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These days, the world of entertainment is largely dominated by streaming platforms. Between Netflix, Hulu, Paramount+, and all the others, it sometimes feels like every movie in the world is right at your fingertips in exchange for a monthly subscription fee. That wasn’t always the case, though. Back at the height of DVDs and Blu-Ray, getting your hands on a rare movie was similar to finding a precious gem. Chances are, the movie you were looking for had a limited release, was part of a special collection, or was decades old and out of print.
These days, scoring expensive Blu-Ray movies is something of a sport for collectors and an expensive one at that. It’s definitely not for the faint of heart (or wallet) since certain collector’s editions or box sets can go for astronomical amounts of money on sites like eBay and Amazon. If you’re in for a trip, we’ve compiled a list of the top ten rarest Blu-Ray movies that are worth a small fortune.
[Updated on 19 Nov — Added one new entry, and updated formatting]
Walt Disney Treasures: The Chronological Donald, Vol. 4 (2008)
Amazon: $357
Disney’s got a lot of history, which means they’ve got a lot in the vault. Walt Disney Treasures was an attempt to release some of that in a series of DVD collections, each centered around a character. The Chronological Donald, Volume 4 was a series of animated shorts made between 1951 and 1961.
The two-disc set contains nearly three dozen uncut, uncensored, and unreleased shorts featuring Donald Duck, an introduction from film critic and historian Leonard Maltin, audio commentary, and ten Mickey Mouse Works cartoons from 1999-2000. Disney enthusiasts can get the collector’s edition of The Chronological Donald, Volume 4, for $357 on Amazon, with the collector’s tin included.
The History of Beavis and Butt-Head (2002)
Amazon: $300
You might already know Beavis and Butt-Head, MTV’s classic comedians from the early 2000s, but do you know their history? The History of Beavis and Butt-Head is a two-disc, 167-minute-long collection of some of Beavis and Butt-Head’s first season and their best moments, with a catch — they were picked without the approval of show creator Mike Judge.
Worse still, Judge had absolute creative rights over any Beavis and Butt-Head home video releases, which he used to cancel the set, but not before a few copies could slip out into the public. That means that these days, The History of Beavis and Butt-Head is a rare, out-of-print find, and you’ll need to pay $300 if you want it off Amazon.
Gravity – Diamond Luxe Edition (2015)
eBay: $279
Gravity is a 2013 sci-fi thriller centered around Lt. Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) and Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), two American astronauts who are forced to find a way back to Earth after their space shuttle is destroyed, leaving them stranded in space.
The movie would become the 8th highest-grossing movie of its year and win seven Academy Awards, making it the most-awarded movie of the 2010s. Gravity – The Diamond Luxe Edition was released on Blu-Ray with a special new “Silent Space Version,” which allowed audiences to turn off the film’s score and listen to just the dialogue and the sound effects. Getting your hands on The Diamond Luxe Edition doesn’t come cheap, as it’s currently selling for $279 on eBay.
The Third Man – Criterion Collection (1949)
eBay: $279
The Third Man is a 1949 film noir starring Orson Welles as Holly Martins, an American author who arrives in post-war Vienna to accept a job from his childhood friend Harry Lime (Joseph Cotten) only to find Lime dead and, in the course of investigating his friend’s death, uncover a world of secrets, crime, and betrayal.
The Third Man has gone down as a cinematic classic, which led to it being added to the Criterion Collection for its Blu-Ray release in 2008, which included an introduction by Peter Bogdanovich and audio commentaries by film scholars. Currently, it’s considered out-of-print, which means that getting a copy is going to cost you upwards of $279 on eBay.
Airheads (1994)
eBay: $275
Airheads is a 1994 comedy starring Brendan Fraser, Steve Buscemi, and Adam Sandler as members of a struggling rock band who take over an LA radio station to get their music on air, but things quickly escalate through a series of misunderstandings which unravel into a hostage crisis and jail time.
Unfortunately, the movie was a box office flop, making only $5.8 million domestically, roughly half of its $11.2 million budget. However, in the decades since its release, Airheads has become something of a cult classic, leading to a limited Blu-Ray release in 2013. Due to the limited supply, a Blu-Ray copy of Airheads isn’t cheap, and they’re currently selling for $275 on eBay.
