Mondo Tees

[Muddyfunster]

So the Lord of the Rings Olly Moss posters went on sale about 40 minutes ago. Now on Facebook everyone is massively bitching about the fact that the website was so shit that so many people who managed to get there in time and add the poster to their shopping cart, were unable to get past the process payment page.

I always stand well back and chuckle every time this farce takes place. I learned long ago not to bother.

My own view is that these posters will be worth far far less in the future because they are not officially licensed film posters. It seems to me that they are doing a grand old trade by stirring up lots and lots of interest by selling them moderately priced on their website where in fact very few people can buy them and demand massively outstrips product. They then put them on ebay through a third party at massively jacked up prices to feed that demand, and suddenly these posters are selling for $400. Mental. Absolutely mental, but a perfect example in how to create demand through hype.

It reminds me of the beer world when Three Floyds Brewing release Dark Lord beer and Russian River Brewing release Piny the Younger beer on only one day a year and everyone goes nuts and pays ridiculous prices. More fool the idiots for queuing up and paying for them.

[Starling]

I believe that Mondo does license the prints from the studios... And I wonder what prices they might bring in the future.  I recently sold off like 90% of my collection of posters (both studio and Mondo), and I did not do well on my studio posters.  At ALL.  But I made a pretty substantial profit on the Mondo posters.  Actually made up for the others:)  But who knows 10 years down the line.  I'm sure some artists will be popular, and some not.  Stout, Moss, and Taylor all seem like a safe bet.  I'm sure there will always be people clamoring to scoop up early Stout prints.  And in fact, I'm looking for a Stout The Thing if ya got one handy!

[Muddyfunster]

I guess if the people making these are not making them and releasing them in 10 years time, will they have much value compared to an 'official' product from the era of the film? If they stick around and maintain a brand for what they are doing then yes, but I'm not sure they will be. Right now though these prints are crazy prices.

[MoviePosterBid.com]

they are limited edition prints, not movie posters. All through my career as an art dealer I refused to sell prints. I never had long term faith in such things

[Tob]

They are official and licensed. The academy recognise them too...
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2011/07/mondo-oscars-archive/

"The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which stages the Oscars awards each year, routinely includes each studio-produced one-sheet poster as part of its library, but League said Mondo’s popular posters are the first non-Hollywood art to be included."

As for worth, I think they're good value if you buy them from Mondo, screen prints can be rather special when done right.

[Ari]

If hipsters die out, they won't be saleable. 

[MoviePosterBid.com]

If hipsters die out, they won't be saleable. 

Ari, It's going to be worse after man destroys himself and the apes take over. We already know they destroy any trace of man.

[guest8]

It sounds like you dont know much if anything about Mondo and what they do to be spouting of such negativity Muddy. I dont believe I have any Hollywood posters that cost about $50 that after a year (or 2 or 3?) that I could sell for $1k-3K+ ... I have more than a few Mondo prints that I could do that with. If prints aren't your thing, no problem. But why create a post spouting mis-information .. especially something like their printers are unlicensed. Ive been buying Mondo posters for 5 years now and I'd prefer 1 print of 200-800 than most of the Hollywood floating head junk that's one of thousands maybe one of 10's of thousands and easily faked/bootlegged where you have to watch out for people like TLOCE and many others out to rip people off to make a quick buck. Now many of the values of Mondo print probably will drop off .. I dont see a huge after market for Bridesmaids posters or prints .. But titles like Universal Monsters .. LOTR and other like these will always maintain some value and the more limited something is the higher the value seems to go long term.

[Muddyfunster]

I should not have said 'not officially licensed'. Not true. What I meant was not part of the original movies campaign. However their marketing methods are plain to see. Create hype, create demand, sell a few at low cost to draw people in, put a cap on that and then watch the market value soar. You point out yourself that people are paying thousands. THESE ARE PRINTS. Unrelated to the original films. Just inspiration pieces. They look great but they are not worth this much. Good for Mondo Tees. But I still think anyone who pays thousands for one of these prints is fooling themselves if they think it will hold that value in the long term. That's a view that will offend people who buy lots of them, but I'm throwing it out there. Look at all the bitching and misery that goes on when they have sold out after going on sale for 2 minutes.

[Ari]

Something I have always believed, and probably always will, even if I am proved wrong, is things made to be Collectable, do not over time maintain inflated prices.
Working in the coin industry, we sold mainly rare currency, but also modern "collectors" coins. Some of them would go up a lot for a while, but a few years down the track you couldn't give them away, I have many times gone to the reserve bank and cashed in for example Olympic bronze $5 coins, which we couldn't get enough of in 2000 while the games were on and shortly after.
This may or may not happen with mondos.

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

The best examples are the Kilian commercial posters.  Including inflation most are worth less than they originally sold for but a few (Jessica Rabbit) still sell for a premium.  In the 5-10 year outlook, probably the same will happen to the Mondos.

[Charlie]

Something I have always believed, and probably always will, even if I am proved wrong, is things made to be Collectable, do not over time maintain inflated prices.

This is a wise set of words... I recently opened a box that had 30 or so tagged Beanie Babies my dad had bought and given to me in the early nineties.  I remember him feeling the same way about getting new ones that you had to have some inside connection to get them at retail.  At first they only put out 1 or 2 a month but then they went to 3 to 4 to 5 and now you can buy them at Walgreens...

The first ones will retain their value for sure because they weren't all the rage.  If I were to collect Monro I would only buy those from the first years or so...  I think that that stupid purple elephant Beanie Baby is still worth a lot because it was not collectible.

[Ari]

My daughter went through a beanie baby stage, there was an entire store for just them in Sydney we had to go to every now and then, but she "ruined" them by actually playing with them, and GASP taking off the tag. I remember they sold tag protectors, ahaha ha, man oh man.

[eatbrie]

I own 200 prints from Mondo (about 300 if I add the other guys).  I buy them when they come out, at their initial price, so I'm not taking too much of a risk.  I personally don't care about what I can get for them since I'm not selling.  I buy them because I collect movie posters and because I see them as a genuine extension of the now deceased hand drawn movie posters.  Some of them are pure crap.  Some of them display great artistry and imagination.  Some are for movies instantly forgettable.  Some are for classics.  Some are by artists no one will ever care about.  Some other artists have already made a name for themselves.  Ultimately, I think something like 10-20% of all these prints will increase and retain their value.  It is a combination of famous title and great artistry.  The famous monsters, for instance, done by artists like Martin Ansin.  Or The Thing and Akira, done by Tyler Stout.  If the movies stick, the prints will survive.  It all comes down to the title.  But when they tackle modern titles that haven't shown any kind of longevity in our collective psyche, I believe that the majority of them will fall into oblivion.

T