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Titanic 3D! The film version you never knew you needed!
Yes, James Cameron‘s 1997 classic disaster movie – which also thought it might’ve sunk the film studio at the time – has been re-released in 3D, and not for the first time.
The film originally came to the UK in January 1998, and then had a centennial re-release in April 2012, which was also in 3D, but was sort-of cropped to 1.85:1. I say ‘sort-of’, because all the non-CGI scenes were filmed in Super 35, so could open up to that ratio. However, since the meat of the film is about an unsinkable ship sinking, almost all of those shots were composed for 2.39:1, and were cropped accordingly.
I haven’t seen that version, but I was glad that this 25th Anniversary release was in the original 2.39:1 theatrical ratio, since while I’ve seen some shots from the 2012 version, the 2.39:1 aspect ratio suits the film’s framing better.
I won’t go into a huge amount of description about the film because everyone knows this is Cameron’s epic account of the night that the RMS Titanic went too fast on its maiden voyage and hit an iceberg, rupturing the underside of the ship’s head and letting enough water in to make it sink. There can’t be many people on the planet who don’t know that the ship didn’t quite make it to its destination, but rather took a diversion to the ocean bed, and now Bill Paxton (Weird Science) is trying to retrieve some of its goodies.
What isn’t yet solved is whether both Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio – Don’t Look Up) and Rose (Kate Winslet – I Am Ruth) could’ve both fitted on the door in their final scene together. So many diagrams show that it’s possible, but while watching the film again, I can see that as Jack climbs aboard, it starts to unsettle and, thus, would’ve also sunk with the pair on it. So, the door is fine for the size of it, but the weight would be too much. So, I can resolve this. The answer is a resounding: No.
That said, they didn’t try too hard.
So, onto the 3D, and quite early on, I noticed the 3D doesn’t work in slow panning shots, such as the introductory scene for present-day Rose’s house, where she lives with her daughter, and having looked up elder Rose, aka Gloria Stuart, I see she lived to a perfect century, albeit sadly passing away in 2010.
But about the 3D, and sometimes, elements in the foreground are like what I call ‘cardboard cut-out 3D’, with everything looking like its’ just stuck onscreen.
When you get someone’s face close-up and is filling the screen, there’s no depth element, so this moment doesn’t require the 3D glasses, and you can enjoy the pristine 4K restoration that this film’s been given. THAT is the great benefit of this new presentation. However, I look forward to the eventual release of a boxset which contains both the film in 4K and 3D. I know the restoration is a 4K 3D transfer, but the spec of 3D Blu-ray doesn’t allow for such an option, so it’s either 4K, or 1080p 3D (ie. 2K)
At the time of the original film’s release, it was good in showing Kate Winslet’s Rose as a role model, since she’s not a skinny woman, but is perfectly fine as she is. In fact, when I saw her in the film the first time round, and she ended up with tousled wet hair, she was so hot I wanted to marry her. 😀
Now, about the drawing scene: You get to see Kate’s breasts in 3D!
Okay, I’m being daft, but just enjoy the 4K picture, and don’t worry about the 3D, since it’s completely pointless.
Apparently this new restoration has been done in HDR, and looks all the better for it. I had read it was also shown in some cinemas in HFR (high frame-rate). Such a thing made The Hobbit movies look fantastic, but James Cameron’s own Avatar: The Way Of Water was treated in such a hit-and-miss manner as I described. Since Titanic wasn’t shot with either 3D or HFR in mind, neither particularly suit this film. Just spruce it up in 4K, as you have done, and show it on the biggest screen possible!
Titanic also works out as being the second longest film I’ve ever seen in the cinema, at around 3hrs 15mins, and is just 14 seconds shorter than Schindler’s List. That said, if I was to see SL again in the cinema, it depends at what point you pay a visit to the loo before the film starts, to decide which one led to the longest time before paying another visit again…
I usually do that when the ads finish, and the trailers start (which can be an indeterminate amount, so you’ve got anywhere from 5-15 minutes before the film starts from this point), so if there were less trailers for SL, for example, then watching Titanic would lead to a longer time between pointing Percy at the porcelain.
A moot point unless Cineworld are going to show SL again, and I didn’t time how long the time was between returning and the film starting. It was released at the end of 1993, so the 30th anniversary is coming round, and I recently saw it again on BBC2, albeit for the first time in ages. If it does get shown, however, I think it would be worth another look on the big screen.
Now, a point about a certain audience member. I was sat in screen 8 (which is massive!), in the middle of a row not far from the front, so the entire screen was smack-bang in my face. However, a family of four were sat on the left-hand end of this row – and I’ll never understand why some people select a bunch of seats and purposely sit at the end, and not more central.
There was a man, his wife (presumably) and two kids. For the most part, everything was fine, but for the last hour, the man used his phone for almost the entire time. And even though he was quite some distance away, I still caught the bright light from his phone in my direction, and this comes after the cinema tells you NOT to use your phone during the film, because it can be distracting! He was clearly bored, yet still sat in there, playing on his phone. If you’re not watching the film, go outside and take a more comfy seat in the bar!
Titanic 3D is in cinemas now, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on any home format.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 195 minutes (well, 194:54)
Release date: February 10th 2023
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Format: 2.39:1 (Dolby Vision – 20th Anniversary release), Super 35, Techniscope (underwater scenes)
Cinema: Cineworld Didsbury
Rating: 10/10
Director: James Cameron
Producers: James Cameron, Jon Landau
Screenplay: James Cameron
Music: James Horner
Cast:
Jack Dawson: Leonardo DiCaprio
Rose Dewitt Bukater: Kate Winslet
Cal Hockley: Billy Zane
Holly Brown: Kathy Bates
Ruth Dewitt Bukater: Frances Fisher
Captain Smith: Bernard Hill
Bruce Ismay: Jonathan Hyde
Fabrizio: Danny Nucci
Old Rose: Gloria Stuart
Spicer Lovejoy: David Warner
Thomas Andrews: Victor Garber
Brock Lovett: Bill Paxton
Lizzy Calvert: Suzy Amis
Fifth Officer Lowe: Ioan Gruffudd
Titanic Orchestra: I Salonisti
Steerage Band: Gaelic Storm
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.