300: Tale of a successful comic book movie
No review is needed for the blockbuster, that is 300. The Box Office returns say it all. Frank Miller has another winner on his hands, as do collectors lucky enough to have a set of the original limited series.
Online sales of this title has been brisk both before and after the release of the movie.
Normally, sales speed up prior to a comic book movie and slacken off afterward. But there has been a noticeable reversal with 300. Modest prices in the $25 to $100 range have been seen as of the film’s third week. The five-issue limited series seems to have caught the attention of the broader movie-going audience. This population is large, young and eager to get their hands on the original source material.
An additional factor that contributes to these prices is the limited number of issues available. There haven’t been any exact distribution numbers quoted, but the fact that this was a pet project released by Dark Horse Comics for Frank Miller suggests that orders were probably on the low side.
The only other question about the collectible nature of 300 is whether there is any staying power. Since the DVD has not yet come out, one can imagine renewed interest when that audience experiences the story for the first time. And for the long haul, only time will tell whether the cult-status of the movie will continue to drive sales for years to come.
