25 years ago, James Cameron was underwater with a different record-smashing mega-success; before Avatar, Titanic was the first film to surpass the $1B mark in box offices. And while Cameron has been swimming in both money and water ever since, he can’t seem to outswim one nagging question that has bothered movie-goers about the film’s final sequence between Jack and Rose: Why did Jack need to die in order to save Rose?

In the scene, a shivering Jack is seen clutching the edge of a piece of ship debris that serves as a life raft for Rose, who can’t seem to spare any room for Jack to climb onto as he slowly succumbs to hyperthermia. Mythbusters put the sequence to the test in 2012 and concluded that Jack didn’t need to die. Cameron, however, insists that it had to happen that way, and is clapping back with his own science, as he tells the Toronto Sun:

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Cameron added:

“We have done a scientific study to put this whole thing to rest and drive a stake through its heart once and for all.”

National Geographic recently shared a clip from the documentary, titled Titanic: 25 Years Later, in which you can see several stunt actors recreating the film sequence using cold (but not freezing) water.

“We have since done a thorough forensic analysis with a hypothermia expert who reproduced the raft from the movie and we’re going to do a little special on it that comes out in February.”

Titanic 25th Anniversary Theatrical Rerelease

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Cameron’s documentary coincides with the theatrical rerelease of Titanic for a limited time as the film celebrates 25 years since first premiering in 1997. The film, which returns to theaters on February 10th, will be remastered in 4K HDR with a high frame rate, and will also screening in 3D. Titanic fans took to Twitter to express unbridled enthusiasm for the rerelease, which was announced on Twitter, as one fan responded:

However, some fans refused to let sleeping dogs lie. Said one:

“I am unreasonably excited for this. Got to see it back in 2013 on an Imax and it was truly breathtaking.”

Meanwhile, in other billion-dollar news, Avatar 2 is still sweeping up at the box office, earning $1.89B to date. Titanic collected $1.84B in its first year from international audiences.

“Can’t wait to see all that extra space on the door in 4K 3D.”

No doubt James Cameron will continue to clean up at the box office whenTitanic gets unsunk next month.