After almost fifteen years away from theaters and 100 years on the sea floor, Titanic sailed back to the big screen in honor of the centennial of the tragic shipwreck.
James Cameron, director of the Titanic, decided to re-release Titanic in 2D, 3D, and Imax 3D starting April 4.
“There’s a whole generation that’s never seen Titanic as it was meant to be seen, on the big screen,” Cameron said in an interview with Hollywood Reporter. “And this will be Titanic as you’ve never seen it before, digitally remastered and painstakingly converted to 3D. With the emotional power intact and the images more powerful than ever, this will be an epic experience for fans and newcomers alike.”
The opening weekend of Titanic in 1997 made $600,788,188, putting it in second place for total box office money made behind Cameron’s Avatar, according to http://the–numbers.com.
“I think [the re-release] is a good idea, but nothing can replace the original. A lot of people will go see it because it’ll bring back the old Titanic and add some new effects,” Melanie Ross, sophomore, said.
Because Titanic is not action packed, some people are confused as to what will be in 3D, and whether it will be much better than 2D.
“I guess the ship sinking [could be in 3D]. But not a lot could pop out because it’s mostly a romance,” Ross said.
Before Titanic could be converted into 3D, Cameron and his crew decided to remaster the 2D version.
“We started with ‘how do we make Titanic everything that it can be before we put it in 3D?’ So we cleaned it up and made it as pristine as possible before we even started the conversion process. So if you even watch it in 2D, it looks more amazing, I would say, than it did in ‘97 when it was first released,” Cameron said in a Titanic Featurette on the movie’s Facebook page.
As a tribute for the ship sinking on April 15, 1912, the 3D movie was released April 4, 2012 in the US.
“[The re-release] pays more memory to the lost lives of the Titanic and shows the tragedy. It’s one of the best steps they could have taken,” Becca Marshalla, junior, said.
As of April 9, Titanic 3D has made $19.3 million at the box office, so unlike the actual ship, the movie was a success and did not go under.