For 12 years, Titanic was an unbeatable film at the box office, and it's no surprise that only James Cameron could knock his own film down to the number two spot. Cameron set out to achieve greatness with Titanic, and he didn't let himself or any of the film's loyal fans down with his creation. The film went on to become one of the most awarded films in Oscar history with 11 wins, including the coveted Best Picture award. Cameron's historical piece is also one of the most nominated films in Oscar history, alongside La La Land and All About Eve, which all have 14 nominations.
Titanic didn't see massive success immediately, and with a $200 million budget, which was even more extraordinary in the '90s, it seemed Cameron might not make back all the money that went into creating the film. Luckily, Cameron proved that all the hard work that he, his crew, and his actors put into Titanic paid off. The Oscars boosted sales, and by the end of 1998, Titanic had knocked Jurassic Park out of the number one spot, where it would stay in place until Cameron released his first Avatar film in 2009. So how exactly did the blockbuster film accomplish this incredible feat?
James Cameron Took The Titanic Story To The Next Level
Titanic's story has fascinated society for decades. How could so many people be so confident a ship was unsinkable only to steer it into an iceberg and watch it descend to the bottom of the ocean floor? Cameron availed this fascination, knowing the technology accessible to him as well as his keen storytelling skills and creativity, would bring fans of the ship to the movie theater to watch his film during its initial release and during his many re-releases to come.
While some disagree with Cameron's love story and feel the film would be stronger if he focused on more historical figures, the story of Jack Dawson and Rose Dewitt Bukater is undoubtedly the strongest part of Cameron's creation. The Romeo & Juliet-inspired love story is a tale as old as time, and whether it's in book form or movie form, consumers keep coming back for it. Take that and set it on what's arguably the greatest ship in the world, and fans were hooked.
Part of what made Titanic's love story so great is that Cameron used the couple to draw viewers into the story and help them empathize with the engers. With so many people on board, viewers can't fathom what they all must have been going through, but by giving them these two characters to fall in love with and then having one of them die while the other is left to cope with the death and experience is what helps the audience feel for not only Jack and Rose but all the real engers who experienced a very similar scenario.
Historical Accuracy Gave Titanic An Edge
Cameron's Titanic is the most well-known film about the ship, but it's not the only one. The list of films about the 1912 sinking is extensive, including a 1999 animated film called The Legend of the Titanic, where a group of mice is working on the ship. However, the most popular, aside from Cameron's Titanic, is Roy Ward Baker's 1958 film, A Night To . Some even favor Baker's version over Cameron's, as the story is more historically accurate and doesn't include a made-up love story to distract from the real events. Though with all its accuracy, it couldn't outperform Cameron's masterpiece.
Cameron dedicated himself to Titanic like no other, and while he had the advantage of making his film after the ship had been discovered at the bottom of the ocean, many filmmakers would not have taken the time to go down and see it even if they could. Cameron, on the other hand, has made 33 dives down to the Titanic, 12 of which were while making the film. While Cameron's Titanic love story and some of his other creative liberties, like Officer Murdoch's suicide, were not historically accurate, he wanted to make sure his set was.
Pictures of the ship and its sister ship, the Olympic, weren't enough for Cameron to recreate it. He had to experience it in person to see where every decaying chandelier once shined, where every door once opened for first-class guests to walk through, and where all the ghosts of the 1912 tragedy still linger. He also utilized footage of the sunken ship in the film, something no other Titanic film had done.
With his $200 million budget, Cameron was able to rebuild the ship's exterior and many of its interiors to a tee. The film set's main staircase shares an uncanny resemblance to the one engers actually used back in 1912. For followers of the ship and its history, it meant a lot that Cameron honored the Titanic with his accuracy. Of course, he also included historical figures like Molly Brown and Captain Smith, making the story really come to life on the screen.
Titanic Had Huge Star Power With Its Cast
When Cameron cast Leonardo Dicaprio and Kate Winslet in the roles of Jack and Rose, neither was the Hollywood star they are today. Leo had filmed Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet, but the film had yet to premiere. Luckily, Luhrmann's film came out a year before Titanic, launching Leo into the spotlight as the latest teen heartthrob in what the media would begin to call Leo Mania. Kate was best known for her work in Sense & Sensibility alongside Emma Thompson, which earned Kate her first Oscar nomination.
Once Titanic premiered, Leo and Kate's careers really took off, meaning when the film was still in theaters almost a year after its initial release, more fans were running to theaters to see Jack and Rose's love story play out. Some other famous faces in the film were Kathy Bates, Billy Zane, and Bill Condon, but it's safe to say it was Leo and Kate that made the film such a success.
Aside from their star power, Leo and Kate had undeniable chemistry on the screen that made fans believe in their love story. They were even asked on the Golden Globes red carpet if they'd attended the event as a couple but confirmed they were just friends. Twenty-five years later, they've become one of Hollywood's favorite friendships, and fans still go crazy when they see the two together. Their level of fame definitely kept fans going back to theaters to see Titanic, but their chemistry played a role as well.
Other Filmmakers Couldn't Match The Scale Of Titanic
Between Titanic's December 1997 release and Avatar's December 2009 release, a whole lot of other films premiered, yet none of them could defeat Titanic's streak. Titanic had so much going for it. No other movie could compare and no romance film could compete with Jack and Rose's two-day love affair. No other tragedy was as grand as Titanic's, and surely most other films did not have Cameron's budget even to attempt to reach Titanic's accomplishments.
It was Avengers: End Game that knocked Avatar to number two, 10 years after its release, and with such a big Marvel fanbase, it had the power to. Though Cameron has since reclaimed his number-one spot with Avatar, End Game still sits above Avatar: The Way Of The Water and Titanic. However, with Cameron's many rereleases, Titanic can always climb back up. Cameron did a mass rerelease of Titanic in 2012 for the 100th anniversary of its sinking and another in February 2023 for 25 years of the film.
Cameron's dedication to allowing audiences to see the film in theaters over and over again for 25 years has allowed it to keep thriving, and his success at making one of the greatest films of all time is what kept Titanic at number one for longer than it even took to build the ship.
