What Really Happened to Titanic?

Last Updated on February 15, 2023

After twenty-five years, James Cameron’s Titanic is still one of the biggest-grossing films of all time (number 8 on the all-time domestic list and number 3 on the international list – not adjusted for inflation) and an indisputable classic. Everyone assumed Cameron’s movie would be a flop back in 1997, with many claiming it would be the next Waterworld or Heaven’s Gate before it opened. To rub salt in the wound, the movie opened soft opposite the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, but then the movie displayed incredible staying power at the box office. This would become a recurring thing for Cameron, with Avatar: The Way of Water recently posting an underwhelming opening but then legging out to become one of the top ten highest-grossing movies of all time – and counting.

While we’ve already looked into Titanic’s troubled production (which infamously included Cameron and the crew getting dosed with PCP), in this episode of What Really Happened to this Movie, we take a look at this history behind the film. We look into the events surrounding the infamous sinking of the RMS Titanic, which happened on April 15th, 1912. We look into some of the real-life folks who were abroad the ship and found themselves dramatized on film, such as the famously “Unsinkable” Molly Brown, who Kathy Bates played. But were there are real-life folks that inspired Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet’s Jack and Rose? Or is this pure creation on Cameron’s behalf? And, given what we know a quarter century later, was the sinking of the Titanic portrayed in an accurate way? We dig into it with What Really Happened to Titanic, which is written by Brian Accardo, and edited and narrated by Adam Walton.

Do you think Titanic holds up all these years later? Let us know in the comments!