It Was Ten Years Ago Today
Filed under: Drama, Romance, Box Office, Fandom, Out of the Past
An article over at Cinema Blend reminds me that today marks the tenth anniversary of the opening of the biggest film in history, Titanic. Movie studios are still scratching their heads over that one -- how did a downer, a period piece, a movie with unknowns and a runtime of over three hours smash the box-office records so profoundly that even today's globular, 'one-size fits all so bring the entire family' movies like Shrek and Harry Potter haven't even come close to touching its title? When you look at the all-time list, you see that the number two film, Star Wars, is way, way behind the champ, with only a paltry $460 million domestic compared to Titanic's $600 million. Shrek 2, massive, massive hit that it was, and bringing in every possible demographic no doubt, couldn't come anywhere close to touching Titanic. The best it could do was hit the number three slot. The Spider-Man and Harry Potter films aren't even contenders.
When it comes to international box-office, Titanic also still reigns supreme, although Lord of the Rings: Return of the King gave it a run for its money, raking in $1.1 billion to Titanic's $1.8 billion. Still, the champ remains untouched. Stop and think about that -- even globally, its numbers can't be touched. So, I'm seriously asking -- what was it about that movie that so profoundly moved audiences and demanded multiple viewings on an unprecedented scale. And that's what did it, by the way -- common sense dictates that Titanic's demographic base was statistically narrow, meaning the fans basically went time after time after time. Five times, ten times, or more. Were you one of those people?









Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
12-19-2007 @ 9:36AM
Brandon said...
Unfortunately, this is not a movie that numerous viewings were made for. Once you get it off the big screen and on the tv (even in the widescreen format), it loses so much of it's power, & the flaws all stick out clear as day. The script is exposed for what it really is.....truly horrible. Listening to the dialogue that Kathy Bates has to say alone is an exercise in endurance.
The fact that it beat out a classic like L.A. Confidential for Best Picture is very sad. Now there is a movie that endures....on the big or smaill screen.
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12-19-2007 @ 9:39AM
brian said...
Yeah, I'm not an expert or anything on this subject, but it was brilliant to kill Jack at the end and use Leo to do it because I remember something about an article back then that said young women were going to the movie three and four times and each time they would yell at the screen for Jack to not go in there, to not let them take him away, to get on the boat with her, to not trust Billy Zane's character, all the things they did, they would try to save him and then they would yell at her to blow the whistle louder and then to hold onto him and, yeah, I pretty much think the reviewer was watching these auditoriums and he would see the girls run from the theater crying and buy another ticket and go back in to save him again.
Of course, everyone else went to see it once, too. Remember, back then, the computer graphics of the massive ship were amazing to behold how real they were. At least that's the hype I remember.
"That's a big boat..."
"It's a ship, daddy."
Can't believe it was ten years ago.
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12-19-2007 @ 9:48AM
Eric H said...
The movie was also released at just the right time, didn't have big completion if memory serves. And like the previous commenter mentioned you did have these hyper fan seeing it over and over again, then the media put the whack jobs on the news, seeding the idea in over peoples head's, the whole thing snowballed. Also is was a much simpler time, before we became jaded movie goers and we trusted Hollywood...
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12-19-2007 @ 9:54AM
Robin said...
I watched it in theater and have not watched it again, since. There's no reason to. One of the most overrated films of all time.
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12-19-2007 @ 9:59AM
Bill said...
You know:
If Kate W. would have gotten on the rescue boat, like the man WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE HER FUTURE HUSBAND told her, Leo could have floated on the board that she did & he would have survived.
Therefore, you could say that he died because she was selfish. Enjoy that observation when you watch this movie for years to come. :)
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12-19-2007 @ 10:01AM
Antonio said...
This is interesting:
http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/mostpopularmovies.html
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12-19-2007 @ 10:03AM
justkidding15 said...
with the huge box office numbers it had, was there ever a though for a sequel? there had to be at least someone at the studio thinking about it.
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12-19-2007 @ 10:20AM
kevjohn said...
I only went for Kate Winslet's nude scene.
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12-19-2007 @ 10:32AM
DAVID F said...
I saw it once in the theater and that's it. I never saw it again and haven't seen it since. I enjoyed. I thought Cameron did an amazing job. The love story was a bit much at times but well acted.
One thing that always bugged me about the storytelling in this movie was that viewers are introduced to Jack and Rose and basically the entire crew....through the recollections and memory of this old lady!
