Twentieth Century Fox's Titanic wound up on NBC (where it will be shown for the first time on network TV next Sunday) instead of the Fox network after the studio, concerned about the enormous cost of the film, struck a deal with Paramount for international and TV rights to it, the Los Angeles Times reported today (Monday).

When the movie opened to an initial box office of $25 million -- strong but not sensational -- Paramount quickly struck a deal with NBC which offered $30 million for TV rights, the newspaper said. When the film then went on to become the biggest moneymaker in history, Fox, according to the Times, complained that Paramount undersold the property, prompting Paramount to fire back that it had offered it first to Fox TV, which bid only $20 million.

Source: Studio Briefing