A brand-new studio was built for the making of this film, at Popotla, near Rosarito Beach in Mexico, just 40km south of the international border. A giant tower crane was used for aerial tracking shots of the 90% scale model of Titanic that was built in the ocean. When this epic disaster film was not finished in time for its scheduled July 1997 release, shockwaves were sent through Hollywood; executives started wondering if a situation similar to that of Heaven's Gate would occur. The releasing studios 20th Century Fox (which handled the film's distribution outside the U.S.) and Paramount Pictures (which handled the U.S. distribution) panicked. With a budget of $200 million, Titanic became the costliest film of all time by mid-1997 (now the fifth most expensive movie ever). When director James Cameron delivered the film to Paramount, it ran over three hours and speculation arose whether he would work in Hollywood again. Cameron defended his production and threatened most executives that they were not going to shorten the film's length. Cameron admitted that he felt as though Titanic would be unsuccessful. Filming occurred from 16 September 1996 to 23 March 1997.
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