It may be about to be overtaken as the third-highest-grossing film of all time by Avatar: The Way of Water, but James Cameron has sent a box office lifeboat for his 1997 crown jewel, Titanic in the wake of its 25th-anniversary re-release.
111 years on from the doomed sailing of the luxury cruise liner, the RMS Titanic is still very much in the public consciousness. The hype over Cameron’s film, which made stars of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, feels like it never really went away, with each new generation finding something to identify with, to argue over, to admire, and to love—be it Kate and Leo’s lifelong friendship, accompanying each other as dates two decades later to awards shows, or even arguments about how many people can actually fit on a damned wardrobe door.
The movie stayed in theaters for 10 months after its release, eventually finishing up with a total of $600 million domestically, and $1.242 billion internationally for a total of $1.843 billion worldwide, becoming the first film to ever cross the $1 billion mark. It was the highest-grossing film of all time for over a decade until Cameron beat his own record with the release of Avatar. Subsequent re-releases of the film took it over the $2 billion mark.
