMS Titanic in 1912, Cameron’s Titanic tells a fictional story led by fictional characters, through which the audience meets many others based on real-life passengers of the ship, such as Molly Brown (Kathy Bates) and J. Bruce Ismay (Jonathan Hyde). Titanic, then, follows Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet), a first-class young woman, and Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio), a third-class passenger, who over the course of four days meet, fall in love, and defend their romance from those who look down upon them, mostly people from the first-class side of the ship. Sadly, Rose and Jack’s story ends in tragedy, as Jack becomes one of the many victims of the sinking of the Titanic, while Rose is eventually rescued.
Titanic tells a complete story and gives its main characters proper closure, even showing them reuniting in the “afterlife” with the rest of the passengers that died when the ship sank, so there weren’t any loose ends that could make way for a sequel – however, a movie titled Titanic II exists, but despite what the title suggests, it isn’t linked to Cameron’s movie.
What Is Titanic II About?
Titanic II is also a disaster drama movie, released in 2010 and directed by Shane Van Dyke. Set in April 2012, 100 years after the tragedy of the RMS Titanic, a similar-looking luxury cruise liner, named RMS Titanic II, is christened, and embarks on its maiden voyage using the same route as the Titanic but in reverse – from New York City to Southampton. The main characters in Titanic II are the ship’s designer, Hayden Walsh (Van Dyke), and nurse Amy Maine (Marie Westbrook), and the reason why Titanic II sinks (and burns and is pretty much destroyed even worse than the original ship), is all due to global warming, as an iceberg rams into the ship as a result of a tsunami. In the end, Hayden sacrifices himself to save Amy, who is rescued by her father, United States Coast Guard Captain James Maine (Bruce Davison), along with other injured passengers.
Unsurprisingly, Titanic II was released direct-to-TV in Australia, premiered on Syfy in the UK and Ireland, and was released in theaters in the US, but received negative reviews (though the performances of the main cast received praise). However, Titanic II got a sequel in 2022, which went on a completely different route in terms of tone as it’s a supernatural horror story, set in a third Titanic ship. Titled Titanic 666 (yes, really), the movie, directed by Nick Lyon, follows a group of digital influencers who after embarking on the maiden voyage of Titanic 3, find themselves involved in macabre events. Titanic 666 was released on Tubi in April 2022, and as expected, it got negative reviews. What these movies seem to have ignored or not understood is that James Cameron’s Titanic was mostly a respectful retelling of the real-life tragedy of the Titanic, while movies like Titanic II and Titanic 666 simply took the sinking of the ship as the basis to tell nonsensical stories that, ultimately, felt disrespectful and even like a joke.
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