8mm Forum: Super 8 Resale Value...

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Posted by Alan Rik (Member # 73) on September 10, 2004, 06:52 AM:

I was looking at Chip's post where he wanted $400 for his copy of Poltergeist. I started thinking (Imagine smoke filling the room!) that it probably wont sell for that much however if it was priced at $250 that would be about right. Super 8 features priced at $200-250 seem right for a film like that, or Predator. And $300-350 for Star Wars, Raiders. So my point is, how much does it cost to put out a feature length print of a movie on Super 8? Someone has to be buying the new prints otherwise we wouldn't ever have any used prints! But its really hard to cough up $400-700 for a new print. Is there no way a new print can be made and sold around the $200-250 mark? i bet that is the perfect price point for Super 8 features. I know this may have been discussed in another thread but I couldn't find it. Like the VHS movies of yesteryear. They were originally priced at $79.97 and up and then Top Gun topped the world because it sold for $19.95! Chime in folks!

Posted by michael hedelain (Member # 148) on September 10, 2004, 07:00 AM:

I was once toying with the idea of setting up an international club where prints would circualate to all members and at the end be available for highest bidder.

With about 10 members it would cost about $50 pr. person.

At that time it raised too many questions about finacning and administration that I droped it again. But I really think it get the film collecting community going and contribute with a lot of new prints.

michael

Posted by Tony Milman (Member # 7) on September 10, 2004, 11:44 AM:

Funny because I had also been thinking along similar lines. The one thing that stopped me would be the possible arguments about damage caused to a print. You can just imagine the scene....collector b reports that the film he got from collector a had a green line through the middle. collector a says it was perfect when it left him......

If we could overcome all of this then we could have something. Rather than sell the print it could be held as a library print and another one bought by subscription.

Tony

Posted by Mike Peckham (Member # 16) on September 10, 2004, 03:51 PM:

Let's do it, I'm in. And if we got it off the ground now we would be in time for the winter show season! [Wink]

Mike

Posted by Steven Sigel (Member # 21) on September 10, 2004, 06:53 PM:

I'm not sure about Super 8, but raw 16mm stock costs at least 20-30 cents a foot, so assuming super 8 is 10-15 cents a foot, that would mean that a 2hr feature (2400ft) would cost between $240- $360 just to print it. On top of that, the company doing the printing has to pay for rights, and other expenses and then make a profit... So I can't see how it would be possible to print features in the $250 range...

As for lending prints around -- don't do it. Not everyone takes good care of their prints and projectors.

Posted by Tom Photiou (Member # 130) on September 12, 2004, 03:23 AM:

Got to agree with Steve on that one,we use to buy a few ex rental copies from our plymouth dealer and just about every print i kept had some markings, however the majority of what we wanted to buy was usually so damaged or marked up with black and green scratches we had to give them a miss, as for the cost of producing a feature, i was told by Derek that if they produced any title they would have to sell at least 100 copies,(i think that still counts, Duncan can you confirm?)just to break even and then they move into profit. Today i would imagine thats quite difficult. Even if you look at this forum, see how many people are registered but not that many come on that often.
I like to keep an eye on the 2nd hand values, see how they vary from one dealer to another, COLLECTORS have the upper hand, as our friend Ian said, vote with your pocket, dont pay ridiculously inflated prices for titles and they will have to be more sensible. [Wink]

Posted by Chip Gelmini (Member # 44) on September 12, 2004, 12:14 PM:

Since my name and sale is mentioned here in this post, I will add to it. I would be willing to trade my print of Poltergeist for another feature title. Please send private replies, so as not to flodd here in this forum. Make me an offer for trade titles. I am looking for a copy of Terminator (the 1st one with Arnie) from the early 80's. Must be feature length. On the trade, no cash exchanged. If we agree on a trade we each pay shipping either direction and mail on the same day and time. P{oltergeist is virtually new, bought new by me, and run maybe 5 times. Coated with filmguard, flat/mono on 2 /1200 foot reels. Anynody close to me is welcome to stop by my theater and check the print first, before accepting a trade. :-)

Chip G prfcg@cape.com

Posted by John Clancy (Member # 49) on September 13, 2004, 03:56 AM:

The cost of producing a Super 8 print is inflated simply because of the expense of producing a negative. Derek was exagerating saying that he needed to sell 100. 50 was the figure he usually gave out and I suspect that may be a few too many. However, if we accept that even just 30 copies have to be sold it is easy to see that releasing a feature to the Super 8 market is extremely risky now.

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