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How did Titanic do it?

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C

Cubsfan23

Banned
http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=weekend&id=titanic.htm

Opening Weekend: Only 29 million, highest weekend gross was 36 million
3 hours long
Highest theatre count was around 3,200 (Spiderman 2 opened with 4300, for comparison)

If you were to show these facts to somebody living under a rock, they would say Titanic made $150 million, tops.

Also Titanic was #1 its first 17 weeks. Anybody know the movie that stopped its run?
 
S

siege

Banned
Good word of mouth, repeat viewings from teenage girls, and simply nothing else worth a shit playing during it's run.
 
A

AeroGod

Member
Word of mouth from teenage boys. You could see nudity and hear the word 'fuck" a few times without having to sneak into an R rated movie.

Im convinced that somewhere, somehow there was a "conspicuous exchange of currency" to get his movie a PG-13 rating.
 
M

Manders

Banned
Girls loved that crap. That's got to be how it earned that much. I remember talking to a female friend of mine back in high school when the movie came out and she was saying how her friends and her saw it EVERY weekend since it opened. That's sad. I'm sure there were lots of girls like that.

Luckily, I never saw the crap in the theater. Didn't see it until my ex-girlfriend forced me to. I hated it.
 
M

MIMIC

Banned
I really don't understand this "the girls really loved it" argument. The movie appealed to a much wider audience than just "teenage girls."
 
A

AeroGod

Member
LotR, Matrix, Harry Potter, Shrek, and Spider-Man fanboys excuse. LOL. Your collective fanboyism is owned by prissy teenage girls and Leo's adorable angle-like face. FEEL OWNED
 
M

MIMIC

Banned
AeroGod said:
LotR, Matrix, Harry Potter, Shrek, and Spider-Man fanboys excuse. LOL. Your collective fanboyism is owned by prissy teenage girls and Leo's adorable angle-like face. FEEL OWNED
Click to expand...


lol
 
Alcibiades

Alcibiades

Member
Don't forget that it didn't have almost any serious competition for several months outside of Tomorrow Never Dies and Spice World...

it was the only big movie for a long while, nowadays, tons of big, good, expensive, marketed movies are released during the Jan-March dates...
 
M

Mau_Mau

Banned
It wasn't just girls that the movie appealed to. Girls (uh, women) came for the romance, guys came to see a giant ship sink via special effects. The success of Titantic is due to the fact that it appealed to a very broad audience - young, old, even elderly could go to this movie and enjoy it.
 
W

Warm Machine

Member
Titanic appealed to a worldwide audience and was also of interest to all age groups and demographics. The true story of the Titanic was interesting enough as we have all heard of it...then bring in a realization of the disaster itself though the effects...topped with a love story that weaves its way through the geography of the ship as well as the events that actually took place, added up to a hook for people to see it and go for repeat viewings.

The hype that it was the most expensive movie ever made probably helped bring in the viewers too, though the same didn't work for Waterworld. James Cameron's name probably brought in the 20 something male crowd looking for a spectacular technical achievement and Leo and Winslett brought the girls and ladies in.

There has to be a story and a combination of talent out there that can do the same. That or we'll have to wait until ticket prices get higher and more theaters are built for that record to be broken.
 
M

Mugen

Banned
It's funny cause Titanic, before it came out, was predicted to bomb in the box office. Why? Because (1) It cost $100M to make, the highest investment ever in history at the time. (2) James Cameron isn't proven in the realm of non-action movies. Most people thought that investing $100M in a love/wreckage movie isn't worth it. (3) Leo and Kate Winslet was still not as popular then. What was the biggest movie Leo starred in before Titanic? Romeo and Juliet. So everybody was saying it's such a huge risk to invest $100M to a movie that doesn't have a big star.

But then it owned everything in its path, in ticket sales and in awards. Making James Cameron, 'the King of the World', like he just said.

But how did Titanic do it? My guess is good word of mouth and it IS a great film. Though I didn't see it myself in the theaters, I kinda regret that I didn't. Cause I think it's a great film too.

edit: It's $200M not $100M.
 
P

Prospero

Member
It's also easy to forget the fact that Titanic had un-freakin'-believable visual effects that warranted repeat viewings (at least that's why I went to see it twice). Not just the ship itself, but the CG water (which, believe it or not, was one of the reasons that the film's release was delayed for six months). The effects in that film still hold up today.
 
F

Firest0rm

Member
Scoobert said:
Still haven't seen it, lol. I'm probably the only one, haha.
Click to expand...

