Just curious what are some of the highest priced/rare laserdisc titles that still sell for top dollars as of 2015?

The Star Trek Voyager sets from Japan sealed command prices of £300 each.

The Cell
Madonna: The Video Collection 93:99
Titan A.E.
The Sixth Day
U-571
Mission: Impossible 2
End of Days
The World is not Enough
The Crimson Rivers
Tokyo Raiders

Who cares?

The Daicon disc can probably still hold it's own with the best of them.

Nah, despite being very culturally significant, older than most LDs, out of print for about 30 years, and guaranteed to never be released again in any format due to it not being a legal release in the first place, it's "only" $350 or so. Compared to what morons pay for stuff like The Sixth Day or Tokyo Raiders, $350 is chump change.

The "most valuable" discs are pretty much all mainstream junk you can get on Bluray for $9. People who pay a grand for an LD are usually mostly interested in hype AS A QUANTITY IN ITSELF. They don't give f**k one about the contents of the disc. Not even slightly. They don't want a movie, they want a pickle. Sealed in plastic, never to be experienced. They can't be bothered to like...know anything about movie history or whatever. They want easy to understand factoids like "rare", "late release", "DTS", etc. Things that can be reduced to a logo, a date, a quantity produced, stuff like that. Boxes to check. Understanding Daicon Film and what makes it utterly unique requires a pretty huge background understanding of animation as a whole but also specifically what was going on with a half dozen dudes in Japan between 1980 and 1986. That's not something Johny Come Lately power collectards can grasp or explain. They need an elevator pitch, nothing longer. Anything more complex and...how are you going to flip the thing onto the next jackhole?

People want stuff other people want. And stuff they cannot have. It's that simple.

I posted the previous top 10 titles (mostly movies) deliberately just to get a reaction from signofzeta.
I knew he would be the first person to reply - he took the bait, hook, line and sinker!

The funny part is hundreds of music titles fetch far more than movies like The Cell or Sixth Day will ever fetch but there is absolutely no hype surrounding them as there is with those late release movies. I know because I've sold multiple copies of all of these at different stages. This is only a small sample of 10 but a very representative sample of titles that are highly sought after but owned by few.

Celtic Frost: Live at Hammersmith Odeon
Queensryche: Live in Tokyo
Malcolm McLaren: Duck Rock
Roxette: Crash! Boom! Live! - Live in Johannesbourg
Venom: Live '90
Bronze: Rocks
Saxon: Live in Concert
Suicidal Tendencies: Lights Camera Suicidal
Beastie Boys: Compilation Reel
Durutti Column: Domo Arigato - Live in Tokyo

I expect some of you have never heard of some of these titles but for those who have they know exactly what they are searching for and also how difficult they are to locate. Music is very much a niche market appealing to a much smaller but enthusiastic set of collectors. Even someone like signofzeta who claims to be into music should recognise that.

Maybe that's what motivates you, but I have never once purchased a single thing just because other people want it. That's for Ferrari fans, diamond collectors, and other superficial shmucks. It's what's inside that counts for me and I'd wager most people are like that. The collectards get the most attention because of the high dollar amounts, but most LD fans have never paid more than 1990s retail for a disc.

Well that's untrue & if you want a late release or a japan disc the cost rises.

I think the number of people collecting 'late release' laserdiscs only represent a tiny minority of laserdisc collectors. If music laserdiscs are a niche, then late releases are a niche within a niche. The high prices are only part of the reason for that, because as signofzeta said you're basically talking about a bunch of mainstream junk with superior versions on Blu-ray for less than $10. Only somebody with more money than sense (and more than likely not playing with a full deck) would prefer to pay thousands for the laserdisc, complete with Japanese subtitles.

The number of people who want the late release movies is actually quite high but very few people are prepared to pay for them so will never own them! Wanting and owning are two very different things. Just look at the top 100 wishlist and top 100 best bids and then examine the wishlist counts for each title versus how many copies are actually in people's collections (ie. owned). The number of people who own most late releases is clearly a tiny minority. That will remain the case forever because there aren't enough discs to satisfy demand so the prices will always be prohibitively high for those titles which is off putting for most people. This isn't a case of there being no demand for them.

