WTF: Australian Titanic Enthusiast Plans to One-Up James Cameron With New Film

Posted on Tuesday, October 22nd, 2013 by Russ Fischer

Titanic

It’s a potent cocktail: money mixed liberally with delusions of grandeur. Recall, if you will, the name Clive Palmer. He’s the billionaire in Australia (at current conversion rates there’s not even a need to qualify him as a billionaire only in Australian dollars) who last year announced his plans to build a full-size, working Titanic replica of his very own. That announcement was followed by a report that Palmer was talking to sheep-cloning scientists with the idea of building his own Jurassic Park.

Palmer denied the JP report, and as far as commercial ideas go, the notion of a working Titanic replica is actually genius. He says he’s lined up thousands of people interested in a Titanic II voyage, and I believe it. It’s an expensive venture, and one loaded with serious risk — against capricious fate, if nothing else — but one which could make money.

Here’s where the crazy kicks in: now Palmer says he’s going to make two Titanic films. One will be a documentary about building the ship, which makes sense. The other is a dramatic film that he claims “should be a lot better movie” than Cameron’s Titanic. Read More »

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WTF: Billionaire Rumored to Be Planning Real-Life Jurassic Park With Dino DNA

Posted on Friday, August 3rd, 2012 by Angie Han

Clive Palmer wouldn’t be the first person to wish he could live in a James Cameron or Steven Spielberg flick long after the credits roll. As a billionaire businessman, however, he may be one of the few with the funds to actually make that dream a reality. The noted eccentric revealed earlier this year that he was working on a replica of the RMS Titanic, to set sail in 2016 as a floating casino, and now rumor has it he’s got his sights set on a real-life Jurassic Park.

How realistic his aspirations actually are, or whether the story’s even true, remains up for debate. But if Palmer didn’t have plans before, perhaps he should pursue them now that the idea’s been floated. Sure, it seems like a really extravagant way of courting death — but again, this is the same guy who wanted a do-over on the Titanic. More details after the jump.

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