Titanic is a 1997 romantic drama/disaster film directed, written and co-produced by James Cameron about the sinking of the RMS Titanic. It stars Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Jack Dawson respectively, members of different social classes who fall in love aboard the ill-fated 1912 maiden voyage of the ship. Bill Paxton plays Brock Lovett, the leader of a treasure hunting expedition, while Gloria Stuart has the role of the elderly Rose, who narrates the story in 1996. The film co-stars Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Caledon Hockley, Kathy Bates as Margaret "Molly" Brown, Frances Fisher as Rose's mother, Ruth, and Danny Nucci as Jack's best friend, Fabrizio De Rossi.
Because Titanic was not completed in mid-1997, problems rose in Hollywood and there was discussion of trimming its length, but director Cameron fought to release it without additional editing. It was released to North America in theatres by Paramount Pictures (worldwide by 20th Century Fox) on December 19, 1997, and while it performed well in its first weekend, it was not until the new year that the film would reach its highest ticket sales. Unadjusted for inflation, it holds the record for the highest-grossing film of all time, generating over US$1.8 billion worldwide. In 1998 it was nominated for fourteen Academy Awards and won eleven, including the title of 1997's Best Picture (the second Paramount/Fox co-production with that honor in 3 years after 1995's Braveheart). Titanic shares the record for the most Academy Award wins with Ben-Hur (1959) and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003).