Titanic, the James Cameron-directed epic romance drama film, is back at the box office. The film debuted in 1997 and, in honor of its 25th anniversary, secured a re-release, albeit with 3D 4K HDR and high frame rate technology.
Over its first weekend, Titanic’s re-release grossed $22.3 million at the global box office, which puts it behind another James Cameron flick, Avatar: The Way of Water, which grossed $25.8 million in its ninth week. Domestically, the film achieved third place with a $6.4 million gross. Ahead of it is the final entry in Channing Tatum’s Magic Mike chronicles, titled Magic Mike’s Last Dance, with $8.2 million and The Way of Water, with $6.9 million.
While Titanic’s performance will be welcome news to Cameron and the top brass at both Disney and Paramount Pictures, they will be a little disappointed it didn’t top the box office – a feat which would have seen it become the first re-release to top the box office since the 1997 reissue of the original Star Wars trilogy.
Titanic is one of the most successful films in cinema history. When it was originally released in 1997, the film topped the box office for 15 weeks, which is the longest run of any movie ever at the box office. Also, Titanic showed in theaters for 10 months and became the first film in history to gross over $1 billion.
Even more impressive is the fact that it was a bigger box office draw than Avatar: The Way of Water – cinema ticket prices in 2023 are, at least, two-and-a-half times higher than they were in 1997, which means it had more to do to achieve its then - $1.843 billion gross.
Titanic was also an award darling: it was nominated for numerous awards, including 14 Academy Awards – a record joint-most nominations, alongside the 1950s All About Eve. Titanic went on to win eleven of its fourteen Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, becoming only the second film in history to achieve that feat. In addition, it won four Golden Globe awards to become one of the most lauded films in cinema history.
Although it will likely be surpassed by The Way of Water in the coming weeks, Titanic will forever remain unmatched in cinema history. If nothing else, the film has shown it has intergenerational appeal as, 25 years after its original release, it can still attract enough viewers to the cinema.
By the way, Cameron is now responsible for three of the top four highest-grossing films of all time and all of them have grossed over $2 billion – a feat no other director has achieved. In first place is the original Avatar, released in 2009, while Titanic and Avatar: The Way of Water occupy third and fourth positions respectively. The visionary director is not stopping anytime soon, though. He is currently working on a third Avatar installment slated for release in December 2024 with two more to follow in 2026 and 2028.
