What is the runtime of disaster epic Titanic and why was there never a director's cut? James Cameron assured his place in sci-fi cinema thanks to the first two Terminator movies and 1986's Aliens. The director is known for his richly fleshed out worlds and for pushing the limits of technology and effects with each of his movies. He also became an earlier adopter of the director's cut, with several of his movies later receiving extended versions on VHS or DVD.
While some director's cuts can be indulgent or restore scenes that weren't really necessary, on the whole, James Cameron's extended movies play better. Aliens flies like a rocket in its theatrical version but for fans, Aliens: Special Edition works better emotionally thanks to restoring subplots like Ripley's deceased daughter or the remote guns in the tunnel sequence. The Abyss: Special Edition is superior to its theatrical cut too, restoring key sequences like the original ending.
Titanic is Cameron's 1997 disaster epic/love story that made movie stars out of Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, became the highest-grossing films of all time - though its since been overtaken - and swept the Oscars clean. The movie was predicted to be a huge bomb prior to release, with reports of a stressful shoot that went wildly overbudget and overschedule. The movie's length was also a concern to studio 20th Century Fox, and while Cameron had previously trimmed films to more theatre friendly lengths that didn't happen with Titanic, with movie's runtime being a heft 195 minutes, or three hours and 25 minutes.
Even with that length, Titanic has a wealth of deleted scenes. From an extended scene of the survivors boarding the Carpathia to Jack fighting Cal's right-hand man Spicer Lovejoy, a lot of scenes hit the cutting room floor. While they were later made available for special edition DVD and Blu-ray releases, James Cameron surprisingly didn't put together a director's cut or extended edition. This simply comes down to the fact he feels the released version represents his vision and he's has stated he has no intention of putting together a longer cut.
While Titanic has some great deleted scenes, the movie doesn't necessarily miss what was trimmed either. There were also some downright bad ones, including the original ending where old Rose throws the "Heart of the Ocean" diamond into the sea while Bill Paxton's Brock tries to talk her out of it. The deleted scenes are interesting when viewed on their own but the story works fine without them. Cameron later put together an extended cut of Avatar for its home video releases but didn't label it a director's cut either because he was satisfied with the original edit. Instead, this extended edition was put together for fans to enjoy.