Titanic (1997): trivia & fun facts

Fun facts

• Titanic was initially in development at 20th Century Fox, but delays and a mounting budget resulted in Fox partnering with Paramount Pictures for financial help.
• After Enya declined an invitation to compose for the film, Cameron chose James Horner.
• Titanic's highest-grossing day was Saturday, February 14, 1998, on which it earned $13,048,711, more than eight weeks after its North American debut.
• With an initial worldwide gross of over $1.84 billion, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1997, Titanic was the first film to reach the billion-dollar mark, and was the highest-grossing film of all time until Cameron's next film, Avatar (2009), surpassed it in 2010.
• Van Ling portrayed real-life Chinese survivor Fang Lang; his backstory inspired Cameron to produce a documentary The Six, based on a group of Chinese survivors who survived the sinking.
• Re-releases pushed the worldwide theatrical total to $2.264 billion, making Titanic the second film to gross more than $2 billion worldwide after Avatar; as of 2026, it is the fifth-highest-grossing film.
• In a deleted scene, Cora and her family drown after they are trapped at the locked third-class gate.
• DiCaprio turned down the lead role in Boogie Nights (1997) to star in Titanic.
• In July 2024, Cameron said that the co-producer Jon Landau "bore the brunt of the studio pressure" when Titanic was made.
• For its second weekend, the film made $35.6 million, making it the biggest December weekend gross, replacing Scream 2.
• Additionally, the film reached the $400 million mark within 66 days, which was the fastest at the time, a record matched by Spider-Man in 2002.
• After an IMAX film, Titanica (1992), was made from footage of the Titanic wreck, Cameron sought Hollywood funding for his own expedition.
• Initially, DiCaprio did not want the role and refused to read his first romantic scene.
• In just 44 days, it became the fastest film to approach the $300 million mark at the domestic box office, surpassing the former record held by Jurassic Park, which took 67 days to do so.
• Cameron apologized on the DVD commentary, but stated that there were officers who fired gunshots to enforce the "women and children first" policy.

Source: Wikipedia

Play 10 questions. Test yourself on Titanic and see how everyone else answered.