Titanic is a 1997 American romantic drama film directed, written, and co-produced by James Cameron about the sinking of the RMS Titanic. It stars Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Jack Dawson respectively, members of different social classes who fall in love aboard the ill-fated 1912 maiden voyage of the ship. Bill Paxton plays Brock Lovett, the leader of a treasure hunting expedition, while Gloria Stuart has the role of the elderly Rose, who narrates the story in 1996. The film was both a critical and commercial success, winning eleven Academy Awards including Best Picture, and became the highest grossing film of all time, with a total worldwide gross of US$1.8 billion.
The film received steady attendance after opening in North America on December 19, 1997. By Sunday that same weekend, theaters were beginning to sell out. The film debuted with $28,638,131. By New Year's Day, Titanic had increased in popularity and theaters continued selling out. After it was released, it stayed at #1 for 15 consecutive weeks in the U.S. box office. By March 1998, it was the first film to earn more than $1 billion worldwide. The movie stayed in theaters for over 8 months. Some theaters in South Africa ran it for longer than a year.
Titanic holds the record for the highest-grossing film of all time in North America, with $600 million. The previous North American record holder, Star Wars (another 20th Century Fox film), earned a total of $461 million. Adjusted for inflation, it is in sixth place. The film also holds the record as the highest-grossing movie of all time, worldwide, with $1.8 billion. The second-place worldwide holder, Return of the King, is over $700 million short of Titanic's record.
There has been word of a re-release of Titanic, due to its successful original run, as well as the advances that could be made in the special effects and digital enhancement presentation. Titanic's director, James Cameron, is said to be considering a re-release of the film in digital 3-D.
Paramount Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox financed Titanic, and expected James Cameron to complete the film for a release on July 2, 1997. With production delays, Paramount pushed back the release date to December 19, 1997. The film premiered on November 1, 1997, at the Tokyo International Film Festival, where reaction was described as "tepid" by the New York Times.Wikipedia