Are you kidding me? How did she come to know ALL the people Cameron shows us on the ship? So, everything that we saw was through this old lady's storytelling? Mmmm, I don't buy it. It just seemed on odd way to start and end the story. As an epic and technical wonder, it's an amazing movie but it does have it's flaws and cheese that obviously people tolerated or were just blind to.
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12-19-2007 @ 10:34AM
Ronan said...
Never watched it, never will I
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12-19-2007 @ 10:38AM
Andrew said...
"IT SINKS!!!!"
That is what I said to my wife when she suggested we go to see "Titanic". I went, because I love my wife and it made her happy. But it still ranks as the worst movie of all times in my book. I will never understand why people actually enjoyed watching the ship sink.
Why didn't they make a sequel? What were they going to do next? The Lusitania?
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12-19-2007 @ 11:01AM
Jason Chapa said...
It made a lot of money because people who never go to the movies went to see it. Such as my parents, who were in their 60s at the time. I don't care how exciting Harry Potter and Shrek are, older people aren't interested.
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12-19-2007 @ 11:13AM
Radio Dan said...
Adjusted for inflation Titanic is sixth on the all time list. Gone With The Wind remains the champ.
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12-19-2007 @ 12:00PM
Stan Heck said...
The real "Titanic" is a legend. Most people herd about this ship. The movie was also in the press daily for almost 2 years. James Cameron made a great movie and somehow he made it seem that he brought the famous ship come back alive. On the big screen the movie became an event. It had itws own life. James Cameron somehow made us a passenger on that ship. For some reason all the movie goers forget that the ship is doomed.
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12-19-2007 @ 12:08PM
Thunderbuck said...
I reluctantly agree that TITANIC is a genuinely great movie.
Not for the story, which I found manipulative and cheesy, and unredeemable even with half-decent performances by DiCaprio and Winslet.
Cameron did, however, display an amazing attention to detail in the film (apparently even having the dining room china faithfully reproduced). This attention even extended to the historical personalities he included outside the central story.
The real genius of TITANIC, though, lies in Cameron's use of state-of-the-art digital effects to portray a historical event. No other filmmaker had done this up to that time (certainly not on this scale).
While I wish Cameron had made use of more of the fascinating true stories on board the doomed liner, I'll always admire the way he brought this event to life on the screen.
Like it or not, TITANIC was just as significant a movie, and for many of the same reasons, as GONE WITH THE WIND.
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12-19-2007 @ 12:32PM
Wayne said...
"Titanic" was so successful because teenage girls saw the movie over and over and over again. For that reason alone, I've never seen the movie and I never will.
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12-19-2007 @ 1:21PM
Captain Obvious said...
They should do a sequel, the "Andria Doria", about how it collided with the Stockholm in dense fog 21 miles off the coast of Nantucket, and those poor 51 people that died.
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12-19-2007 @ 2:37PM
AJ said...
Well adjusted for inflation Gone With the Wind is number one...with like 10 different releases. Star Wars has 2 or 3 releases and when they adjust they don't account for each release only the amount of money it made divided by the cost of a ticket during the first release. So really the champ is The Sound of Music which was only released once, so how did they get people to see THAT movie.
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12-19-2007 @ 3:43PM
Lola said...
I agree with Jason, I think it was popular because it made all sorts of people go see it, including my grandparents who rarely go out to movies in the theater. I don't buy the teenage fangirls argument because they go see lots of their favorite movies over and over. (I saw LOTR: The Two Towers in the theater 7 times as a 19-year-old fangirl.)
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12-19-2007 @ 4:13PM
Chris said...
I saw Titanic in theaters when it 1st came out at least 25xs! Honest! I loved the film! I got it! It was just a simple love story of an old woman living with her memories, & going back into time telling us the story of her life before and after, & then making peace with it all! We all knew the ship sank, but the characters didn't! We wanted Rose and Jack to go on together when the ship docked, but we knew the ship was never to reach it's port, & when the ship sank we never knew she was going to lose Jack for good in the icy waters! & when she went on with out him you felt for Rose, & at the end of the film you see all the phots of her past life you got it that she lived, & she believed in herself.
Call me a hopless romantic, but everytime I watch the film I still cry! I loved Titanic! I got it!
It was not supposed to be a documentary, or a completely factual account of what happened that night. It is the most amazing love story ever attempted!
It is one of the monuments of the cinema which won 11 Oscars in Hollywood in 1998, a huge success (well deserved) all over the world. The revelation of two actors until then virtually unknown.
Titanic still remains 1 of the best movie I of 1997. Everything was so great about the movie. Thank you James for making this brilliant movie.
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