James Cameron's blockbuster Titanic is coming back to theaters for one week to celebrate the film's 20th Anniversary. Originally written off as a sure disaster, Titanic arrived in cinemas in 1997 to wide acclaim and huge box office, going on to win 11 Oscars (including Best Picture) while grossing $2.18 billion at the worldwide box office.
Cameron has revisited Titanic numerous times over the years, most prominently in 2012 when the film was reissued in 3D, grossing $57 million in wide release. Not content with milking the film's success via reissues and home releases, Cameron released the 2003 IMAX documentary Ghosts of the Abyss which sent Titanic star Bill Paxton down to the real shipwreck in a submarine. Cameron will go back to Titanic this December with NatGeo in the documentary Titanic: 20th Anniversary, which will address production choices Cameron made during filming, giving the director another chance to defend his still-controversial decision to kill Jack even though there was probably room for him on the floating door.
Related: Titanic Wouldn't Have Worked Without Bill Paxton
As reported by THR, Cameron's Titanic will float into theaters one more time on December 1st, 2017 for a one-week engagement in both 2D and 3D. Titanic will play in 87 AMC theaters equipped with Dolby Cinema, a large format premium concept that's being positioned as an IMAX competitor.
Director James Cameron has jumped on the Dolby Cinema bandwagon in a big way, and says this about Titanic's re-release in the new format:
"We mastered a few minutes of Titanic in Dolby Vision and I was stunned. It was like seeing it for the first time. Now that the entire film as been mastered, I'm excited to share it with audiences across the U.S. This is beyond 3D, beyond 70mm, it's beyond anything you've ever seen before."
In addition to remastering the film and converting it to 3D, Cameron has made some George Lucas-like tweaks to Titanic over the years. Most famously, Cameron addressed a criticism by physicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who pointed out a mistake in the star field visible above the ship on the night of its sinking, prompting a clearly-annoyed Cameron to digitally adjust the stars' positions for the movie's subsequent releases. Who knows what other little changes Cameron might have made to the film in addition to mastering it in large format Dolby Cinema? Maybe this time Jack will climb on top of Rose's door and not freeze to death in the icy waters of the North Atlantic.
Once Cameron is done revisiting Titanic (and goosing its total box office take a little bit more via this latest re-release), the director can get back to work on his promised four Avatar sequels, the first two of which are shooting back-to-back. Technology nerd Cameron pushed the visual possibilities of movies forward with Titanic, then pushed them forward again with Avatar (whose success surpassed even that of previous box office champion Titanic), and is certain to do so one more time with Avatar 2 and its sequels.
MORE: Neil deGrasse Tyson Weighs In On Titanic Debate
Source: THR
