It’s no secret that just before Titanic was released, it was projected to be a colossal failure. The word had gotten out about its massive budget, and the release date setbacks seemed to hint at a troubled production. But most of all, it was James Cameron, a director who had only done hyper-masculine science fiction-inflected action movies. And here he was trying his hat with a romantic historical epic? However, despite all the obvious red flags, it worked. It worked like gangbusters. In its opening weekend alone, Titanic made 120 million dollars, making the film itself an event. The movie stayed in theaters for almost a year and reportedly brought droves of devoted teenage girls into the theater that would spend entire days watching the film over and over. The soundtrack was also an enormous success. Celine Dion’s theme for the movie, “My Heart Will Go On,” dominated the pop charts. Its music video, peppered with clips from the movie, was repeatedly shown on MTV and VH1, creating a symbiotic relationship that only reinforced the fans spending more money on both the CD and additional tickets. Whether you loved it or hated it, 1998 was the year of Titanic.