Titanic (1997 film) the United States; the official Hollywood premiere occurred on December 14, 1997, where "the big movie stars who attended the opening were enthusiastically gushing about the film to the world media". Including revenue from the 2012 and 2017 reissues, "Titanic" earned $659.4 million in North America and $1.528 billion in other countries, for a worldwide total of $2.187 billion. It became the highest-grossing film of all time worldwide in 1998, and remained so for twelve years, until "Avatar" (2009), also written and directed by Cameron, surpassed it in 2010. On March 1, 1998, it became the first film to earn
Titanic (1997 film) second best film of 1997. Almar Haflidason of the BBC wrote that "the sinking of the great ship is no secret, yet for many exceeded expectations in sheer scale and tragedy" and that "when you consider that [the film] tops a bum-numbing three-hour running time, then you have a truly impressive feat of entertainment achieved by Cameron". Joseph McBride of "Boxoffice Magazine" concluded, "To describe "Titanic" as the greatest disaster movie ever made is to sell it short. James Cameron's recreation of the 1912 sinking of the 'unsinkable' liner is one of the most magnificent pieces of serious popular entertainment