Brave & Bold #28: Speculation on future pricing 4 4

[BarryAllen]

http://variety.com/2013/film/news/warner-bros-sets-bar-high-for-latest-and-priciest-incarnation-of-superman-1200493334/

 

Warner Bros. Sets Bar High for Latest – and Priciest – Incarnation of Superman:

Superman is carrying the weight of the world on his back as he flies into theaters June 14.

 

There’s strong industry buzz that “Man of Steel,” yet another bigscreen incarnation of the iconic DC Comics superhero, will be one of the summer’s biggest hits.

 

The potential business impact of a “Man of Steel” windfall could be profound for Warner Bros., which needs to build new franchises that can yield the kind of reliable profi ts that sprang from the now-retired “Harry Potter” movie series.

 

If “Man of Steel,” starring Henry Cavill, becomes a blockbuster, it would move the Burbank studio one giant leap closer to preparing the ground for its longplanned all-star superhero pic “Justice League,” which could match the box office prowess of “Marvel’s The Avengers.” That 2012 Disney release, featuring Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk and Thor, amassed $1.5 billion worldwide.

 

Warner Bros. motion pictures group president Jeff Robinov went so far as to predict it will be the studio’s highest performer ever. That would mean the 3D movie, which cost about $225 million to produce and another $150 million to market and release around the globe, would have to top the $1.3 billion cume for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2″ and the $1 billion-plus each earned by four other Warner releases, “The Dark Knight,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.”

 

Warner could fi nally fully exploit its DC Comics library beyond Batman and Superman, and bring to the screen such characters as Aquaman, the Flash, Wonder Woman and another Green Lantern — whose costly 2011 predecessor flopped.

 

Expectations are that Warner will release a “Justice League” film within the next four years, with the timing dependent on whether a second “Man of Steel” would go first.

 

Robinov acknowledges the pic will establish the tone and feel for the upcoming DC movies. “The plan is for a universe that will allow for other DC characters,” he explains. “Chris Nolan’s Batman trilogy was set very much in an isolated universe and done as a stand-alone without other superheroes.”

 

Robinov says that Nolan, a producer on “Man of Steel,” came up with the idea for a new Superman during discussions about “Inception.”

 

“(Nolan) said that he and David Goyer had come up with a way of doing the Superman story that wouldn’t exclude the future possibility of including the other DC characters,” recalls Robinov. “So Chris and David delivered a draft that did that.”

 

Once Zack Snyder came aboard to direct “Man of Steel,” the director told the studio, ‘I know what to do with the movie,’says Robinov. “So you’ll see both of their hands on it in a very collaborative way.”

 

Snyder could use a hit. While his 2007 film “300″ was a surprise box office triumph, each of his past three movies — “Sucker Punch,” “Legends of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole” and “Watchmen” — have missed badly.

 

This is Warner’s second reboot of Superman in seven years, following the disappointing perf of director Bryan Singer’s expensive “Superman Returns,” which took in just $391 million globally.

 

“It had a lot of emotion, but not enough action sequences,” says Robinov.

 

The exec says that “Man of Steel” has a good mix of emotion and action. “(It has) a very fresh feel, and it takes you into the DC universe with the introduction of Krypton at the start of the film and the introduction of DC villains,” he says. “It’s a world that you have not seen before.”

 

The plot centers on the young Clark Kent learning of his powers and extraterrestrial origins, his quest to find out why he was sent to Earth and the discovery that the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for mankind.

 

Unlike the “Dark Knight” movies, whose vengeance-seeking central character spends much time battling his own darkest impulses, Superman is more sympathetic. “Superman’s character is still about goodness,” says Deborah Snyder, one of the film’s four producers (she’s also married to the helmer). “I don’t think that goes out of style. There’s a morality, a wholesomeness that’s ingrained in this character.”

 

But that squeaky-clean image required a reconsideration — something more in line with the struggles of an Everyman to whom audiences can relate.

 

“We’ve seen him portrayed in the past as this kind of goodie two-shoes, Boy Scout character that didn’t feel very realistic,” says Deborah Snyder, who produced the picture with Nolan and his wife Emma Thomas, and Charles Roven.

 

“He’s trying to figure out who he is and what his place is in the world. He’s emotionally vulnerable. These are the things that humanize him,” Snyder adds.

 

The filmmakers took a realistic approach to the visual effects, moving away from the highly stylized, digitally enhanced visuals of Snyder’s “300″ and “Watchmen” and toward something that more reflected the human side of the movie’s hero.