$1000 dollars are out of the question at least for me. I did pay over a 100.00 for World is not Enough it has superior sound & picture. As laserdisc_fan knows all too well there are many concerts & music video programs that may never see the dvd light of day before the artists are no longer with us.

It naturally motivates most people in one way or another. Think of it this way: You find some DVD for sale on Amazon for a cheap price and find it somewhat interesting, yet not enough for you to buy it at the moment. The DVD goes OOP and becomes very rare and expensive to find. Then you want it more. And when some people want one thing more, other people want it as well. The request goes higher, yet availability isn't enough. Therefore prices will go higher as long as the hype is there. That's the way of the market, whether you like it or not. Any businessman in any industry know this.

O-tay

There are a lot of unconscious biases that guide us, that are very difficult to think around. Thinking that you don't have any is a very easy way to fall into them.

I think many of us would still buy a late release LD in the wild for $5-10 next to a same-priced, very good Blu-Ray, even if there was no possibility of resale/flipping.

As for myself, I usually only get spendy (and not to the $100+ extreme) on things that are unique on LD for some reason. I know I'm rather nuts as it is, but eh, there are worse hobbies... right?

Also, is there a way to query lddb for the most expensive LD sales?

Pay what you're willing to spend is my advice
"rare" or not... something is rare until the day you own it
discussing what something is worth .... endless I'm afraid.

To each his own I say
Someone with a bigger budget is likely goint to pay top dollar anyway but that doesn't mean someone with limited funds won't ever spend money on "worthless" items to begin with


Would never try to decide what someone else should spend on something that's worth it to him.
What is wrong with wanting a "late" title if you like specs like good sound etc...
The later the disc the better the quality... there is no way around that. the opposite goes for dvd I'm afraid they're getting very cheap in the sound and picture departement. so what can be wrong with wanting later "last" laserdiscs? I mean, the jacket on it's own already looks nice.

It wouldn't be nice anyway to find any disc for a few pennies.

I could feel robbed back in the 90's since I paid a lot of money for some discs that are almost for free these days. No regrets whatsoever. I had fun knowing I had something "rare" and superior not to mention watching Raiders in Dolby Surround

In the long run I think the music and horror movies will be the top shelf. All the horror movies has been released on cheaper formats with better picture and sound mostly. But they hold its money for more reason then to be watched on. Just like records do.

Some of the most wanted are just so well made. 2ld in great gatefold sleeves with an cell attached to the obi, or a poster. Its just wow. Its an past elite format for the purist. Simply a must for anyone that likes the old horror genre.

1. Zombi 2ld with cell JAP
2. Gates of Hell with cell
3. Street trash JAP
4. Sanguelia 1ld with poster JAP
5. Screamplay JAP
6. Crazies JAP
7. Cannibal Holocaust JAP

These might not cost as much as the late releases. But they are already dropping rapidly the past year. These are the strong titles if you ask me. Horror fans are not all about the cheapest bluray, many more are format lovers of their favorite horror movies. They want to own dvd, bluray, beta, vhs and LASERDISC.

I want some of the late releases. I loved Arnold in the 90s, so why aint I allowed to pay the market price without having people call me stupid or crazy ?

Why is it seen as crazy to buy 1 title for 500 usd while buying 100x5$ titles that can be found anywhere anytime.

I think a few people in here need to tone it down and start respecting the fact that you dont value the same items, its that simple.

If your a content only consumer. Buy as low as possible (doesn't matter what the relative cost is), make high quality digital copy, sell high. Don't hang onto a hard copy that will either deteriorate in time or plain lose market interest.

I'm with signofzeta on the issue of late release hype. For me, a title has to have interesting content first and foremost and rarity is a bonus. Generic Hollywood blockbusters leave me cold, while rare and intriguing content like Daicon is awesome (it's nice to hear that a Daicon LD is not that expensive, as a copy would be a centerpiece for my anime archive).

Rare music titles also make sense from a content standpoint, as analog LD presentation of stuff sourced from video is as good as this footage will ever look and there's lot's of intriguing stuff for music fans.