2024's Secret Titanic Sequel Is Better Than It Has Any Right to Be
Call it the Titanic sequel no one asked for — but one that actually happened.
The 2024 film, titled Unsinkable: Titanic Untold, flew completely under the radar despite revisiting one of the most famous disasters in modern history. Released by indie outfit Hawk Hill Pictures with almost no marketing push, Unsinkable focused not on the sinking itself, but the messy aftermath: lawsuits, congressional hearings, and the early 20th-century scramble to assign blame.
Directed by Cody Hartman, the film opens with the RMS Carpathia docking in New York on April 15, 1912, carrying Titanic's survivors. Among those waiting is Michigan Senator William Alden Smith — played by Cotter Smith — who immediately launches a high-profile investigation into what went wrong, and more importantly, who should be held responsible.
The film tracks Smith's inquiry over the weeks that follow, mixing real-life testimony with dramatized scenes and the occasional flashback to Titanic's final night. While Smith digs into the chain of command, a fictional reporter named Alaine Ricard (played by Fiona Dourif) follows a separate paper trail — suggesting corporate interests may have played a bigger role in the disaster than anyone wanted to admit.
Unlike Cameron's 1997 epic, Unsinkable keeps its focus tight and procedural. It draws heavily from the stage play Titanic to All Ships by Eileen Enwright Hodgetts, and avoids romanticizing the event. Dialogue was pulled directly from congressional records, and the tone leans closer to historical docudrama than disaster epic.
Despite solid performances from its cast (including Smith, previously seen in The Post and X2), Unsinkable never got the exposure to break through. Produced on a small budget by PMI Films and lacking any studio muscle, it was quietly released in 2024 with minimal fanfare — and barely registered with general audiences.
Still, for Titanic obsessives and history buffs, the film has become a bit of a sleeper find. Its grounded take on maritime accountability, post-disaster politics, and media spin offers something the original blockbuster didn't: a look at what happened after the iceberg.