By FRANK SWERTLOW
Staff Reporter
Instead of steaming toward a jagged iceberg, the new “Titanic” is heading toward Hollywood box office history last week surpassing the $350 million mark domestically and garnering 14 Oscar nominations.
Some observers believe the film, which cost a record $200 million, could gross $1 billion or more just from the domestic and international box office not even counting video, global TV deals and soundtrack sales.
Written and directed by James Cameron for a record $200 million, “Titanic” started off as a Twentieth Century Fox Corp. project. But mounting production costs forced Fox to partner with Paramount Pictures, which got domestic distribution responsibilities while Fox kept control over international rights.
Despite the success of the film, there has been bad blood between the two studios. Paramount put up only $60 million of production costs but is getting 40 percent of revenues. Fox is reportedly considering filing suit against Paramount for selling the TV rights for a mere $30 million, or about half of what the film might have commanded.
What does the film’s success say about Hollywood and the film business? The Business Journal asked a collection of insiders for their thoughts.
Al Ruddy
Partner, Ruddy-Morgan Organization
Producer, “The Godfather,” “Walker, Texas Ranger”
If this was produced by Mario Kassar and Andy Vajna (“The Terminator”), they would have had Bruce Willis and Michelle Pfeiffer. By casting Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, it became a movie for 8- to 80-year-olds. It was genius to make this “Romeo and Juliet” on the backdrop of the Titanic. I give Fox a lot of credit for going with actors who were not box-office stars at the time the film was made. But in spite of the staggering success of this film, and even if Cameron came in with another $200 million budget, no one would want to jump. There is too much potential for a disaster.
Leonard Goldberg
President, Mandy Films
Former president, Twentieth Century Fox
With all the ancillary revenues in terms of worldwide pay TV, free TV and video, who knows what it will ultimately do. Just look at the album on the charts, it has been No. 1 for five weeks. That is an example of its power. Here you have a true filmmaker delivering his vision to the screen. I think what he has been able to do in this film is to blend the most modern technology and effects in a classical Romeo and Juliet love story. You have the best of the newest with the oldest. But when it come to budgets, I don’t think anybody walks in and says, “I want to do a $100 million film.” You come in and say, “I want to do this film and if you share this vision, you should support it.”
Marvin Antonowsky
Film marketing consultant
Former marketing president, Columbia Pictures
Before the picture was released, people were saying they were going to be very careful about budgets, but with the success of this film, they will be less careful. If you use a Jim Cameron as a director, you are sort of giving him a blank check. He’s never really been on budget. This film certainly underscores the trend toward co-productions, especially with all the $100 million budgets we’ve seen in recent years. It’s just a way of spreading the risk.
Charles Champlin
Retired arts editor
Los Angeles Times
Every once in a while a film ceases to be just a movie and it becomes a cultural artifact. “Jaws” was like that and so was “Schindler’s List” it became almost unpatriotic not to see that film. “Titanic” touched a nerve.
Big-budget movies are the curse of Hollywood. The major studios are going to continue to do them. They are trapped in a vice, trying to reach international audiences and the youth market. But with the budgets so high these days, you will continue to see co-productions. It is fiscally dangerous for one studio to take on the whole cost of one of these films.
Steve Cesinger
Managing director
Greif & Co. investment bank
It will bust a billion (in box office) with all the publicity. But I think the studios are going to be reluctant to put up this kind of money even though this raises the bar. Nobody wants this as a target to shoot for. All the major studios, however, like co-productions. It’s a way for them to hedge their bets.
Jeff Wald
President
Jeff Wald Entertainment
The film’s success really says a lot about the fascination with the Titanic. You had a built-in audience. It captured the public with a great love story, people dying with dignity, the band playing on deck. But big-budget movies in the future will still be a risky thing. Most executives don’t want to touch that kind of expense.
Dominick Dunne
Author
Former film producer
I think it succeeded because disaster is attractive and it happened a long time ago and you don’t have to mourn. But this is a film that surprised all of them in Hollywood. They were going to throw Cameron to the dogs. Now he will sweep the Academy Awards.
Robert Bucksbaum
Reel Source Inc.
We are expecting it do $510 million to $525 million domestically and $1.3 billion worldwide. It’s a film that comes around once every century, like “Gone With the Wind.”
Mike Medavoy
Chairman
Phoenix Pictures
It is a hit because it is a love story and younger girls, especially under the age of 17, are going back to see it several times. It’s become a spectacle and there is a curiosity in seeing it.
