There’s a TV pilot lurking about. May still be on YouTube. Roddy McDowell played Cheung.
Demand plays a big part. The initial release of MST3K: The Movie had to be pulled for some rights issue, so because it was rare, it was going for about $150 on eBay for a while. Then they got that ironed out and rereleased it, and demand for the original disc dropped. There’s even a BluRay version now.
I have a multi-disc bluray set that has all the cuts included.
Well, I decided to check eBay for one DVD I have that I thought might be worth something, and one completed listing showed it selling for $174. It’s the “Snuff Edition” of August Underground: Mordum, signed by the cast and crew and numbered. They made 200 of them. The movie is very gnarly, something for extremophiles only.
I have quite a few collectible CDs and DVDs, but it’s a volatile market. If you just want an alternate/original version of a movie, you can usually find it or borrow a copy to see it. As mentioned previously, the extra commentaries and features are often the determining factor.
I held on to my Medusa DVD of Dellamorte, Dellamore, hoping that it would continue to increase a bit in value. Unfortunately, the newer releases have caused it drop quite a bit and so it is not as desirable as it once was. And for serious music collectors, there are bunches of CDs that are fairly rare, usually because they were unofficial (not bootleg) or uncataloged releases.
I stuck with my VHS copies of SW just for that reason, not finding the original movies on disk, just the “enhanced” ones. Then I found a three disk set that had both and I snatched it up. Unfortunately, the fancy Dolby soundtracks and commentary tracks (including Ben Burtt!) are all on the enhanced copy.
The 2-disc DVD sets of the original 3 Star Wars movies (A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi) include the original theatrical versions and are worth decent cash. Those are the only digital releases without all of Lucas’ re-edits, though the picture quality isn’t spectacular.
There are plenty of DVDs that are OOP and/or never made it to Bluray that collectors will pay decent money for. Mainstream stuff that’s been released on multiple formats isn’t likely to be worth much so look for more obscure titles and those released on smaller, independent labels. Music video and concert titles are worth researching since rights are often limited. If you collect horror or cult check for early Anchor Bay and Image releases. Some are still worth money to collectors. A lot of TV series released on disc can be valuable - if you have any of the Unsolved Mysteries sets you can get good money. The Ultimate Collection treasure box set easily goes for $200-300 dollars or more.
Titles that were only available via website or mail order are also worth checking used online prices. Even stuff that was sold on discount shelves at Big Lots or Walmart can now be valuable so it doesn’t hurt to check what you have before you get rid of it.
When I first got into DVD (2002?), I frequented a DVD discussion forum. At that time it seemed the holy grail was a Criterion Collection DVD of Salo. A copy would run you hundreds of dollars. Hundreds. It was pricey enough that evidently there were bootleg knockoff Criterion versions floating around, trying to cash in on the unsuspecting.
I just checked Amazon and you can get Salo from Criterion for less than $20.
The DVD with the alternate ending of “Big”?
See post 14.
Is it the Ultimate Collectors edition? It’s the one I have.
Is there any value to the original release of Koyaanisqatsi? It was only 500 discs. I have one and I think at least 2 other Dopers have a copy.