Titanic: What you need to know

MANILA, Philippines - "TITANIC" makes its triumphant return to the big screen in 3D and for years since director James Cameron introduced us ill-fated lovers Jack Dawson and Rose Dewitt Bukater, fans of the film still remember their promise to never let go.

The second-highest grossing film of all time behind Cameron's other epic "Avatar," "Titanic" has reached, arguably, cult classic status yet one has to ask whether the film truly has something new to offer in its 3D reincarnation.

Cameron describes the Titanic's tragedy as having "assumed an almost mythic quality in our collective imagination."

"But the passage of time has robbed it of its human face and vitality. I hope that Rose and Jack's relationship will be a kind of emotional lightning rod, if you will, allowing viewers to invest their minds and their hearts to make history come alive again."

Fate allowed Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet) to meet on the Titanic, a ship physically designed to prevent that from happening. But they do and they fall in love despite all obstacles. Relive their story as "Titanic" opens in theaters across the Philippines on April 7.

But before heading to your favorite cinemas to sail with the Titanic, here are some historical facts you need to know:

• R.M.S. stands for Royal Mail Steamer.
• Titanic was the second of three superliners constructed by White Star Line to ply the Atlantic .
• Titanic measured 882 feet, longer than the tallest skyscraper in New York at the time.
• The rudder alone, in excess of 101 tons, was heavier than Christopher Columbus’s Santa Maria.
• There were approximately 100,000 pounds of meat on board Titanic.
• There were enough lifeboats to accommodate only half of Titanic’s passengers.
• The top speed of Titanic was 23 knots.
• Titanic’s top first-class ticket price was $3,100 while the cost of a third-class ticket was $32
• To build Titanic in 1912 cost approximately $7.5 million.
• Shortly after she sailed on April 10, 1912, Titanic nearly collided with the liner New York while departing the docks, sparking concern about the ship’s safety and maneuverability.
• The first-class lounge was designed after the palace at Versailles.
• Titanic received numerous messages from other ships regarding icebergs in the vicinity.
• Titanic had 16 watertight compartments to reduce its risk of sinking. The iceberg ruptured 5 of the 16, enough to pull the liner into the freezing waters.
• Women and children in first-class and second-class were given priority in the lifeboats.
• The first lifeboat to be lowered had a capacity of 65 yet carried only 28.
• As Titanic sank, the band played on deck in an effort to calm passengers awaiting rescue.
• Crewmen blocked exits from the third-class area to prevent men from accessing the deck.
• Of the lifeboats lowered before Titanic sank, only one returned to pick up more passengers.
• Titanic broke in two shortly before completely sinking into the Atlantic.
• Even as the boat sank, many passengers still refused to believe the superliner could go under.
• After Titanic hit the iceberg, people were out on the decks playing with chunks of ice.
• A mysterious ship was reportedly spotted not far from Titanic, which never responded to her distress signals and steamed off into the night.
• The ocean liner Carpathia, responding to Titanic’s distress calls, arrived nearly two hours after Titanic had sunk.
• Sixty percent, or 199, of the first-class passengers were saved while only 25%, or 174, of the third-class passengers survived. Only 32% of all on board Titanic survived.
• One of the more chilling facts about the actual sinking was that there were only enough lifeboats to handle barely half the passengers aboard – and the crew’s failure to fill the boats to capacity resulted in only a third of the passengers making it to safety. For the film, the production team was able to apply a layer of realism to this technically complex and heart-pounding sequence. The lifeboat davits -- the system of pulleys required to launch the vessels -- were constructed by the same company that built the davits for the actual Titanic.

“The Wellan Davit Company,” Cameron explained, “built our davits to their old plans. We literally had the very same piece of machinery that was used on Titanic to lower a lifeboat.”