It was an epic film about an epic disaster. The year was 1997, and at the time, Titanic was first released in Japan on Nov.1. It was the biggest-budget film of all time and one that incorporated everything from cutting-edge deep-sea submersibles to a life-size model of the ill-fated luxury liner.

Made by Canadian director James Cameron, the film also catapulted Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet to fame and rekindled interest in the 1912 sinking, which cost more than 1,500 people their lives.

The film, minus the present-day scenes and the credits, runs two hours and 40 minutes, the exact time it took for the Titanic to go down in the frigid waters off Canada's East Coast.

The collision with the iceberg reportedly went on for 37 seconds, the same length as the collision in the film.