I would not miss it for anything. Titanic is a gift that keeps on giving, and gifting us with another chance of theatrical experience. There were two magic words which made my heart beat faster when I've heard them when I was a kid, and those were "James Cameron". At the time I couldn't articulate it, but I felt that somehow his movies were so, so, so very different than anyone else's, so incomparably more immersive, more emotional, more heart pumping. And so, even thought I have been and still am a major science fiction fan since being a kid (an interest leading me to a path of a designer), I could not wait to see Titanic back in 1997 because it was James Cameron's film, and that man made magic. But by the time the film hit theaters, showing were sold out left and right for weeks if not months and it became a worldwide cultural phenomenon like nothing I've ever witnessed before or since. It was on the cover of everything, from Film magazines, to newspapers, to house guides to just about anything that wasn't related to engines or cooking (and even those had stories on the film). It was something that bonded everybody - all of your your friends had seen it, people in the convenience stories were talking about it, your teachers were talking about it, your friends' parents were talking about it, your grandparents were talking about it, your older siblings were talking about it, your neighbors, people walking the dogs out, people on bus stops - even construction workers. It was a phenomenon everyone was blown away by, a phenomenon which bonded everyone together. Everyone was saying how it was unlike anything you've ever seen, and until you actually saw it you don't really get how unlike anything else it really is. This worldwide Titanic mania made the movie the biggest movie in history so far beyond any movie that was ever made that it seemed impossible. And to this day, while all the other films on the top 10 Highest Grossing Films of All Time list are from few years back, Titanic, even unadjusted for inflation (!) is still on the 3rd spot being from 1997! And the Academy Award ceremony with Titanic, which is to this day the most watched Ceremony ever, gave it the record number of Oscar statuettes. The movie is also still the one that had the most magazine covers and media coverage than any other.
But those are just words and you can't really describe how massive that movie was, how it ignited and beat every record in every country around the globe. Sure, there have been movies that were very, very hyped (like Star Wars Episode I) and very anticipated, but there was nothing like this or even close before or after it. I've been told by people much older than myself that only the original 1977 Star Wars had something similar going on at the time.
I understood what everyone meant by "you can't describe it, it's like nothing else you've ever seen" when I saw it as a 12 year old in early 1998. The movie is incredibly emotional, the action so unbearably intense that it was hard for me to take it and I was afraid to ever watch it again. It was that intense and emotionally wrenching. First half of the movie conveys the feeling of the greatest, magical sense of joy and happiness a movie can project (The scene in which Titanic goes full speed, ending with the "King of the World" quote is a perfection for me and one of the most joyful scenes in the history of cinema), while the second half of the movie puts all the action movies and blockbusters to shame with its heart stopping, breath stealing non stop grand action. And the music is pure magic which cannot be described.
Right after I saw it it became by far my favorite movie of all time, even thought I was a sci fi fan there was no denying this was so much more beyond a regular movie experience, nothing compared. And to this day I stand by this statement - still nothing comes close.
Back then the movie moved me and drenched me emotionally so much I didn't think then that I'd ever be ready to revisit it again, it felt like living through the sinking experience.
Years passed and by the time I was nearing my 20s in early 2000s, I had completely lost interest in movies. At the time I didn't know why, I thought I just lost a thing for movies and going to see movies with my friends was always a chore for me. One time I told them I just cant get into movies, and that I guess I'm just not a movie guy anymore. But in hindsight, what was in theaters was ok at best and nothing really cold match the greats made in the previous decades (at least not at that point). Sure, there were good movies, but nothing that could sweep me away, wow me. Then one night in 2007 while walking in New York City I decided to buy Titanic DVD and see it again. To make things short, by the time the movie ended I realized not only that I just finished watching a movie (a fact I was unaware of, I was so immersed in it), but that for an unknown amount of time I wasn't breathing and my knuckles were white from grasping my chair with all my strength. I could not believe a movie, or that anything really, could be so immersive and completely take me out of reality and into that journey. My jaw dropped again, 10 years after seeing it for the first time. It's then that I felt a need to rush to a Jim Cameron fansite and chat with other fans about our experiences with his films, only to find out there aren't really any, and so, after a quick course, I started my own, which is of course, JamesCameronOnline.com
When Avatar hit theaters and I saw Real 3D for the first time, it was very hard to go back to flat screens. Its like losing a color for me. I remember wishing that Titanic and T2 would have been in 3D, knowing, or rather, thinking that it was impossible. Of course when Titanic 3D premiered in 2012 I went to the pre-premiere with my entire family, and subsequently got a 3D tv and a (signed) Titanic 3D bluray. The re-release 3D itself made more money internationally than its then-contemporary Hunger Games!!! (nearly $300 mln)
Now, in 2023, at 37, here I had the chance to finally see it again on the big screen, and in 3D, this time with my wife and mother of my children, who knows the movie by memory like me, but haven't seen it in theaters yet. And the amazing thing is, the theater was filled with people of different nationalities, races, and the age of the viewers ranged from 8-60. There were old ladies, middle aged couples, families, brothers, group of teenagers. As always, it was a thrill to be immersed in this Titanic experience - I always called it an experience, because it's so much more than a movie. And at the end, people clapped and cheered. Like they did in 1998. Like they did in 2012.
