Saturday, March 21, 1998

Titanic sales on

The Titanic was a huge failure as transportation, but the great liner has resurfaced as an entertainment giant.

Last weekend, "Titanic" steamed past "Star Wars" to become filmdom's all-time domestic money earner, $465 million in just three months. (In inflation-adjusted terms, the all-time top earner is still "Gone With the Wind," another period piece about a doomed enterprise.) "Titanic" already holds the record for global money-maker, $1.1 billion worldwide.

In Washington, crowds line up at the National Geographic headquarters to watch a lesser Titanic film, a 3-D documentary about the actual wreckage.

Public interest in all things Titanic has propelled seven books about the liner and the movie onto the New York Times' best-seller lists. The sound track is a best selling CD and the theme song, "My Heart Will Go On," a chart topping single. A Titanic cookbook allows chefs to recreate the last meals aboard the ship, both first and second class.

"Titanic" could be displaced as the top box office draw by the new release, "The Man in the Iron Mask," another period piece about a doomed enterprise, the French monarchy. But "Iron Mask's" appeal may be due to Leonardo DiCaprio, the heartthrob of "Titanic." Three instant books about DiCaprio are also best-sellers.

Two dates may push "Titanic" back to the lead: Monday, Oscar Night, if the film cleans up at the Academy Awards, and April 14-15, the 86th anniversary of the real Titanic's sinking.