Look at this, absolutely crazy!

I got it near mint for $150 a few years ago and even that much I considered robbery. Thought I'd check and see what it's going for these days and holy cow.

I wonder how long these listings have been/will be up, because who is going to pay these prices? It's a good movie and cool to have on LD, but $450 to nearly $1000? Seriously?

It can't be that rare if there are 5 copies up for grabs right now on eBay alone. Some of them even have the balls to charge for shipping on top of it.

As always, look at --SOLD-- prices!

Any idiot can -list- a ridiculous price for anything.

Having said that, people actually did pay US$400 for copies of it, and even more for non-USA releases. Crazy indeed.

Yeah, but they're all listing at ridiculous prices!

Recent solds are still around $350-500 so most of these asks are more or less in line with that. And there are quite a lot of them sold over the last few months, so yeah it can't be too rare of a release. I wish people wouldn't encourage the sellers like this for something that clearly isn't a unicorn disc.

And $1100 for a Hong Kong release sold!

Jumanji (Hi-Vision) sold here on LDDB for $1000
Reference Discs regularly go for $500-$700 on eBay, PAL maybe even more - if you ever find one.
Sixth Day sold here for $600 June 2024, Iron Giant for $800 a month earlier

This is the most expensive I found so far: Crimson Rivers, The (2000) [PILF-2869]

So yeah, some prices are crazy but people seem to pay them.

Yes and others are adapting those prices. Recently someone asked EUR 500 for a defective LD player (CLD-1600) and like 25 discs (nothing special , usual 5 - 8EUR discs).

Asking about how he calculated that:
A working player is EUR 700 (yeah, a CLD-D925 has been offered for that - for 2 years without being sold), so 200 should be OK for a defective one and each disc should be worth 20 at least, so the price is already a bargain.

Some laserdiscs are so rare that everyone owns a copy

Those are crazy as well, but at least with those, most of them are quite rare to my knowledge so you can at least make an argument for the high prices.

The Matrix seems to be a relatively common one, which makes sense because it was a massive box office smash hit. Even though it was at the tail end of LD's life, they surely printed a decent number of copies of such a popular film.

In the end, something is worth what someone will pay for it, and I guess people are paying $300-500 for this one... I just think it's because they're duped into thinking it's rare when it isn't.

Most recent copy of Matrix US NTSC sold on YAJ for JPY 77,000 last month.
https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/n1169752716

That's about $500 as well but it was through a proxy service so add buying fees, shipping fees and reshipping fees.

$550?

Sold prices on LDDb reflects the same trend: https://www.lddb.com/past/9271/

Julien

You have to understand…there’s pretty much nothing more totally awesome than The Matrix on Laserdisc.

Just say it out loud to yourself,

“Guysh, guysh, guysh…jeck it oud. I’ve god…zuh Matrixsh…on Lazzzserdishk. Guys. It’s so awshum”

Say it outloud, to the entire Eltingvill Club. It’s more kickass than a mint 12” Boba Fett!

I’m amazed it’s not $50,000. The people who think The Matrix is the best thing ever are too stupid to find another best thing ever. It’s the best thing ever…forever…for these guys.

It's a meme release and people are paying meme prices.

Hmm, maybe it is the combination of a well-known and highly popular movie with the well-known status of being one of the last ones (more or less)?

I am assuming that its dialog, special features, color tint, "who shot first" or anything else that gets people going about other movies do not apply in this case?

I still need to watch these movies. I only saw the third one so far, in the theater with friends on my birthday of all days. It was partially filmed in my area (near San Francisco). One scene was on a freeway, and I noticed a problem right away. "The freeway traffic is mostly CARS. That never -really- happens any more. Real traffic is now ninety percent pickup trucks, boxy SUVs, those awful ugly "blob station-wagon things", and just a few actual sedans and coupes."

