Largo man on a mission to collect 1 million VHS copies of ‘Titanic’: ‘It’s James Cameron, baby!’
LARGO, Fla. - James Cameron’s ‘Titanic’ is considered to be one of the best movies ever made, but a Largo man’s obsession with the film has led him on a mission to collect as many VHS copies as possible.
A room inside J.D.’s Largo home is covered floor to ceiling with ‘Titanic’ tapes. J.D., who didn’t want FOX 13 to use his real name, has copies of the movie in a variety of languages and formats.
"We watched ‘Titanic' every day," he explained. "It does stay on repeat, and we have to rewind it occasionally."
J.D., which is short for Jack Dawson, of course, says he loved the movie since he first saw it at the age of six.
J.D.'s home is covered in Titanic memorabilia and VHS tapes.
"James Cameron is such a classic director, so it just kind of added up," J.D. explained. "It was one of the first movies I ever saw that was such a big impact at six-years-old, so it just kind of stuck with me."
‘Titanic’ was released 26 years ago this month. It went on to win 11 Academy Awards. Paramount Pictures went on to release 25 million copies of the movie on VHS.
J.D. currently owns 2,500.
He compares watching ‘Titanic’ on VHS to listening to rock and roll songs on vinyl records or pouring a glass of fine wine.
J.D. sits amid his 'Titanic' VHS tapes.
"It's just the right way to watch ‘Titanic’ is on VHS on these CRT TVs, and they're getting harder to find," J.D. stated.
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J.D. hopes to collect one million copies of the movie on VHS. His passion helped him attract a massive following on Instagram and Tik Tok.
Titanic VHS tapes inside J.D.'s home.
"People who don’t see ‘Titanic’ are somehow proud of the fact that they’ve never seen ‘Titanic’. They wear it on their sleeve like, ‘I’ve never seen it and I never will.’ That’s fine, but this is one of the greatest movies of all time. I don’t know why they’ve never seen it. It’s ‘Titanic’ baby! It’s James Cameron baby! It’s VHS! It’s everything you need and everything you’ll love."
Anyone with an extra VHS copy of ‘Titanic’ who wants to send it to J.D., can mail it to P.O. Box 5355, Largo, FL 33779.