The 70th Academy Awards were held on March 23, 1998, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, with Billy Crystal hosting again after the 69th Academy Awards. To salute the Academy's 70th anniversary, 70 previous acting winners were gathered together on stage in a segment called "Oscar's Family Album." The broadcast drew the largest audience of any Oscars telecast up to that time.

James Cameron's Titanic entered with 14 nominations, tying All About Eve for the record, and won 11, tying Ben-Hur for the most Oscars ever won by a single film. Its awards included Best Picture, Best Director for Cameron, cinematography, art direction, costume design and Best Original Song for "My Heart Will Go On," only the third time the year's winning song came from the Best Picture winner. Cameron had given up his director's fee as the film's costs climbed past $200 million, making it the most expensive movie made to that point. The nominations record stood…