Friday, December 19, 1997

Titanic, the most expensive film ever made, released

Titanic

Released: December 19, 1997

Studio: Paramount/20th Century Fox/Lightstorm Entertainment

Genre: epic/disaster/romance

Box Office (numbers in millions):

Domestic: 659.40 Worldwide: 2264.74

Adjusted for Inflation:

Domestic: 1344.91 Worldwide: 3485.00

Directing: James Cameron

Screenwriting: James Cameron

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Bill Paxton, Gloria Stuart, Frances Fisher

Review:

“Writer/director James Cameron’s three-plus hour, epic mega-blockbuster with the most expensive budget of any film up to its time,” ^FS thanks to “a monumental visual effects undertaking.” ^AFI07 “Fans (mostly female) returned many dozens of times to enjoy the tale over and over and helped the film become the highest grossing motion picture of all time.” ^FS

The “fictionalized account of the ‘ship of dreams’” ^AFI07 centered on the real events of April 15, 1912, when the White Star Line’s R.M.S. Titanic hit an iceberg and sank. The story is told in flashback when Rose, a 102-year-old survivor (Stuart) of that fateful night, reminisces about “an ill-fated, forbidden romance…with lower-class, starving artist Jack Dawson (DiCaprio).” ^FS Feeling trapped in an engagement arranged by her mother (Fisher), the seventeen-year-old debutante (Winslet) tries to commit suicide but is rescued by Jack. “When the ship hit the iceberg in the frigid North Atlantic and split in two, Jack sacrificed himself and again saved her from sure death.” ^FS

“Although praised by critics and the viewing public, there was some backlash about its acting (especially DiCaprio’s) and its screenplay – Titanic became the first Best Picture winner to not have a Best Screenplay nomination since The Sound of Music (1965).” ^FS

Sources:

^AFI07 American Film Institute (2007). “AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies – 10th Anniversary Edition”
^FS Filmsite.org “100 Greatest Films”

Awards/Honors/Lists:

Dave’s Movie Database Lists:

Dave’s Movie Database Genre Lists:

Box Office:

Awards:

Oscars:

Wins: 11 – Best Picture, Best Director (Cameron), Best Cinematography (Russell Carpenter), Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score (James Horner), Best Original Song – “My Heart Will Go On,” Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Effects Editing

Nominations: 14 – including Best Actress (Winslet), Best Supporting Actress (Stuart), Best Makeup

Other Lists/Honors:

First posted 7/29/2019; last updated 5/27/2023.