TITANIC

James Cameron’s epic masterpiece Titanic is now available from on 4K for the first time thanks to Paramount Home Entertainment. His hit film shattered box office records upon its release in 1997 staying at the top of the box office for sixteen weeks, a feat that is unheard of today. It would be usurped by another Leonardo DiCaprio film, The Man in the Iron Mask, which finally took the number one spot at the box office. It became the highest grossing film of all-time domestically, but it lost that spot to James Cameron’s next film, Avatar. It would go on to win 11 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Song “My Heart Will Go On”, Best Score, and many others with James Cameron repeating his famous line “I’m the King of the World” during his acceptance speech.

It’s grand to look back at the success of that film now, but the initial rumors and reports before its release were not too kind calling out its massive budget, it’s filming schedule, and the release date was pushed back from a summer release to December 1997 release. Everyone expected this film to be a massive flop in Hollywood. I’ll never forget seeing it opening night at the Mall of America theater in Minnesota. Lines were pouring in and out of the theater with moviegoers itching for the perfect seat. I will never forget that epic night.

James Cameron’s film is a love story set against a (mostly) historically accurate film. In one of the special features, he mentions watching the film A Night to Remember and becoming obsessed with the ship. He took many expedition trips down to the wreckage and pitched the film to studio execs as “Romeo and Juliet on the Titanic.” He took great care to make everything outside of the Jack and Rose story as accurate as possible including using his own footage from the wreckage. The film is massive in scale and made before green screens were the norm. Yes, they were used (obviously), but as you watch the special features you will see physical set pieces, thousands of extras, practical effects, all which make it that immersive experience we all love. This movie wouldn’t be the same had it been made today. With the casting of Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron found his Rose and Jack in two actors who had a few credits to their name but were not household names yet. Their chemistry together is undeniable. Kathy Bates, Bill Paxton, Billy Zane, Suzy Amis, Frances Fisher, Victor Garber, and the legendary Gloria Stuart make up the supporting cast.

The new 4K release comes with 4K Ultra HD with Dolby Vision and a Dolby Atmos soundtrack. It’s a two-disc release with the film on 4K, Blu-Ray, and digital. There are special features on each disc totally over 15 hours of content for fans to relish in. Much of this are legacy feautres and commentaries, but it is worth noting there are new special features with James Cameron, Kate Winslet, and producer Jon Landau looking back at the film for its 25th anniversary. Here’s what you can expect on the release:

Blu-Ray Disc

• NEW – TITANIC: Stories from the Heart
• Reflections on TITANIC
• TITANIC: 25 Years Later with James Cameron
• NEW – Behind-The-Scenes Presentation Hosted by Jon Landau
• NEW – Trailer Presentation by Jon Landu
• NEW – Fan Poster Art
• Additonal Behind the Scenes
• Deep Dive Presentation Narrated by Names Cameron
• $200,000,001: A Ship’s Odyssey (The TITANIC Crew Video)
• Videomatics
• Visual Effects

4K Ultra HD Disc

• Director Commentary by James Cameron
• Cast and Crew Commentary
• Historical Commentary by Don Lynch and Ken Marschall

Here’s a video I made for TikTok