Skip to main content

Want to own RoboCop’s suit? Conan’s sword? A Xenomorph egg? It’s all for sale

awesome prop auction movies robocop image 1
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Ever dreamed of equipping your bachelor pad with an authentic xenomorph egg from 1986’s Aliens? How about a complete alien warrior prop from that movie? Or one of the costumes from 1992’s Army of Darkness? Or a Jack Nicholson-worn Joker overcoat from 1989’s Batman? We suppose that unless you’re a much less geeky person than we are, of course you have.

So consider today your lucky day because the U.K.’s Prop Store Entertainment Memorabilia auction is here — and it’s set to leave you salivating, and with a much lighter wallet. The auction spans an impressive range of movies and TV shows both cult and mainstream, including pretty much every iconic sci-fi or fantasy property we can think of from the past several decades. While a lot of what is on offer is as pricey as you’d imagine, there are some bargains to be had in the form of original scripts, clapperboards, or just less immediately recognizable props from your favorite flicks. (Personally, I’d love one of the missile-toting penguins from 1992’s Batman Returns!)

Prop Store Entertainment Memorabilia Live Auction 2017

The auction kicked off at 7 a.m. ET/ 4 a.m. PT. Although there are plenty of folks who will be turning up to watch it live, you can bid online, too, which is just as well since it’s a bit late to book a plane ticket to jolly old London.

Unlike a lot of online auctions, however, you don’t have days or weeks to agonize over whether or not you can sacrifice your meals for the next four months to buy an M41A Pulse Rifle from Aliens. The lots operate at roughly one per minute, just like a real grown-up auction. At that rate, things will continue until around 10 p.m. local U.K. time (5 p.m. ET and 2 p.m. PT), but it could continue for longer than that depending on how long each lot lasts.

As mentioned, even if you don’t have money to buy anything, you can still enjoy the auction by tuning in to watch what’s going on via the website, or else perusing the catalog here. Because watching other people buy the self-lacing Nikes that Marty McFly wore in Back to the Future Part II is every bit as rewarding as buying them yourself, right? Right?

Luke Dormehl
Former Digital Trends Contributor
I'm a UK-based tech writer covering Cool Tech at Digital Trends. I've also written for Fast Company, Wired, the Guardian…
The most underrated horror sequel of this century is finally streaming again on Max
A group of people gather in Doctor Sleep.

In terms of traumatic childhoods, few movie characters have ever had it as bad as Danny Torrance. The young psychic child at the center of The Shining is not only relentlessly preyed upon one winter by the malevolent ghosts of a haunted hotel, but he and his mother are also nearly killed by his ax-wielding father. He experiences so many unimaginable horrors over the span of just a few months that one can't help but feel both relief and concern for him when The Shining ends.

Danny's traumatic time at the Overlook Hotel fittingly haunts writer-director Mike Flanagan's Shining sequel, Doctor Sleep. Based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, the film attempts to bring the story of Dan Torrance (played as an adult by Ewan McGregor) to a close. In doing so, it ends up telling a very different tale than its revered predecessor. If The Shining is about the dangers of alcoholism and male rage, then Doctor Sleep is about how children survive abuse in a world that seems intent on tamping them down and stealing their "shine."

Read more
Hoopla offers a library of Joker and Harley Quinn comics timed to Folie à Deux
Joker sits at a table while Harley Quin sits behind him.

One of the most anticipated releases of the fall, Joker: Folie à Deux, is being met with a somewhat cooler reception than the first film. If you're looking for great content about Joker and Harley Quinn, though, the movie theater is not the only place you can find it.

Timed to the movie's release, Hoopla, an online reading service that partners with local libraries, has announced that they have a collection of comics and other media related to the superhero spinoff. In fact, they have an entire Joker collection that features Joker and Harley Quinn comics, as well as the soundtracks to both films and Harlequin, Lady Gaga's new album, which was released to tie in with the film. The collection also includes Hoopla's exclusive collection of DC Manga, including Joker: One Operation Joker. In total, the collection includes more than 50 comic books and albums to explore.

Read more
Congratulations, Hollywood, you’ve ruined the Joker for good
Joker sits at a table while Harley Quin sits behind him.

This weekend, Joaquin Phoenix returns to his Oscar-winning role as Arthur Fleck, aka the Joker, in Todd Phillips' Joker: Folie à Deux. Ostensibly a sequel to Joker, Folie à Deux is less a continuation of the story begun in the 2019 film and more a denouement of it. It takes big swings, but it seems to have lost the plot. That's largely because, like its predecessor, it lacks a basic understanding of the titular character. The critical and expected commercial underperformance of Folie à Deux hints that Hollywood has done what it always has and milked every last drop from the Joker cow.

Once upon a time, the Clown Prince of Crime was an icon of the comic book world, a titan of entertainment with more lives than Catwoman. People used words like "complex" and "three-dimensional" to describe him, separating him from the cheap villains he once shared the spotlight with. A few years ago, the Joker was a precious role that earned Oscars for his performers and elevated any project it was a part of. Flash-forward to now, and what you have is a ghost of what once was, a joke that has been told so many times that it no longer has a punch line. Because, now that the Joker has gone from villain to antihero to champion of the oppressed, what's left for him to be other than a joke himself?
Let the Joker laugh

Read more