Today in History: Titanic premieres in Tokyo

in #history4 years ago

I have no idea why they decided to premiere this film in Tokyo nearly a month before the rest of the world but that is exactly what they did. It first was shown at the Tokyo International Film Festival and as "gaga" as that country was for Leonardo DiCappuccino, the reviews were described as "average." I don't know if that concerned Paramount and Fox a great deal but it went on to be the highest grossing film of all time.

The year was 1997


source
Leo looks like he was 14 but had recently celebrated his 25th birthday

There are a lot of people out there that will say that Titanic is over-rated and if you are one of those people I completely disagree with you. I think Leonardo DiCaprio is overrated, and wasn't surprised when his usual shouting of all of his lines failed to get a nod from any real award committee. However, to defend Leo a bit, almost no one else was nominated for any major awards in this production and only Gloria Stuart (the really old version of Rose Dawson) won any personal accolades out of the entire cast. Leo won an MTV award but those don't count, do they?

The film however, ended up winning 11 Academy Awards, all of them non-acting-related, and at the time was only the 2nd film to ever accomplish this feat.

OnSetPhotostitanic3291615632432133.jpg
source

Even if you are one of those people who likes to hate on this film I strongly encourage you to seek out some behind-the-scenes videos of this absolutely massive undertaking. It is truly impressive, not to mention exceptionally dangerous. After you watch a few of those clips, it is easy to understand how this film cost $200 million to create. link 1 link 2 link 3

8M5cPX2fjtu8XkkOpIS5eBiv0BXH4JxzdnyFa33Ce90.jpg
source

Perhaps this isn't as unknown as I would like it to be, but James Cameron insisted that a near full-size replica of the Titanic had to be constructed and that's exactly what they did at great expense. The film, predictably went wildly over budget and there were calls to make the film shorter but Cameron refused and as a compromise forfeit his direction and production fees but let's not feel terribly bad for ol' Jimmy, he will still end up making more than $50 million after Titanic managed to pull in around $2 billion.

On a personal note: I went to see Titanic in the Theater 3 times and I have never done this for any other film other than Empire Strikes Back and this was only because there were multiple releases / versions of the film. I saw the same Titanic film 3 times because I found the special effects to be so eerie because like many other people, i have a profound fear of deep water and also sinking ships (I frequently dream about exactly this.)

f90b61e94fc44e6d87b2bb2df47bb57f.jpg
source
Personally, i think Billy Zane deserved a "Best Supporting Actor" nomination

I think a great many other people saw this film multiple times in theaters and here is another tidbit of info: Titanic is the only film to still be in theaters without a break when the film was released on VHS (remember those?) and DVD nearly a year later.

Here are a few other fun facts about this film in case you give a crap.

  • There actually was a J. Dawson on the real Titanic voyage. James Cameron had no idea this was the case when he wrote the script
  • Matthew McConaughey was the original choice for Jack Dawson, not Leo. It is difficult for me to imagine him the role because he isn't childlike enough. I would have enjoyed some "alright alright alright" moments in particular scenes though.
  • During a shoot in Canada, a disgruntled crew member put PCP in a catered soup that resulted in 50 people, including Bill Paxton, being sent to the hospital.
  • James Cameron was exceptionally thorough in his vision including giving personal direction to extras on the set. I have been an extra on many lower-budget sets and this never happens. The extras are just an afterthought, normally receiving very basic instructions from production assistants or lower level management.
  • There are only 2 other films to exceed Titanic's box office draw and one of the other ones, Avatar, was also a James Cameron project

gettyimages153184409.jpg
source
what did you look like at 25 years of age? Not like this is bet

Maybe not for you, i suppose it depends on how old you are; but for me it is hard to believe that this movie is more than 20 years old. It makes me a little sad to think about that being the case. However, if you were to go back and look at it today, I don't think there is anything in the movie that looks even remotely fake. I was in my early 20's when it was released and for me this film was absolutely epic even though I don't much care for Leonardo outside of Blood Diamond.

An undertaking of this magnitude in film had never happened before and there were many points during the film's creation that the studios were getting extremely worried about rising costs and many were predicting heavy losses on the film - I bet they were delighted when the $2 billion thing happened.

What do you think? Are you a Titanic hater or are you like me and think the film does have some flaws (Leo / Kate) but overall is an amazing film? I'd be interested to know your thoughts.

Sort:  

Honestly one of the biggest disappointments ever. They wrecked the whole thing for me along with Pearl Harbour making them into love stories.

there are a lot of people that feel the same way. I feel as though Leo and Kate's story in Titanic was just awful but also think that the overall presentation (which in my mind was the real star of the show) was incredible.

Yep. I agree the overall theme and presentation with what they had created was superb and just wish they had gone another route.

Some really cool facts. The making of Titanic was a masterpiece at that time.
50 people to the hospital, need to be careful with soups :D
I am Titanic Fan, They have done an incredible job and lifted movie-making standards.

This is again a very in-depth review. Looks like you are a movie lover, how much time do you spend with movies? (researching, facts and watching ofcourse :D)

Howdy sir gooddream! I love this post, fantastic job of bringing us so much interesting information that is not widely known. I thought the movie was amazing, mostly because of the grand scale and realism. I didn't know they built a full scale replica though, astounding! Leo DOES look like such a kid. lol.

I never saw it in person, but some friends of mine did and they were quite secretive about it but they couldn't keep it that way. Apparently it was 7/8 scale and in my mind, if you are going to get that close, why not just do 8/8 ?

lol..That's a great point, the 7/8's scale sounds very strange. But I guess no one would know the difference. The amount of research and engineering going into a project like that is just astounding. But his gamble paid off!

Excelent movie that was very successful in its time, thanks James Cameron that demonstrates how fascinating the long luxurious cruises lived on a trip on the high seas, plus the dangers that not even imagine one that can occur in such a long journey of days, I I really like it every time I can see it again I do it

yes... i think... well, i'm gonna watch it again tomorrow. Thanks for commenting.

If that was the reality of Leo and Kate in Titanic it was to be told in the story

I enjoyed this movie, but I was so sick of real-life girls going on about Leo back then. Especially the ones who were calling him an ideal man, but always dated lug-nuts who treated them like crap. Maybe I just hung out with some messed up girls, I don't know.

Also, I remember thinking he looked like a 12 year old while Rose was a voluptuous fully developed woman.

titanic.jpg

Other than my obvious jealousy of this man-child, I thought the film itself was fantastic. Great effects and attention to detail. Oh, and by the way - I liked Blood Diamond too! Also my 2 favorite Leo movies.

yeah the ladies were gaga for him and i think that had some sort of impact on my desire to be overly critical of his acting. I never really thought about it from that angle but yes, Rose does appear to be "robbing the cradle" ... Later the two of them would be in another romantic sort of movie and it wasn't believable in a non-sinking-boat type scenario either.

That's kind of curious and interesting that there is still a big interest in the story. Happy Friday goddream.

I find this movie so underrated. I mean, it's a good one... But, despite its great production (the strongest point of the whole movie), it can be empty at so many points. Anyway, it has already become a "classic" for the wrong reasons.


I would like to take this comment to have the opportunity to present you a movie contest that I created (and I already got TripleA project support, which offered visibility and great awards): https://steemit.com/contest/@wiseagent/for-your-consideration-01-favorite-directors-or-a-movie-contest-sponsored-by-me-and-the-triplea-project .

Could you help in any way? Resteem, Upvote... My intention is is to let more users know about the contest and accumulate more earnings (to suddenly increase the final prize).

Thanks in advance, @gooddream!

I've actually never seen this movie all the way through. I have seen bits and pieces of it though. I am one of those jerks that always says I know how it ends so why would I need to watch the movie. The parts of it I have see I do appreciate how big of a undertaking it was though. I really do like most of Camerons stuff, so I am sure it was done very very well. I still remember watching Poseidon Adventure with my parents as a kid and it is really too bad they didn't do a good remake of that. I know there was a remake a while ago, but I think it was trash. If I want to watch a good deep sea movie I always go to The Abyss.

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.35
TRX 0.12
JST 0.040
BTC 70601.11
ETH 3576.21
USDT 1.00
SBD 4.78