National Film RegistryLibrary of Congress · Inducted 2017
“James Cameron's epic retold the story of the great maritime disaster and made mega-stars of both its leads, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Their upstairs-downstairs romance transported the audience to another world and time via spectacular sweeping scenes in the bow of the ship and beyond.”
Selected for preservation as culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.
Directed by
James Cameron
Studio
Paramount Pictures · British Film Institute · 20th Century Studios · 195 min
Sources: Wikidata · Library of Congress · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Titanic arrived in December 1997 from Paramount and 20th Century Fox, directed by James Cameron at a then-unprecedented budget that made studios nervous ahead of release. It went on to dominate the box office worldwide and swept the Academy Awards, becoming a defining cinematic event of the decade. Its success reshaped expectations for large-scale romantic epics and cemented its stars as global names, making surviving 35mm material from the production a touchstone for collectors of 1990s studio filmmaking.
This cell centers on Rose DeWitt Bukater and Jack Dawson, the two figures whose bond forms the emotional spine of the entire picture. Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio's performances turned these characters into enduring cultural icons, and material bearing their names is among the most sought after from the film. A cell simply marked with their names points to the core of the love story itself, the pairing that audiences carried out of theaters and that continues to define the film's legacy in collector circles today.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Titanic (1997).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three complete frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges; spacing appears even and the punched edges look clean throughout the visible strip.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area, consistent with a two-track or mono optical format; Dolby Digital data blocks are visible in the inter-perforation gaps on the same edge, indicating a hybrid optical/Dolby Digital soundtrack configuration.
Base shows a cool blue-grey tint; the dye image appears warm and well-saturated with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
No visible splices, cue marks or heavy scratching are apparent in this capture.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be from the same continuous shot, and the content is consistent with the theatrical release print of the film on record.
Era check
The Kodak 5965 stock designation, hybrid Dolby Digital plus optical soundtrack, and positive colour print format are all consistent with a mid-to-late 1990s theatrical release print, matching the 1997 production date on record.
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000062592
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