Your not alone. I've seen like 15 minutes of it and that was enough for me. I really can't stand love stories. All they do is act as interefences i the movies.
 
F

FortNinety

Member
Yeah, I still can't understand how it got a PG-13 with such nudity.

Not that I'm complaining of course... I think Kate Winslet is hot. :)
 
A

AeroGod

Member
DonasaurusRex said:
Wanna know how Titanic did it? Not as many people on broadband , and less filesharing systems.
Click to expand...

Brilliant deduction. So simple, yet something that slipped my mind.
 
D

Doogdogg

Member
Mostly are repeat viewers. I remember watching Entertainment Tonight (ET) when some family alledgedly said that they seen it over 100 times.
 
W

Warm Machine

Member
truesayian said:
My only thing with the movie is after they spent all that money.. 200million,..... the boat still sank...
Click to expand...

In the Titanic story, it isn't that the boat sinks that is interesting, it is the why and the how that is interesting.
 
M

Mr Gump

Banned
The only thing that disappoints me is the fact that the dvd has such abysmal (read: no) extras. The film had such huge potential for a great special features package and we get nothing.

I would own the dvd otherwise.
 
N

Naked Snake

Member
Mr Gump said:
The only thing that disappoints me is the fact that the dvd has such abysmal (read: no) extras. The film had such huge potential for a great special features package and we get nothing.

I would own the dvd otherwise.
Click to expand...

A special edition DVD is in the works, should come out next year or something, I expect something REALLY GOOD, can't wait.
 
E

effzee

Member
its just the cool thing to hate it now...it got so popular and made so much money...that the only logical progression was....actually hate.
 
S

Shinobi

Member
effzee said:
its just the cool thing to hate it now...
Click to expand...

Now? Males were hating on that movie by the end of January. Of course most of 'em were so pussy whipped they got dragged into watch it a half dozen times anyway.

Titanic's success is the ultimate anomaly, yet it's one I've been fascinated with for years despite my complete lack of interest in the movie itself. Titanic was expected to bomb Hiroshima style, and there were many people laughing at Cameron's ass in the lead up to it's release due to the absolutely ridiculous budget of $200 million. It's opening weekend in the US was barely more then an opening day figure for most blockbusters these days. Yet it not only saw a $7 million jump from week 2 to 3 (28.7 to 36) which just doesn't happen, it also saw a $10 million jump from 23 to a shade under 33 from week 6 to 7 (possibly the time it's Oscar nominations came in). That's just flat out retarded. Not to mention making $15 million or more for 13 straight weeks.

The numbers simply boggle the mind...before Return of the King, Titanic was the only movie to break into the billion dollar barrier for worldwide gross, and it virtually doubled the next nearest movie at 1.8 bill. In the US it's not only the only movie in the $500 million club, it's also the only movie in the $600 million bracket. Even when adjusted for inflation, Titanic ranks 6th all time.

The only movie made in the last twenty plus years that approaches it is ET in 1982 (which is 4th), but that had two runnings. Things like this is why I say it'll be 15 years before Titanic is beaten or even touched, both domestically and internationally.
 
E

etiolate

Banned
I really don't understand this "the girls really loved it" argument. The movie appealed to a much wider audience than just "teenage girls."
Click to expand...

Yes, older girls, too.

Really, young girls spend a lot of money. Think of all those mall clothing stores which prey upon young women and girls. Now apply that to movies. That's a huge influx of spending power.

I can't think of one single guy I know in real life who speaks fondly of the movie. Most didn't see it till it came out on video. I didn't see it till then myself. The movie just pounced upon a formula for attention. Pearl Harbor is the exact same movie in a different setting. The only difference was the director attached to the movie and thus the critics fondness attached to one movie and not the other. Having seen both, I don't know how one can decipher a quality difference between them. Ship you know is going to sink or Island you know is going to be bombed? Love story of boy and girl or love story of boy and girl? Celine Dion or Faith Hill? Teen heart throb Leo or Teen heart throbs Afleck and Whateverhis face?
 
X

XS+

Banned
Can't wait to see what movie beats Titanic's international records, if it ever happens. Looking at the success of LotR or Spiderman (or Shrek 2, it might make a staggering $420M+ domestic at the end of the day), I'd say it's possible for a genre-breaking movie to come along one day and reach or top $600M domestic. But a movie that appeals to enough audiences worldwide to gross $2B? That shouldn't have happened with Titanic and it won't happen anytime soon.
 
B

Bregor

Member
For those who say that it's success is based entirely upon repeat viewings by teenage girls, could you please present some evidence to back this up?
 
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