Rare film posters can fetch millions of pounds when sold at auction but what exactly makes a rare film poster rare? And who determines how much it is worth?
In answer to the first question, a rare film poster can be defined as any movie poster that is unusual or unique in some way. For example, the poster for an old 1940’s movie may have been printed with an image that was considered too explicit for public viewing at the time and so was changed at the last minute.
Another example of what makes a rare film poster unique is when film makers decide to change the name of a movie at the last minute. This happened in 1983 when the makers of the box office classic Star Wars films changed the name of the now infamous ‘Return of the Jedi’.
The original film was actually called ‘Revenge of the Jedi’ and was only replaced at the last minute after a small number of theatrical trailers and promotional posters were made. The limited edition promotional posters containing the original title are now considered highly collectable and are worth a great deal too avid Star Wars fans.
In relation to how much rare film posters are worth the answer lies in exactly how much someone is willing to pay. Some extremely rare pieces are sold on behalf of a charity so are likely to be sold for much larger sums of money. The price of movie memorabilia such as posters also depends upon how popular the particular movie in question was or is.
If like in the case of Star Wars, the films are hugely successful and generation spanning classics that feature in everyone’s DVD collections then the demand for rare items associated with the movies will be high thus pushing the price of Star Wars related movie memorabilia up.
