Finally, after 11 weekends, Titanic dipped below the $20 million mark over a weekend and grossed $19.6 million ($29.6 adjusted), down 6.7%. Here's a brief comparison. The Dark Knight stayed above $20 million for four weeks and had $441.6 million earned at that point. Of course, it took Titanic ten weekends of $20+ million to get to $402.6 million, but The Dark Knight is fading faster, which is indicative of the box office times in which we live.

The 12th weekend arrives and as you might guess, the story sounds familiar with another small decline (10.3%), another number one spot and another sizable stack of bills hauled off to Paramount's vaults. To avoid diminishing this feat, remember that Titanic had already been in theaters for almost three months and still made $17.6 million ($26.6 adjusted).

As if the public's thirst for Leonardo DiCaprio wasn't satisfied with months of his romance with Kate Winslet, The Man in the Iron Mask opened in Titanic's 13th weekend. For the brief time between the release of the weekend estimates and the actuals, it looked as if the only person to dethrone "King of the World" Jack Dawson was, well, himself. However, this was not the case when the final figures were released. Titanic narrowly secured another victory by bringing in $17.6 million ($26.6 adjusted), which was only $300,000 more than The Man in the Iron Mask's take.

Pulling the victory out by its smallest margin of its run wasn't the only cause of celebration. Much to the chagrin of Star Wars fans everywhere, this weekend was the end of Star Wars short tenure back at the top of the all-time domestic grossers. With $471.4 million, Titanic claimed the top spot and hasn't ceded it yet.

Weekend 14 saw Titanic dip 2.9% to $17.1 million ($25.8 adjusted) and put it within spitting distance of $500 million. On the Thursday before its 15th weekend (its 98th day of release), Titanic eased past that once-impossible mark. That next weekend added another $15.2 million ($22.9 adjusted) down 11.4%. At this point, it appeared to be showing the signs of fatigue, which is understandable because it was essentially in the midst of the box office equivalent to the Boston Marathon.





For the first time since before Christmas 1997, Titanic was evicted from its permanent place of residence at the top of the weekly box office. The masterpiece that accomplished this feat was Lost in Space, which apart being a footnote in Titanic's storied history, was utterly forgettable. It took 16 weekends for a film to wrest control of the top spot. Additionally, Titanic's $11.5 million ($17.4 adjusted) was its first time to earn less than half its opening weekend total of $28.6 million.

Over the next ten weekends, it remained in the top ten, sustained declines of less than 34% until after Memorial Day and chugged along to day 252 when it reached the improbable goal of $600 million. Make sure you are sitting down for this. When adjusted for inflation, its domestic gross of $600.8 million equals $907 million. Unbelievable seems to be the best word to describe it.

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