'Titanic' megafan has 1,560 copies on VHS, won't stop until he has 1 mn

by IANS | Thu, Jun 08, 2023, 02:12 PM

Los Angeles, June 8 (IANS) A megafan of the iconic Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet-starrer 'Titanic' has a whopping 1,560 copies of the film on Video Home System (VHS).

In a conversation with Variety, the fan introduced Jack Dawson, i.e. a large dummy with head of Leonardo DiCaprio's character of the same name from the 1997 blockbuster 'Titanic.'

"We got Jack Dawson," he said, reports 'Variety'.

"And 'Titanic,' and Captain Smith. You know what's going on."

JD, a video editor who lives in Florida, is best known for his energetic love of the movie 'Titanic' on VHS, and his collection is approaching 1,600 copies of the two-tape set.

Although he's picked up about 300 himself, mostly from thrift stories and yard sales, the rest come from enthusiastic fans mailing him copies over the last year, as he's documented his growing collection on TikTok to over 1,08,000 followers, reports 'Variety'.

JD says his obsession with the movie came when he saw it in theaters at 6 years old.

"It was Jack Dawson mania," he says.

"You already know what's going down. You couldn't escape it back in the day. And my family loved 'Titanic,' so I just blended myself in with all the 'Titanic' going around at the time."

JD said the collection began a bit more than a decade ago, but really took off in the last year.

"In 2012, we picked up a few copies," he said.

"The shop had them on display on the top shelf, so it looked glorious. And I'm like, "I know no one's ever going to buy these.' They're super cheap, so we got a box and filled it with all the Titanics, and we slowly started collecting it for a few years. We had about 100 before I started making the TikTok, so it really was last year when we went from 100 to 1,560 or so. It kind of exploded on its own. I have no control at this point."

In addition to VHS copies of the film, fans worldwide have sent titanicfan97 fan art and unique trinkets, such as a crocheted Jack Dawson that has become a mascot for the collection, an authenticated piece of a deck chair from the ship, and a Japanese copy of the film on VHS.

The next benchmark is 1,997 copies, in order to commemorate the year James Cameron's film came out.