<div><b><span style="font-size: 1rem;">James Cameron doesn't have many regrets -- after all, he has now directed three of the four highest-grossing films of all time.</span><br></b></div><div><br></div><div>But if he could go back and remake "Titanic," the film that started his record streak 25 years ago and is being re-released in theaters Friday, there is one thing he would change.</div><div><br></div><div>"Based on what I know today, I would have made the raft smaller, so there's no doubt!" said Cameron.</div><div><br></div><div>Such is the film's enduring popularity, even a quarter of a century later debates and theories continue to swirl around the fate of Leonardo DiCaprio's lead character.</div><div><br></div><div>Fans insist Jack could have survived the icy Atlantic waters after the ocean liner sank, if only he had shared an improvised raft with Kate Winslet's Rose.</div><div><br></div><div>Instead, Jack gallantly gave Rose an entire wooden door to float on, condemning himself to a freezing death but ensuring she survived.</div><div><br></div><div>It is just one example of how the story of the Titanic "never seems to end for people," Cameron told a press conference held for the anniversary re-release.</div><div><br></div><div>"There have been much greater tragedies since the Titanic -- I mean, World War One, tens of millions of people died. World War Two..."</div><div><br></div><div>"But the Titanic has this kind of enduring, almost mythic, novelistic quality. And it has to do with, I think, love and sacrifice and mortality.</div><div>"The men who stepped back from the lifeboats so that the women and the children could survive."</div><div><br></div><div>- 'Final verdict' -</div><div><br></div><div>Cameron put Jack's individual sacrifice to the test in a new National Geographic documentary, running experiments featuring two stunt performers and an exact replica of the film's door in a cold water tank.</div><div><br></div><div>In "Titanic: 25 Years Later with James Cameron," the stunt actors were fitted with internal thermometers to chart how quickly their bodies plunged toward hypothermia.</div><div><br></div><div>While the first test confirmed Jack would have died if he had acted according to the film's plot, a second found the pair could have both balanced on the door and kept their upper bodies out of the water.</div><div><br></div><div>"He got into a place where if we projected that out, he just might have made it until the lifeboat got there," admitted Cameron.</div><div><br></div><div>"Final verdict? Jack might have lived. But there's a lot of variables."</div><div><br></div><div>- Epic love story -</div><div><br></div><div>"Titanic" was first released in December 1997, and held the number one box office spot for 15 consecutive weekends.</div><div><br></div><div>While today most films earn their biggest profits on opening weekend, "Titanic" peaked on its eighth weekend -- Valentine's Day.</div><div><br></div><div>The epic love story is now being re-released ahead of this year's Valentine's Day weekend, where it will hope to add to its $2.2 billion total haul.</div><div><br></div><div>"I'll grant you $100 million of our box office (was) for Leonardo DiCaprio's appeal to 14-year-old," girls, joked Cameron.</div><div><br></div><div>"Titanic" is currently behind only "Avengers: Endgame" and Cameron's "Avatar," but is expected to soon be surpassed by "Avatar: The Way of Water" -- again, by Cameron -- which has made $2.18 billion and is still drawing crowds.</div><div><br></div><div>Collectively, Cameron's three monster hits have collected $7.25 billion -- roughly the entire annual GDP of Bermuda.</div><div><br></div><div>Besides making him an extraordinarily wealthy man, the three-hour-long "Titanic" has left another important if divisive legacy.</div><div><br></div><div>"Historically before 'Titanic,' the wisdom -- which proved not to be true -- was that a long movie can't make money," said Cameron.</div><div><br></div><div>The first "Avatar" ran for 162 minutes and again "people said they wanted more," he said.</div><div><br></div><div>"We took that to heart and we made a three-hour-and-12-minute movie for the new 'Avatar.'</div><div><br></div><div>"And it's doing very well." - AFP</div><div><br></div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>