 

“Zack always said it’s ironic that this is the most realistic film that he’s ever made and it’s Superman,” says Snyder. “A lot of times before, we would be on a complete greenscreen stage, and we used very few set pieces and the rest we did in the computer. Whereas in this film, we tried to incorporate more live-action plates. It was always about using something real.”

 

With the opening in sight, Superman supporters are fired up.

 

“For years, people in the business have been saying Superman isn’t relevant because he’s not hip and edgy like some other characters are — which is really short-sighted,” says producer Daniel Alter (“Hitman,” “Apparition”). “His story is the most iconic. You just have to go back to the source material and reboot it a little more modern and gritty for today’s audiences, and you’re going to get a film that if it delivers, will launch a bigger universe than any other superhero movie.”

 

Now all Superman needs to do is fly — really high.

 

I HATE reviews and expectations ahead of opening weekend. Especially when movie studios make large sweeping bold statements about multitude of potential sequels to be made (if the original is successful) over 500 years. Nothing like setting an stupidly impossible bar to meet with sweeping implications either way based an improbable profit model (i.e. spending $200 million on anything and "requiring" payout in 12 weeks is silly).

 

 

I propose that everyone go see the movie and post their thoughts in context of two things:

1) Supe's movie portrayal versus comic history

2) Whether or not it is just an entertaining movie

 

 

Side note, while the thought of a Justice League movie is exciting to me, in my mind there is little chance that it is ever made (or at least made well). The persona of the characters portrayed in individual recent franchises seem too far from the ones necessary to "team-up" in any other than an extremely desperate situation. For instance, Christian Bale's Batman is a far cry from the intellectual giant needed to successfully coordinate the JLA to begin with. While you could argue the CB's Batman is still "early" in his career, I don't see his grunting portrayal evolving quickly enough to be plausible. He is unlikely to do the movie anyhow, but how successful can a JLA movie be with all new casting (that is without box office giants like Avengers)...?

 

[Aman619]

if Man of Steel does well JLA will be fast tracked. TW desperately wants a profitable franchise out of their characters as Marvel has done this past decade. They USED to laugh at Marvels films... not any more!

[G.A.tor]

Yes, you still should for those of us who may be looking for one......

 

I agree

 

But somehow i doubt that price was off the table

you weren't at heroes early enough Friday morning

I have a 6.5 ow that was purchased a month ago at 5995 and I never took the price sticker off. Well customer ran into some money issues and "returned" book (was a time payment purchase so book still with me. And yes I refunded his deposit...this time )

I put the book on wall and when the first person that picked up and looked at it I noticed the price sticker. I waited till he put back on shelf before I could remove. So price was available , albeit for only a short time. But I repriced at 6995 or maybe it was 7495, cant recall, but no one bought (at least not at heroes)

 

If 6.0s are being priced at 8500-9000 then surely I need to bump up my 6.5 asking price

[Timely]

Yes, you still should for those of us who may be looking for one......

 

I agree

 

But somehow i doubt that price was off the table

you weren't at heroes early enough Friday morning

I have a 6.5 ow that was purchased a month ago at 5995 and I never took the price sticker off. Well customer ran into some money issues and "returned" book (was a time payment purchase so book still with me. And yes I refunded his deposit...this time )

I put the book on wall and when the first person that picked up and looked at it I noticed the price sticker. I waited till he put back on shelf before I could remove. So price was available , albeit for only a short time. But I repriced at 6995 or maybe it was 7495, cant recall, but no one bought (at least not at heroes)

 

If 6.0s are being priced at 8500-9000 then surely I need to bump up my 6.5 asking price

 

$8500-9000 sticker prices do not mean $8500-9000 sales prices, or any sale at all! As you know, you can put any price on any book, but if you want to sell it, make it a good price!

 

Just for kicks, I just looked up GPA sales on 6.0's & 6.5's... no sales reported above $4800, and most are below $3000!

Edited June 13, 2013 by Timely

[Boba]

Good for who, the buyer or seller .

Hold onto a book for long enough and most will eventually work their way back in price if the title reemains popular. If indeed 6.0's are selling for that high a price I did well for my $1600 a few years back. Just about makes up for my buying those SC #22's at the height of the frenzy. Even that book is rebounding as some have indicated in that book's club thread.

[G.A.tor]

Yes, you still should for those of us who may be looking for one......

