Why I Own So Many Movies. (1 Viewer)

[Dick]

I too take pleasure in knowing I have shelves of films that can be watched at a whim.

I also recently culled some discs that I know I won't watch again. Trying to get ruthless with what films I decide to let go as I only want films in my collection that I know I am going to watch again and enjoy. Most of my recent cull were generally blind purchases and predominantly modern films say post 2000 with a few exceptions.

It's not easy though. I don't want to let go of a film and then later in life to realize it was a very good film that needs a rewatch only to find that movie is expensive to repurchase. That would annoy me.

Perhaps irrational I know. I have watched many films that are artistically brilliant and profound but I have no desire to watch them again as they were just not entertaining enough or maybe too depressing a subject to look at again.

Those types of films get culled but there are grey areas.

Once I have in my collection all the films I wish to have I am hoping it will be a lean choice of films without any that will never be watched again.

It is an ongoing process and always a complex one as my tastes in some types of movies change over time.

Paradoxically it does annoy me when I am looking through my collection and unsure what I want to watch due to way too much choice. That's why I think it is important to remove films from my collection that won't get a rewatch. I can imagine many on here with the same problem and probably to an extreme degree too.

When my collection gets close to fulfilment I will probably get a monthly streaming deal with Amazon or something and use it to watch new films and others that perhaps I was not sure about or not too enthusiastic about to purchase on disc.

I generally don't go out of my comfort zone when purchasing discs and buy films that I obviously think are going to be good and worth keeping. Genres I don't like I won't buy etc.

However, with streaming I would probably broaden my horizons.

One problem with trying to cut back on Blu-rays on the shelves is: they're worth almost nothing on the secondary market. Anything we don't think we'll rewatch will meet with the same reaction when listed on eBay. You might get $2.99 for most of the overstocked titles. Maybe. And if you offer free shipping, you have just given your disc away (add eBay and PayPal fees and the time it took to list it, and you actually lose money!). Might as well donate them to charity or family members who are still looking to expand their collectons.

I remember the days when Bullmoose would give me $4.00 apiece for used CD's...virtually any that I brought in. Then they expanded, and opened a warehouse, connecting all the stores to a single database. Prices offered for used merchandise suddenly plummeted as they looked at how many copies of a given title were available chain-wide. Plus, retail prices on Blu-rays has dipped a lot, after maybe just a month or so. You can't get much now, unless you have out of print titles.

 

[MarkA]

One problem with trying to cut back on Blu-rays on the shelves is: they're worth almost nothing on the secondary market. Anything we don't think we'll rewatch will meet with the same reaction when listed on eBay. You might get $2.99 for most of the overstocked titles. Maybe. And if you offer shipping, you have just given your disc away (add eBay and PayPal fees and the time it took to list it, and you actually lose money!). Might as well donate them to charity or family members who are still looking to expand their collectons.

I remember the days when Bullmoose would give me $4.00 apiece for used CD's...virtually any that I brought in. Then they expanded, and opened a warehouse, connecting all the stores to a single database. Prices offered for used merchandise suddenly plummeted as they looked at how many copies of a given title were available chain-wide. Plus, retail prices on Blu-rays has dipped a lot, after maybe just a month or so. You can't get much now, unless you have out of print titles.

True. I upgrade many Blu-rays to 4Ks and put them on Amazon Marketplace and there is almost zero interest.

 

[The Drifter]

Yes, it's easy to forget that physical media is typically worth very little these days. The only real exceptions are if you have a rare "collector's item" movie/TV show on Disk that may be of value to a physical media aficionado (like those of us on this board).

 

[TJPC]

I do not have a 4K system but I am still replacing many DVDs with Blu rays. Used DVDs appear to be worth nothing. What I have been doing is putting the DVD in a disc envelope and storing it in the case with the blu ray if it did not come with one. I throw away the DVD paper insert and recycle the DVD case.

 

[Bryan^H]

Is there a grading service for sealed DVD titles in the realm of WATA, or CGC?

I have some valuable, sealed discs, and want to get them slabbed.

 

[Jasper70]

As a collector and seller of media, my opinion is most DVDs and Blu-rays that are worthless today will rise in value especially if still new and sealed.

I have thousands of overstocked movies, every once in a while I go through them to see what has risen in value so I can list them for sale. There are always some that were worth less than $5 that are now doubled or more in value. It is cyclical.

Imagine what might happen to values when they go OOP. And they all will someday. My advice is pack them up in a box, forget about them. One day you’ll be happy you did.

 

[Carl David]

As a collector and seller of media, my opinion is most DVDs and Blu-rays that are worthless today will rise in value especially if still new and sealed.

I have thousands of overstocked movies, every once in a while I go through them to see what has risen in value so I can list them for sale. There are always some that were worth less than $5 that are now doubled or more in value. It is cyclical.

