It has been many years since the market around movie props sold at auction exploded. This is particularly true for cult films, regularly breaking sales records. Here are 20 examples.
If the Majors kept many documents and filming objects over the years, the keeping of registers on this point has long left something to be desired: certain accessories, poorly identified, were simply not kept or lost, without anyone being moved. When they weren’t outright thrown away or, worse, destroyed.
Fortunately, this time when we did not necessarily have a concern for heritage is over. What’s more, for several years now, studios have understood the interest of auctioning off film objects / props. And not just studios for that matter; some auctions also from private collections.
This is particularly true for cult films that have marked the history of cinema and Pop Culture. Collectors have no qualms paying a fortune for mythical objects, such as Han Solo’s blaster in Return of the Jedi, sold for $550,000. The power of fascination of the Star Wars saga is intact. This is obviously far from being an isolated case.
If the bids are so high, it is because these objects all tell a story, sometimes moving, intimate, because they were used in a legendary scene… Such as the mythical dress of Marilyn Monroe of 7 years of reflection.
Here are the 20 (but not only!) most expensive movie props ever sold at auction.
Indiana Jones fedora hat
Lucasfilm Ltd.
The cane of Charlot in “Modern Times”
DR
The DeLorean from “back to the future”
RODRIGO & LUIS JR. GUERRA/2010 RAMEY/ Corbis
Few movie cars have enjoyed such a cult following around them, and among these, the mythical DeLorean model DMC-12 takes the lion’s share. Without her, the Back to the Future saga would most certainly not have become so famous. With its butterfly doors, its chunky rear, its elegant line and its stainless steel bodywork, many people have also dreamed of traveling back in time at 88 Miles/h aboard this fantastic car, thanks to its convector temporal. No wonder fans are willing to drop a fortune for her. In 2011, one of the seven models used in the trilogy sold for $541,000.
The Blaster of Han Solo in Star Wars
Lucasfilm Ltd.
The ruby shoes of Judy Garland in “The Wizard of Oz”
MGM
The flying car from “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”
The National Motor Museum Trust
