What's the most you ever spent on a laserdisc?

In the early 90's I lived in the Japanese sticks. This was before the internet and I was really starved for entertainment.

This was also when LDs were really popular here, and Pioneer released tons of boxed sets. (There was a decent-sized shop about 30 minutes away.)

I bought the entire 60's Star Trek on LD. The first season was something like 70,000 yen. The second and third seasons were just a bit cheaper.

But there were drops in the bucket as I would later buy other LD sets to save my sanity while I lived in an area where there was NOTHING else to do...

 

The most I ever paid for a box set was $212 for the Star Wars Definitive Edition box right after it came out in Philadelphia. I think the store was Coconuts and they had a 20% off all video coupon. The girl behind the counter had to climb a ladder to get it down. The box was so heavy that it affected my balance on the bicycle ride home. I recently sold my DE and SE boxes as a set on eBay since no-one here was interested.

The most I ever spent on a single movie was $85 for The Abyss Special Edition at Tower on South Street. I opted for the 4:3 full frame edition after reading an interview with Cameron bashing the widescreen version in some forgotten laserdisc guide, not the Laserdisc Newsletter. I'm looking forward to revisiting that title on Blu-ray some day. Has Cameron made any pronouncements about his back catalog on Blu-Ray?

Cheers, Michael

 

I ordered almost all of my LDs from Ken Cranes. The two most expensive were The Beatles Anthology at $175 and the Criterion Spinal Tap which was over $100. I still have both of them and play the Anthology at least once a year. I remember seeing those pricey Twin Peaks boxes, though I never sprang for them.

 

Oooh.... I forgot about those twin peaks box sets. They looked amazing from the outside. IIRC they were $125 or so each at Tower. I bought the first set on DVD and never got around to the second.

THe only exotic Japanese import I ever sprung for was the Alien Collection. It was a bargain at the time circa 1994. Alien, Aliens, and Alien 3; All letter boxed, digital stereo with Japanese subtitles below the picture. A very cool case with individual single or gatefold jackets as needed. I paid $70 for the trilogy when a letter boxed copy of Aliens was $60 by itself. Fox Home Video were rip off artists back then.

Cheers, Michael

 

I exchanged a copy of the very first edition of Cinefex magazine (Star Trek The Motion Picture) for the Criterion Close Encounters Of The Third Kind with a memorabilia fair dealer in the late-80s. IIRC the LD was the only way you could get the original theatrical version of CE3K at that time.

Both items were valued at about £120.

 

Those were the days... driving all the way out to Westminster for a big Ken Crane's afternoon! Man, they had a huge selection of discs...

 

My most expensive single-movie set was probably "Amadeus" - I think that one was $150 or so...

 

Forget how much I paid for the 97 Star Wars SE box set. I did however pay about $110 for the Japanese Episode 1 LD which I bought from a video store in SF's Japantown. It was cheaper than an online LD store's "super low" price of $135.

 

I spent $120 on the Criterion Leni Reifenstahl's "Olympia" LD a few years ago, and it's now doubled - if not tripled - in price since then. Worth every penny, too, as it's an absolutely amazing film that is in gruesome shape in every other incarnation. I don't have many laserdics but this one is a prized posession indeed.

Aaron

 

Here are the two that I easily spent the most on.

The Box Set for "The Nightmare Before Christmas", still with sticker, $99.99 and the Box Set of The Three Stooges, also still with the $99.99 price sticker on it. I've never opened the Three Stooges box!

Chris C

 

I used to order from Crane's a lot. Otherwise, I'd be in Tower or Virgin. Hold on to your LD's. There's still a lot that hasn't been put out on DVD. Wish I still had mine......

 

I haven't gotten rid of a single one yet--even titles that became duplicate when I bought a "new improved version" laserdisc of it when remastered/released again.

 

I spent $100 on the box set of "Rocky Horror" that included a book, CD, bonus features and widescreen for the first time.

I ordered the "E.T." Signature Collection box for 30% off at my work (Peaches Music & Video). I found online that the retail was $149.95, so I guess I paid just over $100 on that one. I recall that the store actually lost money on that, because their cost was more than my price after discount.

I may have purchased Disney's "Toy Story" box set at regular retail, but I can't say for sure, nor do I know what the SRP was on that one.

The last set I bought at full retail was "The Frighteners" for about $45. Then everything started getting marked down to ridiculously low levels. I would never have been able to get the Star Wars sets (a used original and new Special Edition) under $50 each or the Beatles Anthology for peanuts. Man, how I loved walking into stores in those days and finding laserdiscs marked down to amazing prices. I remember visiting a friend in Washington, D.C. and finding the Signature Collection "Jaws" and "12 Monkeys" for like $20 each.

 

Man they were expensive, but when you bought one of those cav super box sets u felt like you were getting something collectable and substantial like an LP and a lot of them came with art and a book. These days blurays look better but the extras are all in the disc itself no posters or book art etc, and still quite expensive I might add.

 

Ugh, don't remind me! The Star Wars box set is the winner but for single movies there are a number of Disney boxes (Cinderella, Lion King, Fantasia... to name a few) that really dug deep into my wallet as well as E.T. They still are a beauty to behold though! Worth their weight in gold, literally...

 

I didn't get rid of mine by choice, a "little" thing called Katrina took care of my discs and player(which was refurbished 6 months before that hit).

 

over $200 for the Definitive Star Wars set, $100 for the SE Star Wars, $125 for the Beatles Anthology and much more for Criterions and DTS ld's. Bought many however on sale as LD's were winding down.

 

I think I paid $25 for The Beatles Anthology when Tower Records in Cherry Hill New Jersey was clearing out the laserdiscs and $15 for the AC-3 edition of Thunderball. I still spin the Beatles to watch the rooftop but boy was Thunderball a stinker.

Cheers, Michael

 

My friend and I often cringe when we discuss what we spent on laserdiscs. Seemed to make sense then but now....ooofa!

The most I spent on a single title is $125.00 plus tax on Criterions CAV edition of CITIZEN KANE. Contained some sweet extras including a rare student film by Welles. I could be wrong but I think that film is exclusive to the CAV set and has not been available since.

The same day I bought that I also purchased the then just released Widescreen edition of Apocalypse Now for about $40.00. Little did I know that years later I would purchase Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier DVD set for a measly $12.00.

Most titles I purchased were in the $25.00 to $40.00 range. I often blew my Christmas wants on high priced $100+ titles including CAV editions of ALIEN and Criterion's Jason and the Argonauts.

 

That Tex Avery set still stands as a great release and fetches a fair sum on ebay.

 

Whatever the price of the Beatles Anthology on laserdisc was new

 

I just recalled that I was a member of the Columbia House laserdisc club. The club was the only way many people could afford the high priced (about $70.00 ea.) CBS/FOX titles such as the STAR WARS and OMEN films.

 

Sorry to hear you were involved in Katrina. I didn't mean to imply that you did, but I have seen many other people on this forum talk about getting rid of their LDs in the past.

 

I'm 99% sure that one was $150 MSRP. Might've been lower, but I'm pretty positive it was at least $125...

 

I think I paid 100 bucks for a sealed Paul McCartney & Wings Rock Show. And it's STILL sealed too!