 

I agree

 

But somehow i doubt that price was off the table

you weren't at heroes early enough Friday morning

I have a 6.5 ow that was purchased a month ago at 5995 and I never took the price sticker off. Well customer ran into some money issues and "returned" book (was a time payment purchase so book still with me. And yes I refunded his deposit...this time )

I put the book on wall and when the first person that picked up and looked at it I noticed the price sticker. I waited till he put back on shelf before I could remove. So price was available , albeit for only a short time. But I repriced at 6995 or maybe it was 7495, cant recall, but no one bought (at least not at heroes)

 

If 6.0s are being priced at 8500-9000 then surely I need to bump up my 6.5 asking price

 

$8500-9000 sticker prices do not mean $8500-9000 sales prices, or any sale at all! As you know, you can put any price on any book, but if you want to sell it, make it a good price!

 

Just for kicks, I just looked up GPA sales on 6.0's & 6.5's... no sales reported above $4800, and most are below $3000!

Of course we all know that. That said I have sold 5 copies of bb28 in cgc 6.5 over the past 2 months for 4995-6495, and I know of several other sales in that range. Just goes to show you why I don't subscribe to gpa (don't get me wrong gpa can be a useful tool sometimes but this book is a perfect example of its shortcomings) (thumbs u

[Foolkiller]

Yes, you still should for those of us who may be looking for one......

 

I agree

 

But somehow i doubt that price was off the table

you weren't at heroes early enough Friday morning

I have a 6.5 ow that was purchased a month ago at 5995 and I never took the price sticker off. Well customer ran into some money issues and "returned" book (was a time payment purchase so book still with me. And yes I refunded his deposit...this time )

I put the book on wall and when the first person that picked up and looked at it I noticed the price sticker. I waited till he put back on shelf before I could remove. So price was available , albeit for only a short time. But I repriced at 6995 or maybe it was 7495, cant recall, but no one bought (at least not at heroes)

 

If 6.0s are being priced at 8500-9000 then surely I need to bump up my 6.5 asking price

 

$8500-9000 sticker prices do not mean $8500-9000 sales prices, or any sale at all! As you know, you can put any price on any book, but if you want to sell it, make it a good price!

 

Just for kicks, I just looked up GPA sales on 6.0's & 6.5's... no sales reported above $4800, and most are below $3000!

Of course we all know that. That said I have sold 5 copies of bb28 in cgc 6.5 over the past 2 months for 4995-6495, and I know of several other sales in that range. Just goes to show you why I don't subscribe to gpa (don't get me wrong gpa can be a useful tool sometimes but this book is a perfect example of its shortcomings) (thumbs u

 

Totally agree with Rick on this one (though I do subscribe to GPA). I'd be more than happy to buy BB 28s at below $3k in 6.0 or 6.5.

 

 

[Murphman13]

Brock & Joey: that comiclink auction doesn't have anything to do with your 6.0s getting a price bump on the bay does it? They were hovering around 6K....they've floated upto around 9K.

 

Truth be told: I think they're both underpriced.

 

The CC results certainly doesn't hurt the desirability of the book.

 

And yeah, I bumped mine up...but that doesn't mean anything honestly. It only matters when it finally sells. And maybe they are underpriced. Not sure at the moment but I wasn't going to let one fly off the shelf at $5500 or so while I slept on it.

 

I still kick myself for not pulling the trigger on your original price last month.

 

[VintageComics]

Nobody has really mentioned the fact that the 8.5 that sold last night looks better than an 8.5 and also looked like it had removable defects. That book probably went crazy for that reason. If that book went to 9.0 would the $30K sale still be a reliable benchmark?

 

A similar thing happened with AF #15 - Clink sold a 7.0 that went for record money about a year ago or so - somewhere around $40K+. The book ended up upgrading to a 7.5

 

Does that mean the 7.0 was a new benchmark price? Not really, but prices took off anyway.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not hating on B+B 28 - I think it's a terrific book. I'm just a little wary when there is such a huge outlier in a short period of time.

 

That's my

 

 

[G.A.tor]

Nobody has really mentioned the fact that the 8.5 that sold last night looks better than an 8.5 and also looked like it had removable defects. That book probably went crazy for that reason. If that book went to 9.0 would the $30K sale still be a reliable benchmark?

 

A similar thing happened with AF #15 - Clink sold a 7.0 that went for record money about a year ago or so - somewhere around $40K+. The book ended up upgrading to a 7.5

 

Does that mean the 7.0 was a new benchmark price? Not really, but prices took off anyway.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not hating on B+B 28 - I think it's a terrific book. I'm just a little wary when there is such a huge outlier in a short period of time.

