This Titanic no disaster

James Cameron's epic film Titanic, on the other hand, is proving to be.

No matter where Titanic docks, it breaks attendance records.

In just 26 days in North America, Titanic has grossed $200 million US.

It has also opened in 21 countries abroad and, in four weeks, has amassed $89 million US.

"We're breaking industry records all over the world and we still have 35 more countries that we'll open in before April," explains Jorge Carreon, spokesman for 20th Century Fox International.

Paramount Pictures and Fox jointly produced Titanic. For its $80-million commitment, Paramount received the North American distribution rights. For its $120-million, Fox snagged the remainder of the world.

"We opened in France, Germany and Spain over the weekend and in each country Titanic accounted for at least 50% of the box-office," says Carreon. "In Paris, the lineups were so huge that police had to be called in to several theatres for crowd control. At one theatre an ambulance had to be dispatched because a young woman was overcome with emotion."

Carreon says that in Germany Titanic made the same amount of money in one weekend as Cameron's previous blockbuster T2 Judgment Day made in a week.

"In Spain, it became the third biggest opening in the country's film history."

In Mexico, where most of the movie was filmed, Titanic surpassed the opening weekend grosses posted by such recent hits as The Lost World, Men In Black and the country's former reigning champ Independence Day.

In Hong Kong and Japan, Titanic has remained the top box-office draw for four consecutive weeks and in its third week in Taiwan, Titanic surpassed the final grosses for Die Hard 3, Jurassic Park, Independence Day and Air Force One.

Even though Titanic has already grossed nearly $300 million and shows little indication of slowing down, it needs to gross almost $500 million worldwide in order to begin showing a profit.

Both studios are paying interest on their capital investments. The $200 million price tag did not include the cost of the individual prints or any advertising costs.

Titanic is expected to gain added momentum after this Sunday's Golden Globe Awards presentation, where it is expected to win six of the eight categories in which it is nominated. The film is also expected to garner at least 10 Oscar nods when the nominations are announced on Feb. 10.