Imagine what might happen to values when they go OOP. And they all will someday. My advice is pack them up in a box, forget about them. One day you’ll be happy you did.

Completely agree and I have commented on this in a few threads.

They will get extremely collectible at some point in the future.

It will be a very similar scenario as with original vinyl LPs and EPs etc.

Vinyl started to fetch very good prices from the 1990s onwards. Today many collectible albums sell for big sums.

It's worth mentioning though that a lot will hardly be valuable at all such as discs that sold a lot of copies.

For example movies such as Jaws, Titanic, Avatar, Toy Story and most of the Marvel comic book films etc. Just basic supply and demand.

Speaking of comic books many original editions of Marvel and other companies sell for big bucks these days.

Same with baseball cards. Very collectible.

Steel-books and limited edition titles will probably sell very well in the future especially with great movies that will have a huge collector fan base.

It's difficult to predict a time when they will start to become desirable but my guess is when the physical market is down to a trickle like niche type of business with the vast majority of the population around the world streaming only.

If I was forced to predict a date I would say somewhere from 2025 onwards as I think the physical disc market will probably decline around 90% from the present market dynamics.

However, that is no scientific prediction and just based purely on a gut feeling of how trends have been developing over the last 10 years or so.

 

[Carl David]

As a collector and seller of media, my opinion is most DVDs and Blu-rays that are worthless today will rise in value especially if still new and sealed.

I have thousands of overstocked movies, every once in a while I go through them to see what has risen in value so I can list them for sale. There are always some that were worth less than $5 that are now doubled or more in value. It is cyclical.

Imagine what might happen to values when they go OOP. And they all will someday. My advice is pack them up in a box, forget about them. One day you’ll be happy you did.

They will all go OOP someday and sooner than most people think.

 

[Carl David]

Is there a grading service for sealed DVD titles in the realm of WATA, or CGC?

I have some valuable, sealed discs, and want to get them slabbed.

Not to my knowledge but there will be someday once they start getting collectible.

 

[Carl David]

I do not have a 4K system but I am still replacing many DVDs with Blu rays. Used DVDs appear to be worth nothing. What I have been doing is putting the DVD in a disc envelope and storing it in the case with the blu ray if it did not come with one. I throw away the DVD paper insert and recycle the DVD case.

My guess is probably because the DVD titles have been replaced by superior Blu Ray discs so will not be in demand.

Maybe check your DVD titles where there have been no release on Blu Ray yet and see if the prices are somewhat higher.

My guess is they probably will be especially with movies that have a fairly big fan base. Maybe not for bad titles such as Lawnmower man 2 (just checked and soon to get a release on Blu Ray; who buys these titles???).

 

[Carl David]

One problem with trying to cut back on Blu-rays on the shelves is: they're worth almost nothing on the secondary market. Anything we don't think we'll rewatch will meet with the same reaction when listed on eBay. You might get $2.99 for most of the overstocked titles. Maybe. And if you offer free shipping, you have just given your disc away (add eBay and PayPal fees and the time it took to list it, and you actually lose money!). Might as well donate them to charity or family members who are still looking to expand their collectons.

I remember the days when Bullmoose would give me $4.00 apiece for used CD's...virtually any that I brought in. Then they expanded, and opened a warehouse, connecting all the stores to a single database. Prices offered for used merchandise suddenly plummeted as they looked at how many copies of a given title were available chain-wide. Plus, retail prices on Blu-rays has dipped a lot, after maybe just a month or so. You can't get much now, unless you have out of print titles.

Too true.

I have had the same experience.

You can be safe assuming most big seller items such as Jurassic Park, The Fast & The Furious, Harry Potter series & 007 movies will sell for hardly anything.

Probably better to give them away.

But many discs will sell for significantly higher prices with movies that have a strong following but perhaps did not do too well at the box office or sold many items on disc etc.

Difficult to predict which ones will do well but there will be many.

Just to give you a crude example see the RM Films International Blu Ray release of "Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!".

It's currently $299 on Amazon.

My presumption for this is down to the fact that the release was a limited production disc or maybe it did not sell many copies.

Either way it comes down to not many in circulation.

Thus far the film has not been released in HD in any other country to date.

Obviously if a label decides to release the movie again on Blu Ray the price of the RM Films International edition will probably come down significantly closer to its original price.

 

[English Invader]

Personally, I don't really think of my collection in terms of what it might be worth in the future. I buy the films because I want to watch them. A film or specific edition of a film is either worth the money to me or it isn't.

Just ordered a copy of that Movie Hoarders film. I had to search around a bit to find a site who would ship to the UK. My copy is coming from Denmark.

 

[Carl David]

Personally, I don't really think of my collection in terms of what it might be worth in the future. I buy the films because I want to watch them. A film or specific edition of a film is either worth the money to me or it isn't.

