The Hollywood epic ‘Titanic’ which established new box office records, will be released in 3D to coincide with the 100th anniversary of its namesake ship’s sinking.

The 1997 blockbuster, which took more than USD 1.2 billion at the box office and made international stars of Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, will be released in 2012.

Its release is timed with the 100 year anniversary of the real-life disaster on 15th April, 1912 which claimed over 1,500 lives.

The James Cameron directed film is the second highest grossing of all time, having been eclipsed this year by ‘Avatar’.

The conversion work is expected to cost up to USD 15 million and digital experts have already carried out tests on footage from the film to see what it looks like converted into the 3D format.

‘Titanic’ producer Jon Landau said they wanted to make sure they got the process right. “It’s a time-consuming process, and we want to do it right. There were eight or nine companies used on the test, so we could compare. So far, there’s only a group that went to the head of the class,” he said.

The decision to re-release a 3D version of Titanic follows the announcement last week that the six ‘Star Wars’ films are to be released in the format in 2012.