Next year marks the 25th anniversary of James Cameron’s Titanic. It was released on December 19, 1997, and was a huge success, making $2.202 billion worldwide at the box office. It won eleven of the fourteen Academy Awards it was nominated for including Best Picture, Best Director for James Cameron, Best Cinematography for Russell Carpenter, and Best Original Dramatic Score for James Horner.
The film starred then 23-year-old Leonardo DiCaprio and 22-year-old Kate Winslet. DiCaprio was fresh off of his success of portraying Romeo in Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of Romeo and Juliet the year before and the film marks Winslet’s introduction to a wider movie-going audience. Since then, both stars have gone on to have stellar success in the industry.
According to an interview with ABC’s Deadline in 2016, DiCaprio credits his role as being the reason why people were willing to take more risks on backing his more experimental projects. He would later appear in such films as The Beach, Django Unchained, and The Revenant, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor. Winslet went on to star in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Reader, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.
Titanic is an enduring contributor to the cultural landscape. People still debate on social media about whether or not Jack could have fit with Rose on the piece of debris she was floating on as the ship sank, and some of the movie’s most memorable scenes have been turned into memes. One of the most popular is the scene where Rose asks Jack to draw her like one of his French girls; it has been endlessly referenced in multiple variations, replacing Rose with a polar bear and even a Dalek from Dr. Who.
Cameron's romantic epic also endures due to the nature of the historical event itself. The ship was touted as being unsinkable and of the utmost elegance and luxury. Cameron and his team went the extra mile to portray the tragedy in a way that was sure to capture the imagination and emotions of the audience.
Titanic tells the story of a timeless romance that meets a tragic end, the kind of tales found around the world from Bollywood to European fairytales. It was made in the tradition of sweeping dramas of old Hollywood such as Gone with the Wind and Dr. Zhivago.
Rumors have popped up about a documentary to be released next year, but they have not been confirmed. If you would like to re-watch the film it can currently be found on Netflix, Google Play, and Amazon.
Get your copy of the Titanic (1953) DVD by clicking here.
Get your copy of the Titanic (1997) Blu-ray by clicking here.