Just ordered a copy of that Movie Hoarders film. I had to search around a bit to find a site who would ship to the UK. My copy is coming from Denmark.

My mindset is the same.

I don't ever intend to sell my collection regardless of what it may be worth. They were purchased for enjoyment.

However, I have mentioned before that now is a good time to build your collection assuming you don't have a lot of films you wish to purchase in the future as I feel prices are as low as they are going to get right now.

You will end up paying a lot more in the future than you will now.

I have commented previously on my thoughts on streaming and how prices will rise for that type of service in the not too distant future.

In my opinion, that will create demand for physical media hence the rise in prices.

 

[TJPC]

I have often thought that I should make some notes about my collection for my daughter. She is rather disdainful of the disc formats now, but I do have some rare DVDs, and Blus that are very hard to get. I hate to think everything will end up heaped together in a bin at Good Will with a 50 cent sign hanging over it.

 

[Worth]

 

[Carl David]

I must say if I had his bank balance my collection would probably be just as substantial.

Did I hear him say he has only watched around 200 films of his 15,000+ collection?

May I say he is perhaps a victim of compulsive behaviour?

 

[bujaki]

I'm afraid my collection of movies is more substantial. I'm a sick puppy.
The only medium I never collected was VHS. My DVDs, BDs and UHDs surpass 20,000 (according to DVD Profiler). That doesn't include my also very extensive LD collection.
My wife is not very happy.

 

[Kilgore]

I have a 2400 movie collection (small by many people's standard, I'm sure), but I never ever considered their monetary value when buying them, only the quality of the transfers, and mainly the ability to watch them whenever I wanted. I have no desire to sell them and I have no idea whatsoever what they're worth, and frankly, I could care less. To me, they're priceless.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I feel like that’s the most practical approach - if you buy discs as an investment to gain or hold monetary value or to show off to others rather than as things to enjoy, that’s a sure recipe for disappointment. Over the years, my collecting has definitely shifted from “things no library should be without” or “things that looked impressive on a shelf” to “these are things I enjoy having.” It took me rebuying a few titles I never wanted to watch to realize that a change in focus would make it more rewarding.

 

[Carl David]

I feel like that’s the most practical approach - if you buy discs as an investment to gain or hold monetary value or to show off to others rather than as things to enjoy, that’s a sure recipe for disappointment. Over the years, my collecting has definitely shifted from “things no library should be without” or “things that looked impressive on a shelf” to “these are things I enjoy having.” It took me rebuying a few titles I never wanted to watch to realize that a change in focus would make it more rewarding.

I think it takes some kind of process to really come to understand your own tastes in relation to movies along with other preferences of various subjects.

You can easily become a victim of your own ego and deceive yourself that you like this film or that film especially when you are young and impressionable, I think.

You can also be embarrassed (not sure that is the appropriate word) as I was at a young age of liking a particular movie and this seems to be labelled as a "guilty pleasure" by the general population.

For example, a favourite film of mine growing up was "White Men Can't Jump". As I got older I fooled myself into thinking that I no longer liked the movie anymore as I thought at that time the movie was silly only to realize as I got older that it is a great movie (for me, anyway) upon watching it again and was somewhat perplexed by myself why I decided to disown the movie in the first place if that is the correct terminology to use.

I have never watched that movie and not enjoyed it so why I suddenly came to the conclusion that I no longer liked it is somewhat a little mystifying.

You can also fool yourself that you like a movie but in reality the opposite is more truthful.

I don't know if this is a case of maturing or perhaps just knowing YOUR SELF or maybe even related to introverted and extroverted personalities but like you say if you have built up a large collection for some kind of status it's going to leave you unfulfilled. It could also be a case of perhaps learning to understand the art of acting and screenwriting and moviemaking in general whilst also looking at a film objectively that enables you to know your personal tastes.

I feel that I now have a very good understanding of my own personal tastes in relation to what films I like and enjoy and don't enjoy.

For example, personal favourite genres I like are westerns and corporate thrillers (my own term but not sure if this is a known specific genre and if that label is widely used) and genres I am not particularly fond of are musicals and comic book type films to give some examples.

That's not to say I dislike musicals or whatever. There are a few I like. It's just a case of that I won't enjoy most movies I watch of that specific genre. They are just not to my personal taste.

I try not to ever dismiss a movie because it is this genre or that. I will watch movies of genres I am not particularly fond of with an open mind but generally I will not enjoy most of them. It's nice to be surprised once in a while.

My disc collection now is comprised of movies that I know I want to watch again and I will definitely watch again.

I have culled films that although were profound upon watching and technically very well made I knew that I had no interest in ever wanting to watch them again and so it made sense to no longer have it in the collection.