Genre: Romance?/Adventure.
Studio:
Twentieth Century Fox, with the possibility Paramount Pictures may also distribute the film.
Production Company:
Most likely Lightstorm Entertainment.
Project Phase: In Development Hell?
Who's In It:
No one is confirmed, but names of actors from the first picture that have been mentioned as "worth pursuing" are Bill
Paxton, Suzy Amis, Gloria Stuart, Kathy Bates, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.
Who's Making It:
Unknown.
Premise: See Scoop Feedback.
Release Date: Unknown. Speculated 2002 release date by our sources.
Comments: With the first film now the number one box office grossing film of all time and tying the record for winning the most number of Oscars ever, the most expensive picture made (so far) has earned itself numerous distinctions for the history books. But the impetus of that success lies with visionary James Cameron, the director/producer/writer who first imagined the epic tale the world has embraced.
But with Titanic monsterous success, talk has already started of a possible sequel. Can it live up to the audience expectations? Should there be a sequel in the first place?? And, most importantly, will Cameron be a part of it???
Rumors & Scoop Feedback:
April 1, 1998... Because of the unique nature of this project, CA has combined the two sections into one. Our sources for this information come from three camps: inside Twentieth Century Fox, inside Paramount Pictures, and inside Lightstorm Entertainment. All three sources will remain anonymous.
According to our database, the start of the rumors concerning a sequel to Titanic first began in late January. Two scoopers submitted emails to CA informing us that there was talk of a new Titanic project in the works. We dismissed this claim, since we couldn't imagine how you'd even try to think about concocting a sequel to the picture. The ship sinks, right? Duh!
One of the scoopers, 'Termite', works in Digital Domain, the FX firm Cameron is co-owner of. After exchanging emails, 'Termite' later changed their tune. The new Titanic project seemed to be the proto-stages of a "Director's Cut" of the original film. About a half-hour of new footage would be inserted, and the latest word at that time was that the DC would be released about six months after the regular video release of the current version. [Thanks to 'Jack Daniels' and 'Termite' for their digital sleuthing.]
But in mid-March, we heard from a long-time source within Fox (let's call him...well, 'Fox') who told us executives in the upper echelons of management had met to discuss the feasibility of creating a sequel to Titanic. Our source agreed to speak publically as long as his name wouldn't be revealed:
"This all comes from a friend, but one who's completely trustworthy. She showed me the memo the team sent out so I know it's the real deal. The rest comes from her recollection of the typewritten notes she filed later that week.
Four weeks ago my friend [I'll call her Jane but that's not her real name] took over the personal assistant job of a high-level Fox VP (can't name!) because the regular ass't broke both of his legs while on a skiing vacation, so he's off for a couple of months. Anyway she's filling in and according to her, some top level suits in Fox want to give the go-ahead for a sequel to the biggest film of all time, Titanic. They had a one hour-fifteen minute meeting last week and want to start discussions right now but not begin full-fledged pre-production or commission a script. The biggest problem these guys face is pulling this off without making it sound like milking a cash cow.
The plan is to approach Cameron and try to get his blessing for it. If that works they'll send out 'feelers' to the main stars who were in the first one. Depending on who gets interested, they'll develop a storyline from thereon.
My friend remembers there being two ideas mentioned for the sequel: making it set during the present day with 'flashback' bookends to the young Kate Winslet character. The second idea was having it set totally in the present but with cameos by Kate and Leo in the modern day. She said this idea sounded like an attempt to remake Ghost, but who knows?"
This was damn interesting because we remember what an MGM mole told us just the week before. According to that person Fox had brought up the idea of a three-way studio deal involving Cameron and the proposed Spider-Man movie. If the story holds water (pun intended), Fox would like to co-develop Spider-Man with MGM with Cameron as director and they'd give MGM a "unprecedented" deal. But that all depended on whether or not Cameron would work on a future Paramount-Fox project. Could that be Titanic 2??
Finally, 'Termite' surfaced again with more Digital Domain news. One of the running gags inside DigDom is to see who can come up with the corniest idea for a Titanic 2. "It's a joke because everyone thought no one would be serious about such a thing," 'Termite' wrote to CA this time. "But that was until yesterday. I was kidding to my supervisor and coming up with another 'crazy assed' scenario -- it's kinda been a game here ever since the movie became huge. Like 'Rose hunts down Aliens in the sequel which would be called Titanics' Anyway, I had just made a remark about how if anyone was to really try to do a sequel, they should make it so that Old Rose never told her granddaughter she got pregnant with Jack Dawson's child on the night the ship went down (remember they made love in the bakcseat of that car?) So my theory was that Old Rose would tell her her granddaughter was related to Jack. Then you could have this whole angle where Suzy Amis' character (Rose's granddaughter in the first film) kept having dreams or visions of Jack's ghost. And I said you could have your action too, because the descendants of Billy Zane's character would be after the Heart of the Ocean diamond that Old Rose threw overboard in the first film. It was rough and off the top of my head, but it was where I'd start any sequel from.
"Well, no sooner than I had finished this train of thought when my supervisor looked at me straight in the eye and said I'd better keep it to myself, since word is something pretty close to that could be going down sooner than I thought. I asked him what he meant but he made the 'zipped lips' move. After working five months on FX from The Fifth Element I knew I wasn't getting anything else out of him."
The 'zipped lips' move (pretending like you're 'zipping up' an imaginary zipper running across your mouth) is a running in-joke at DigDom. When the FX teams talk shop and the subject of a sensitive or secret story element comes around, they do this. Everyone working there understands it means the person knows something cool but that revealing it would mean the loss of their job if word of it ever spread around.
If this is accurate, then sometime late this year Fox may be announcing its intentions for working on a sequel to Cameron's magnum opus. But will Cameron be a part of it??
[Thanks to 'Hudson' un-doing his zipper.]
Again, the first scooper to inform us of this project then returned yesterday to report a late-breaking development. "My friend heard buzz from her boss that someone's approached Leonardo DiCaprio while he's over in Europe promoting Man in the Iron Mask. Now that Titanic has made Leo's name Fox feels that if it can't get him for the follow-up they won't commit. Huge star = box office, and they know Leo can sell tickets to the female youth crowd. They want Cameron involved in at least an executive capacity, maybe getting Kathryn Bigelow to direct the film if Cameron passes (they think he will). They've already spoken to some of the show's surviving cast members, including Kathy Bates (for what I dunno)." [Thanks again to our crafty 'Fox'.]
We still weren't convinced until yesterday's edition of Dark Horizons reported this scoop from a 'Mr. Black':
"Titanic: The Sequel: Variety reports that some executives and writers are actually considering a sequel to the Cameron epic. Kathy Bates recalls that 'There was talk of putting Molly on the (other ill-fated luxury liner) Lusitania. I told them they don't have enough money to get me back in those corsets'. The likelihood of it ever happening is slim but it goes to show how Hollywood is always eager to earn a quick buck (aren't we all!!). Thanks to 'Mr. Black'."
Dark Horizons and Variety confirm that Bates had been contacted by unnamed studio executives 'feeling' her out. This project seems to be a reality. [Thanks to Dark Horizons for the original scoop.]