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 (1997) arrived as one of the most ambitious productions of its decade, a Paramount and Twentieth Century Fox release directed by James Cameron that fused historical spectacle with a sweeping romantic narrative. Its enormous budget, technical achievement, and box office dominance made it a defining cinematic event of the 1990s, sweeping the Academy Awards and cementing its place in popular culture for generations of viewers who returned to it again and again.
This cell preserves the title card, the frame where the film's name is presented to the audience before the story unfolds. Title cards mark a threshold moment, the transition from anticipation to immersion, and collectors prize them as the purest distillation of a film's identity on celluloid. For a production of this scale, holding the title card means holding the very announcement of the voyage about to be told, a piece of film history stripped to its essential branding.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm colour release print of Titanic (1997).
Gauge
35mm, confirmed by 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 holes appear cleanly cut with no visible tearing.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along one edge beside the picture area; Dolby Digital data blocks are not clearly distinguishable at this size, and no DTS timecode line or SDDS outer-edge tracks are visible in this capture.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture.
Base & colour
The base shows a blue-tinted clear stock; the dye image reads as a strong blue-dominant colour positive with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
Several fine horizontal lines are visible across the frame area consistent with projection wear; no splices or cue marks are seen.
Picture
Positive colour image; the three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single title-card shot, and the 'TITANIC' title lettering is consistent with the film on record.
Era check
A 35mm colour positive release print with a variable-area optical soundtrack and blue-tinted base stock is consistent with a mid-to-late 1990s theatrical release print of Titanic (1997).
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 000062642
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
