This is part of my ongoing coverage of San Diego Comic-Con 2016. Weta Workshop had a few original production costume pieces on display this year, including King Llane Wrynn from World of Warcraft and an android from next year’s live action adaptation of Ghost in the Machine starring Scarlett Johansson. [Read more…]
This is part of my ongoing coverage of San Diego Comic-Con 2016. My personal friend Dan Lanigan made a splash this year with his first appearance as an exhibitor as Cinema Relics and their Fan-O-Rama, A Futurama Fan Film. In addition to playing the trailer for the upcoming fan film short, they played video of interviews, behind-the-scenes, and ‘making of’ footage. A big attraction for their booth in the main exhibit hall at Comic Con was their display of props, costumes, prosthetics, and miniatures. [Read more…]
This is part of my ongoing coverage of San Diego Comic-Con 2016. In my 2015 feature on Marvel Entertainment, I opened by noting that “they elected to not have much of a presence or major announcements at Comic Con this time around” and compared their display of one Ant-Man costume to that of historic competitor DC Comics and their more impressive display of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman costumes as well as television costumes, all in stand alone displays that allow fans to get up close to check them out. The divide between the lackluster and the impressive was widened further this year, as Disney-owned Marvel seems to have lost any sense of self awareness and their 2016 Comic Con presentation felt like it was invented by a hype machine-driven PR company. Trying to get a glimpse of what was going on with Marvel this year had all the charm of a clumsy Target clerk trying to pressure you into signing up for one of their Target-branded credit cards (“make mine Marvel” is becoming “make mine MasterCard”). They did put a few things from upcoming movies on display on their stage, but with overflowing crowds they would take it away and hide it before you could even snap a poor photo by trying to hold your camera over the heads of the crowd. I guess the upside is, I can’t imagine a worse showing next year, so it leaves tons of room for improvement. But 2016 seemed crafted for generating hype among those who weren’t there rather than those who were, as reading Twitter paints an entirely different picture (see #MarvelSDCC). [Read more…]
ScreenUsed is holding their next two-day, quarterly live auction on Friday, July 15th and Saturday, July 16th. Day 1 lots will end in the automated online auction every 1 minute (with extension if bids placed toward the end). Day 2 will include the higher end material and the auction will be run manually.
Online auction company IfOnly has a special charity offering running for two weeks – one of the original “Han Solo” production jackets worn by Harrison Ford in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, including a certificate of authenticity from Lucasfilm. Proceeds from the sale of the rare wardrobe piece will benefit NYU Langone Center and FACES (Finding A Cure for Epilepsy and Seizures). [Read more…]
ScreenUsed is holding their next two-day, quarterly live auction on Saturday, March 19th and Sunday, March 20th. Day 1 will be done online-only, while Day 2 will be happening live at the Silicon Valley Comic Con (running March 18-20). Both will have online bidding as an option. The PDF catalog will include Day 2 items only; the rest will available to view via online bidding partner, iCollector. The sale features key pieces from the Back To The Future franchise, and Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, and Lea Thompson will be guests at the convention.
The most exciting original movie prop and costume sale event announced thus far this year would have to be the “James Bond Spectre: The Auction” coming from Christie’s and EON Productions. James Bond is one of the strongest and oldest genre film franchises and the material that is part of this auction comes straight from the production with their sanctioning, making it all the more desirable. Split into part invitation-only live auction (10 lots on February 18th) and part online-only auction (14 lots with bidding running from February 16th through February 23rd), the 24 lots from Spectre come directly form the EON Productions archives, along with donations from Daniel Craig, Sam Mendes, Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, Jesper Christensen and Sam Smith. All proceeds from the auctions “will benefit Médecins Sans Frontières and number of other charitable institutions”. [Read more…]
A stunt blaster prop attributed to use by Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back failed to attract any bids at it’s hopeful $200,000 starting price in the most recent Nate D. Sanders auction last week. Though featuring an interesting history and a prior sale at Sotheby’s, as well as a lot of mainstream media attention leading up to the auction (see CNBC, CBS, Reuters, MSN, EW, Daily Mail, NBC, etc.), the “jackpot” reserve strategy employed by Hollywood memorabilia auction houses that I’ve frequently written about seemed to be the barrier to sale. [Read more…]