Free Willy – US Version (1993)
eBay: $250
The classic 1993 family pic centering around a 12-year-old orphan called Jesse who fights to save a baby orca whale named Willy takes our next spot. While the DVD is cheap as chips, the actual Blu-Ray is a lot trickier to find out in the wild. Combine this with the fact that the discs are now out of production and it’s not currently streaming on the big marquee streaming services, the price of the Blu-Ray has risen quite a lot in recent times.
We found a copy of the US edition over on eBay that’s selling for a staggering $250, though that is admittedly a brand new and sealed version. Meanwhile, you can pick up Japanese copies of the family friendly adventure for much less (around $34).
The Man Who Fell To Earth – Criterion Collection (1976)
Amazon: $217
The Man Who Fell To Earth is a 1976 sci-fi drama based on Walter Tevis’s novel of the same name, published in 1973. The movie follows Thomas Jerome Newton (David Bowie), a humanoid alien who comes to Earth in order to get water for his home planet but finds himself distracted by the prospect of using his alien technology to blend in as a human and become rich and powerful, only to have it all fall down around him.
The movie served as David Bowie’s acting debut and is considered a classic in the world of sci-fi cinema, leading to it being added to the Criterion Collection. On top of that, The Man Who Fell To Earth only saw a small US release due to rights issues, hiking the price tag of its Blu-Ray version up to an impressive $217 on Amazon.
Mysterious Island (1961)
Amazon: $155
Mysterious Island is a 1961 sci-fi adventure film loosely based on Jules Verne’s 1874 novel of the same name. The film takes place during the Civil War and follows a group of Union soldiers as they escape a military prison and steal a gas balloon, only to crash land on a mysterious jungle island filled with strange creatures where time seems to flow oddly.
The film was met with positive reviews and released to home video as part of the Twilight Time Collection, with extras including an isolated version of the score, a two-minute theatrical trailer, and a TV spot. However, only 3,000 copies of Mysterious Island were ever released on Blu-Ray, meaning that getting your hands on a copy is going to cost upwards of $155 today.
Dogma (1999)
Amazon: $130
Dogma is a 1999 comedy that follows Bartleby and Loki (Ben Affleck and Matt Damon), two angels who were banished from Heaven for insubordination and, upon landing in Wisconsin, decide to get their souls redeemed through a loophole involving “Buddy Christ” and get back into Heaven.
The film’s irreverent tone sparked a great deal of protests from the Catholic Church even before its release and continues to this day; on top of that, Dogma can’t be released digitally due to a rights deal with Bob and Harvey Weinstein. That means that the movie’s Blu-Ray edition, released in 2000, is the only way to watch it these days, and in order to do so you should be prepared to spend upwards of $130.
Dead Alive – Unrated (1992)
Amazon: $137
Dead Alive – globally known as Braindead – is a 1992 zombie comedy-splatter-horror movie starring Timothy Balme as Lionel Cosgrove, a New Zealand man who has to battle the beginnings of a zoological zombie plague while dealing with childhood trauma brought on by his overbearing mother Vera (Elizabeth Moody).
Dead Alive cost $3 million to make, marking it as Peter Jackson’s most expensive movie up to that point, and although it received positive reviews from critics it flopped in the box office, making just under $250,000. In the decades since, it’s received something of a cult following, but a limited supply of Blu-Ray movies means that getting your hands on a copy – specifically of the rare, unrated version – is going to cost you nearly $140.
Splash – Australian Version (1984)
eBay: $125
Splash is a 1984 romantic fantasy-comedy that stars Tom Hanks as Allen Bauer, who meets a mermaid after a boating accident and discovers that she saved his life after he nearly drowned as a child. Allen and the mermaid, who adopts the name Madison (Daryl Hannah), embark on a six-day whirlwind romance while being pursued by Dr. Walter Kornbluth (Eugene Levy), who knows the truth about Madison and wants to capture her for experimentation.
Despite the movie’s positive reception, the Blu-Ray edition is still considered rare because it was never released in the US. Getting your hands on either a region-free version of Splash or the Australian release (which is compatible with US systems) is difficult, leading to the movie going for around $125 USD (AU $190) on eBay.
