20 Most Important Blockbusters That Changed Cinema Forever

3. Titanic

If you get through the tears and Celine Dion there's nary an element of Titanic that wasn't shaping the future of movies. Conceived in the grand tradition of the Hollywood disaster movie, James Cameron's film was a reverential epic of the type "they just don't make anymore", produced with the best modern techniques. Bagging the titles of both most expensive and highest grossing film ever, it's record breaking haul at the box office and Oscars got everyone in Hollywood's attention.

The film's use of CGI was particularly novel; it was something normally the reserve of more conventional action pictures, with its presence in a period piece proving eye-opening. Although many of the effects were practical (as with Jurassic Park), the use of computers in all walk of film has become commonplace after this.

One of its biggest impacts, however, was purely accidental. Intended for release on the fourth of July weekend, the long post-production pushed the film back to December (the press thought we were in for a massive flop after that). With no big budget competition Titanic cleaned up and thus a second blockbuster season, home to only the very biggest of movies, was created.