eMoviePoster.com

Back in 2014, we had a "Did You Know... ?" article with the above title. At that time, nearly seven years ago, it seemed that prices of "newer" one-sheets had really "taken off", and were selling for pretty insane prices! As "proof" of this, we used the following 2014 examples of recent eMoviePoster.com world record auction results:

JAWS unfolded one-sheet $2,109 RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK unfolded one-sheet $650 EMPIRE STRIKES BACK style B unfolded one-sheet $584

We also wrote the following seven years ago about these 2014 results (the above three posters, and many other 1970s and 1980s posters that kept rising in price):

"Why did these auction for so much? Rolled versions of these are very rare, but in addition to that, people know that they can trust our condition grading. If the same posters came up in a random eBay auction, or at many other auction houses, they might have bid a fair amount less, simply because they had to leave room for the possibility of over-grading, which I call "the fear factor"! I believe we have completely eliminated this fear factor, both because anyone who has bought from us in the past knows that we grade completely honestly, and of course, we also have a lifetime guarantee of authenticity, which we have backed up over and over.

Of course, the above posters were also greatly helped by being in excellent condition, and the fact that they were unfolded, when they are normally found folded. There are collectors with a "comic book/coin/stamp/baseball card" mentality who want the "highest grade known", and in movie posters, grading is very subjective, but rolled/folded is completely NOT subjective, so these guys love unfolded posters that are normally found folded, and they will pay world record prices for them, when they know that they can trust the seller 100%.

WILL PRICES ON THESE POSTERS CONTINUE TO RISE? I have no crystal ball, so it is impossible to say! While many of them seem "expensive" when you consider that they sold for much less in years gone by, it is also true that there has been massive "hidden" inflation in the world in the past decade, and MOST collectibles have risen at a far faster pace than these "newer" movie posters have. There are comic books from the same period selling for thousands or tens of thousands of dollars, and these movie posters are far more hard to find in wonderful condition!"

Well, now seven years have passed since we wrote the above, and "newer" one-sheets are even more now than then the most vibrant and expanding part of the movie poster hobby! Consider just the three above posters. We auctioned an unfolded Jaws one-sheet in 2019 (in "very good to fine" condition) for $4,100, and an unfolded Jaws one-sheet in 2020 (in "very good" condition, not as nice as the 2019 example) for $4,000! We auctioned an unfolded Raiders of the Lost Ark one-sheet in 2020 (in "very good to fine" condition) for $1,657!

However, to prove that not every poster rises, the last unfolded The Empire Strikes Back Style B we auctioned in very good to fine condition sold in 2019 for $411 (but to be fair, we only auctioned that single very good to fine condition unfolded Style B in the past 7 years (although we had lesser condition examples), and the next time we auction one, it may well do far better. There is also a "purple variant" Style B that has (unfolded in "very good to fine" condition) gone from $975 in 2014 to $2,500 in 2019, and we have not had another since!

WILL PRICES ON THESE POSTERS CONTINUE TO RISE FURTHER OVER THE NEXT SEVEN YEARS? Again, I have no crystal ball, so it is impossible to say! While many of them seem "expensive" when you consider that they sold for much less in years gone by, it is more true than ever that there has been massive "hidden" inflation in the world in the past decade, and MOST collectibles have risen at a far faster pace than these "newer" movie posters have. There are now comic books from the same period selling for tens of thousands and HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars, and these movie posters are far more hard to find in wonderful condition than those comic books, and they can surely be far more appreciated by a far greater number of people!

In a world where just about everything EXCEPT FOR vintage movie posters seems to be in a "bubble" (with prices rising exponentially), from the stock market to real estate to fine art, to baseball cards to comic books and more, maybe it is now finally posters turn to take a dramatic upturn. As I said, I have no crystal ball, so I will revisit this topic in a few years, to see what has happened in the intervening time, and maybe the above 2019 and 2020 prices will seem "shockingly low" by 2025 standards! Only time will tell.