Movie Posters For 'The Interview' Are Going For $550

Movie Posters For 'The Interview' Are Going For $550
Movie posters for the premiere of the film 'The Interview' at The Theatre at Ace Hotel in Los Angeles, California on December 11, 2014. The film, starring US actors Seth Rogen and James Franco, is a comedy about a CIA plot to assassinate its leader Kim Jong-Un, played by Randall Park. North Korea has vowed 'merciless retaliation' against what it calls a 'wanton act of terror' -- although it has denied involvement in a massive cyber attack on Sony Pictures, the studio behind the film. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read -/AFP/Getty Images)
Movie posters for the premiere of the film 'The Interview' at The Theatre at Ace Hotel in Los Angeles, California on December 11, 2014. The film, starring US actors Seth Rogen and James Franco, is a comedy about a CIA plot to assassinate its leader Kim Jong-Un, played by Randall Park. North Korea has vowed 'merciless retaliation' against what it calls a 'wanton act of terror' -- although it has denied involvement in a massive cyber attack on Sony Pictures, the studio behind the film. AFP PHOTO/STR (Photo credit should read -/AFP/Getty Images)

Posters for the canceled Sony Pictures film “The Interview” are now selling on eBay for as much as $550.

Usually worth about $15, the playbills -- emblazoned with cartoonish communist imagery and portraits of stars Seth Rogen and James Franco -- shot up in value on Wednesday after Sony scrapped plans to release the action-comedy in the wake of a devastating cyberattack and threats of violence against fans of the film.

But these posters will probably lose most of their value in less than a year, warned Rudy Franchi, a movie-poster expert who appraised pop-culture collectibles on PBS’s “Antique Roadshow” for nearly two decades.

“A year from now, you wouldn’t be able to get more than $15, maybe $20 for them,” he said in a Thursday morning phone interview with The Huffington Post. “These things have no intrinsic value to begin with.”

The movie-poster market is usually fueled by avid collectors who seek antique or rare playbills. For example, a rare poster advertising Fritz Lang’s 1927 sci-fi classic “Metropolis” sold for $1.2 million in 2012 in a package with some other Hollywood memorabilia.

Speculators trying to capitalize on unusual public attention can send prices surging in the short term. After the September 11 terrorist attacks, for instance, posters from the 1976 version of "King Kong", which feature the gargantuan ape straddling the Twin Towers, sold for up to $125, Franchi said. Now, he said, those posters aren’t worth more than $15.

the interview movie poster

“Movie posters is a field dominated by collectors, and collectors don’t usually participate in these fads,” he said. “Once these speculators leave the field, collectors aren’t going to pay that kind of money for these posters.”

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot