‘Titanic’ Gets Immersive Makeover for 25th Anniversary as James Cameron Admits That Jack “Might Have Lived” if Rose Let Him Onto the Door

It has been a quarter of a century since James Cameron’s Titanic charged past 1939’s Gone with the Wind to become the top-grossing film of all time.

The 11-time Oscar-winning film was eventually surpassed by Avatar — which might soon be eclipsed by its sequel, Avatar: The Way of Water — both from the self-professed “king of the world” — a line Cameron repurposed from Titanic when he accepted the golden statuette for best director.

Titanic and its star-crossed lovers — first-class passenger Rose DeWitt Bukater (Kate Winslet) and poor artist Jack Dawson (Leonardo DiCaprio) — were resurrected in 2012, when the 3D re-release pushed the film’s earnings past US$2 billion.

Now, just in time for Valentine’s Day and the 25th anniversary, another remastered re-release pulls into port. Catch Winslet and DiCaprio’s adorable baby faces in 3D, as well as 4K, for crisper images, and high dynamic range, for better colour, all at 48 frames a second rather than the standard 24, which reduces blur.

Viewers don’t need to understand the technical terms to watch Jack’s and Rose’s hearts go on (and on) aboard the cursed ship. Maybe the new version will finally solve the internet’s greatest debate about whether Jack could have survived on that floating door, if only Rose had scooched over just a tad.  

UPDATE: In fact, since the publication of this story, James Cameron himself admitted — after conducting a series of tests that recreated that famous scene with the floating door for a National Geographic special around the 25th anniversary of the film — that Jack could have survived if Rose allowed him room to get up onto the door.

National Geographic conducted four different test scenarios using stunt people, including one where Jack pulls himself up out of the water and onto the floating door.

“Out of the water and violent shaking was helping him, and projecting it out, he could have made it pretty long. Like, hours.” Cameron noted.

Later, he admitted, “He got into a place where … he just might have made it until the lifeboat got there.

“Jack might have lived, but there’s a lot of variables.” — Mike Crisolago

A version of this article appeared in the Feb/March 2022 issue with the headline “Raising the Titanic,” p. 18

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