Fans have questioned if the panel could have suited her romantic partner Jack as well, sparing him from an untimely death, ever since the 1997 movie was released.
Titanic’s door frame prop that helped Rose stay afloat auction for $718,750
According to the listing, “fans have caused much debate about the prop.”
The Planet Hollywood restaurant and resort group held an auction of its props and costumes, during which the transaction took place.
The character Jack, portrayed by Leonardo Di Caprio in the popular film, maintains that the door frame panel was exclusively designed for Rose, represented by Kate Winslet, to be his lover. His body eventually plummeted to the bottom of the icy Atlantic after he passed away.
In a 2012 episode of Mythbusters, Titanic director James Cameron revealed he receives dozens of emails a day calling Rose “selfish” and Jack an “idiot” over the scene.
But he put an end to the debate, saying Jack had to die according to the script.
“Maybe we screwed up and the board should have been a tiny bit smaller, but the dude’s going down,” he said.
The prop, often mistaken for a door, was based on a complete piece of debris salvaged from the 1912 tragedy, according to auctioneers Heritage Auctions.
And addressing the debate over whether the panel could have accommodated both, the listing states: “The prop measures approx. 8′ long (2.4m) and 41″ (1m) wide.”
Other props featured in the auction included the whip from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, which sold for $525,000.
A Spiderman suit worn by Toby Maguire sold for $125,000, while an axe used by Jack Nicholson in The Shining to hack through a bathroom door while announcing “Here’s Johnny!” attracted the same amount.
The auction, which ended on Sunday evening, raised $15.68m, making it one of the most successful sales of a prop and costume collection, Heritage Auctions said.
“There were countless bidding wars… so many, we lost track,” Joseph Maddalena, of Heritage, said.
Source: BBC