Titanic's Reign is Almost Over

In other words, James Cameron is sinking his own ship. With his sci-fi adventure film, Avatar, James Cameron is bringing audiences back to theaters, over and over to experience what it would be like to visit an alien world. The film, starring Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana has earned a whopping 1.8 to 1.9 billion dollars, worldwide so far. That means, Cameron has already beaten Titanic as far as the global box office is concerned. Domestically, in the United States, the success rate seems to be a lot slower. This may have something to do with the US economy right now. It may have something to do with the extreme ticket prices to see Avatar as it was meant to be seen - in RealD 3D, Digital 3D and IMAX 3D (the $3.00 to $6.00 extra doesn't help). But, Avatar is on a clear path to completely sinking the great Titanic before March.

The first question you might ask is how can this one filmmaker do something that so many others have been trying to do for the last 12 years? How can this one filmmaker write and direct one of the most successful films ever made, take a decade-long vacation and come back with another equally successful phenomenon?

James Cameron is a master filmmaker. That's why. With his first truly great film, The Terminator, Cameron made Arnold Schwarzenegger into a superstar and created one of the silver screen's greatest villains. He broke new ground by making Sigourney Weaver into the first truly great movie heroine in Aliens. The actress, who also plays Grace in Cameron's Avatar, was rewarded with a Best Actress nomination at the 1986 Academy Awards - another first for a sci-fi/horror film. In Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Cameron proved how great and essential computer graphics or CGI could be used in a movie with his vision of the liquid metal, killer cyborg, the T-1000. On top of that, the film was so expertly written, paced and directed, Cameron changed the way action movies were made forever.

That brings us to the most hyped, most beloved, most scrutinized film of the past 20 years, Cameron's own, Titanic. The film was not an instant success. It took Titanic 15 weeks at #1 to reach the incredible heights of 1.8 billion dollars worldwide. The stars, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet would become household names. For Leo, the success of Titanic made him far more than well-known. There was a rush of teenage girls who fell in love with Leo or should I say, his Titanic character, Jack Dawson. Unfortunately, since Jack and Leo share the same face, DiCaprio took the blunt of what they called, "Leo-madness."

This was just one thing that ended up working against this extraordinary film. Another element in Titanic's success that inevitably hurt its reputation was the theme song, My Heart Will Go On by Celine Dion. Many fans of the film, including those same Leo-obsessed teenagers requested radio stations play the beautiful Celine Dion theme song almost every hour on the hour during Titanic's entire duration in theaters. Did its extreme popularity change the fact that My Heart Will Go On was one of the best theme songs for a movie ever made? Yes and no.

Due to what you might call, these 'black-eyes', a horde of haters took refuge in their contempt for Titanic, and lobbied against the film in a backlash that lasted for well over 10 years. Did this masterpiece of a film deserve so much hate? Well, that's what this article is all about. I'm going to discuss why it may be the most beneficial thing for the lasting memory and greatness of Titanic that Avatar dethrones it as the world's most beloved film.

These haters have scrutinized Titanic so much so that they've turned fans against the film. They've high-lighted the most common imperfections of any film as if they were a gold mine for references. They've made it fun to poke fun of this truly astounding filmmaking achievement.

Since it's been happening to Titanic for the last 12 years, I expect Avatar will be put under a similar microscope.

Could the love of Titanic change since it is no longer the No. 1 box office champ of all time? Why would it? The film itself isn't going to change one bit.

Will some of those haters look at Titanic differently now?

The hype is completely gone. Leonardo DiCaprio has completely moved on. It's hard to even recognize him as the Jack Dawson those teenage girls fell in love with all those years ago. The haters have successfully made Celine Dion's career and her most famous song into a running joke among the general public.

Is it possible that the lack of hype may help Titanic? This could be a great possibility, considering the fact that so much amazing praise and hatred could cloud anyone's vision. Audiences should be able to look back at Titanic with pure, clear and unaltered perspectives - only then, can they truly appreciate what they're watching and experiencing. And, Titanic is a movie that everyone should see once in their lives. Titanic truly does live up to all of the hype. It truly is one of the greatest films ever made.

Some true fans of Titanic, the real devoted lovers of the film - people who have dealt with all of this hatred, head-on - have been expressing their disappointment that Titanic is no longer the champion. But, as a James Cameron fan myself, I can't find many good reasons to be upset over the displacement of Titanic. In fact, as this article proves, I'm actually happy for Titanic now that it's no longer the subject of extreme scrutiny. New movie-goers can see Titanic as I did in the theater for the first time - from a pure, untarnished perspective. Hopefully, they will see what I saw. Hopefully, they can appreciate what so many technicians, and artists did to bring such a phenomenal work of art to the silver screen.

So, in the end, I'm happy for James Cameron. He's done so much for filmmaking - and Avatar is no exception. He has proved that Titanic's success was not due to one actor or song or particular storyline. He has shown audences that it was his skills as a master craftsman that made Titanic the great film we love today. So, I'm also glad Avatar is going to be the new box office champ for Titanic's sake. You have to give credit where credit is deserved. And, Avatar shows us that all of the credit for Titanic belongs to the man with the vision, James Cameron.