 

That's my

 

That was the worst 8.5 of the several I have seen

 

Also that sale has nothing to do with the pricing of lower grade copies...they have been moving up for months

[Sam I am]

Hey guys, I'm stoked that I picked one up from Joey last month for $5000. I gut-gambled on the Superman movie bounce.

 

edit - A 6.0

Edited June 13, 2013 by Sam I am

[Dark Knight]

BB28 has always been one of my favorite covers.......Yeah, Brian, Starro isn't that exciting to me, but all those superheros on one page, working together

 

If they only had Flash, GL, and WW, than that would be better

 

I love the cover, but I am swayed heavily DC being a GL and Flash fan.

 

Which DC cover is your favorite?

 

My favorite DC cover of all time is definitely detective 31.. It's dark, simple, and hands down for me the best cover in DC

[Boba]

BB28 has always been one of my favorite covers.......Yeah, Brian, Starro isn't that exciting to me, but all those superheros on one page, working together

 

If they only had Flash, GL, and WW, than that would be better

 

I love the cover, but I am swayed heavily DC being a GL and Flash fan.

 

Which DC cover is your favorite?

 

My favorite DC cover of all time is definitely detective 31.. It's dark, simple, and hands down for me the best cover in DC

 

What about SA covers? Right off, one of the most iconic is Superman #199 the Flash Superman race. That one still gives me goosebumps.

[nearmint]

Side note, while the thought of a Justice League movie is exciting to me, in my mind there is little chance that it is ever made (or at least made well). The persona of the characters portrayed in individual recent franchises seem too far from the ones necessary to "team-up" in any other than an extremely desperate situation.

 

That's what creates drama. If they were a well-oiled, perfectly synchronized team, it would be boring as hell.

[accessndx]

Totally agree with Rick on this one (though I do subscribe to GPA). I'd be more than happy to buy BB 28s at below $3k in 6.0 or 6.5.

 

Well be sure to let us know if there are any left at that price point. I'd be interested in more than a few at that price. My suspicion is that unless you find a time machine you're outta luck.

[Dark Knight]

BB28 has always been one of my favorite covers.......Yeah, Brian, Starro isn't that exciting to me, but all those superheros on one page, working together

 

If they only had Flash, GL, and WW, than that would be better

 

I love the cover, but I am swayed heavily DC being a GL and Flash fan.

 

Which DC cover is your favorite?

 

My favorite DC cover of all time is definitely detective 31.. It's dark, simple, and hands down for me the best cover in DC

 

What about SA covers? Right off, one of the most iconic is Superman #199 the Flash Superman race. That one still gives me goosebumps.

 

Yes that one is nice as well as Flash 123

[Foolkiller]

Totally agree with Rick on this one (though I do subscribe to GPA). I'd be more than happy to buy BB 28s at below $3k in 6.0 or 6.5.

 

Well be sure to let us know if there are any left at that price point. I'd be interested in more than a few at that price. My suspicion is that unless you find a time machine you're outta luck.

 

Through traditional outlets that's absolutely true. If you mean either raw copies or people who still price using OSPG alone, not true.

 

I bought two raw BB 28 6.0s for under guide in the last three months.

[VintageComics]

Nobody has really mentioned the fact that the 8.5 that sold last night looks better than an 8.5 and also looked like it had removable defects. That book probably went crazy for that reason. If that book went to 9.0 would the $30K sale still be a reliable benchmark?

 

A similar thing happened with AF #15 - Clink sold a 7.0 that went for record money about a year ago or so - somewhere around $40K+. The book ended up upgrading to a 7.5

 

Does that mean the 7.0 was a new benchmark price? Not really, but prices took off anyway.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not hating on B+B 28 - I think it's a terrific book. I'm just a little wary when there is such a huge outlier in a short period of time.

 

That's my

 

That was the worst 8.5 of the several I have seen

 

Also that sale has nothing to do with the pricing of lower grade copies...they have been moving up for months

 

What did you see on the book that made it the worst 8.5 you've seen?

 

I do realize that there is a distance between 8.5 sales and 6.0 sales (and that lower grades have been trending upward) but they are not exclusive of one another. There is always a relationship between ranges. It's the nature of economics.

 

Either lower grades build a support for higher grades, or higher grades lead the way with lower grades then getting affected.

 

In any case, I wasn't talking about lower grades - I was specifically talking about that price point. Much like with AF #15's, grades surrounding the 7.0 range have been affected, but those further out (4.5/5.0 etc) have not been affected as much.

[nearmint]

A lot of folks don't like that much white on the spine.

[MrBedrock]

Will the 8.0 JLA 1 ending tonight experience the same kind of price run up?

I certainly hope so