Those movies suck. The first one is good if you’re 12 and have no science fiction education, never dropped acid, never prayed, never got into progressive rock, not even Floyd, never had a near death experience, never got punched, never baked a cake from scratch, can’t play guitar, etc. It’s pretty friggn sad otherwise though, at least compared to it’s popularity. It was huge because it was the perfectly timed combination of solid but completely unoriginal concepts with specific then-new special effects, both of which look more dated every year.

People only bring up the color timing to justify what they’re going to do anyway.

At least it’s not Star Wars though!

First one's decent to good, not amazing. I don't think it aged well, it's a very 1999 movie in every way. I haven't really watched it in years, I might lower my opinion of it rewatching now that I'm older. I thought it was SUPER COOL when I was 16 and it just came out.

All of the sequels are an absolute dumpster fire and should be purged from film history.

Ok, prices aside, which over last three years have skyrocketed. Historically fetched a buck fifty average for years.
During covid that ratcheted up significantly.
Not commenting on that specifically.

I loved the "new" concept of "bullet time" with all the cameras in synchronized action to capture action like never before the matrix. This novel concept took action to new frontiers.

Was a big fan of ANIMATRIX filling backstory concepts with creativity. Highly reccomended if a fan of the films.

Zeta has been clear about his opinion.
My take is more appreciative of the story and creative effort at the time and in retrospect more then 20 years later.
Loved the reloaded sequal,not so much the third installment however still appreciated the concept and delivery of creative filming.
Everyone has their opinion.
Can agree "at least not star wars" HA !

Cheers to all you spinning platter fans out there.
Keep those players active !

Why are the prices high on this one:

UHF (1989) [ID9501OR]

There's a copy on Ebay for $150.00. Just because it's open matte?..

Because Laserdisc, the 80s, Wierd Al, etc all form a different sort of perfect dork storm.

I actually wanted that UHF disc (as well as the other Weird Al LDs) but the prices just keep getting higher and higher.

Maybe I'll just get the German mediabook instead and settle for the DVDs of the music video stuff.

Prices are unfortunately going to continue to climb for any desirable and nostalgic movie on this format. I remember a few years ago scoffing at $150-$200 for a copy of The Matrix. Now I'd really have to pony up if I want it. Maybe I will someday, but not any time soon.

The bigger problem is what happens when all these FB group clowns move onto the next thing because the players become harder to service.

Nearly every LD I’ve ever cared about is cheaper than it used to be. I think that’s true of most long time collectors. If I gave a donkey’s whiff about The Matrix I would have bought it for $45 new. I saw it in the theater on a date…it was fine, thats it. I’m more into all the stuff The Matrix ripped off.

The noobs maxing their credit cards on the most mainstream crap imaginable are just idiots. They don’t know crap about movies, no depth, no breadth, hollow. They don’t have the background necessary to jack up the prices on stuff thats actually cool and uncommon. Hell, the Star Wars kids are so isolated in their stupid bubble they haven’t even managed to get THX-1138 over $1000! They’re never coming for the good stuff because they’ll never even know what it is.

They will smash every player though, noobs. In that way we are totally screwed.

I must admit I am a younger fellow, 37 and yes, The Matrix is nostalgic and appealed to me when it was new. It is true that it's basically a nerd's amalgamation of all kinds of their favourite things into a film. It's entertaining. I think it does have some valid points about AI. However, we're not here to discuss the film and its artistic integrity in this thread specifically.

There is a valid point here that the movie cannot be that rare if so many people are trying to sell them on eBay and elsewhere. However, yes, stupid people my age are going to max out their credit cards and drive the prices up further. I've also noticed since COVID and when relief money was dispersed that a lot of people who were doing fine seemed to spend it on frivolous stuff and that prices of collectibles went up and has not seemed to recover since then. I am not here to debate the politics of it, rather I just want to point out this observation.

And yes, plenty of films that aren't The Matrix or Fight Club can be had substantially cheaper on LD via lddb.com. Most of the stuff I have in my collection I have not paid more than $20 for. Considering the discs were triple or quadruple the cost when new that's pretty good.