Titanic II - The remake of the low budget film in European co-production
After years of dispute, Disney has sold the rights ceded by James Cameron for his work back in 1997 to European film promotion companies.
The focus of the 23-year negotiations was that the shipyard in Southampton had been bought by Volkswagen and was now insisting on being allowed to mark any replicas with the new 2D logo of e-mobility. The new edition of the product placement production is, due to current events, all about social distancing [Editor's note: this sentence and the following article were originally meant to refer to the IAA in Berlin, which unfortunately has been cancelled for reasons unknown so far].
The Spanish-German-Italian production consortium is tackling an enormous logistical task. After all, no one is allowed to come within 1.978522 m of each other in the entire process until 2028 (the planned completion date) and all props must be disinfected after every touch and quarantined for a fortnight. Here, however, the crew benefits from the 1:1 replica, as the 23-carat decorated artificial cabins are made according to the strict new EU standards. In this way, the budget is kept low so that the production costs remain within reasonable limits. The target is a final sum roughly equivalent to that of the Berlin airport. Under no circumstances should the 10-year budget of the Saarland be exceeded.
However, in order to stay as close as possible to the original and to make the motivation of the protagonists in the film seem realistic, the motto of the rescue will be developed further. Whereas in 1912 it was 'women and children first' and in 2012 (Costa Concordia) 'captains and first-class passengers first', in 2037 (planned completion date) it will be 'old and sick first'. This is to set the statement that has accompanied the entire campaign of the corona virus.
No one should question whether it is about chastising citizens or their health The election campaign, especially in Bavaria and North Rhine-Westphalia, for the CDU presidency of its minister presidents plays only a minor role for the other states involved, but the Mediterranean states certainly have understanding for the selfless slogans. What better way to reassure viewers and voters than to alternatively threaten further punishments and hold out the prospect of relief from fundamental rights bans as a reward for good stay-at-home behaviour?
Cinema or streaming?
Fortunately, the production company is receiving advisory support from well-known streaming services, which are already licking their fingers to secure distribution rights for a maximum of 2% of the production costs, because by 2069 (the planned completion date), public cinemas are 97% unlikely to have reopened.