R-Patz’s appeal can lead teens to spend a fortune on Twilight Saga merchandise – but is any of it a wise investment?
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse stars Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen), Kristen Stewart (Bella Swan) and Taylor Lautner (Jacob Black) exert an uncanny hold over teen spending power.
While you are reading this, tens of thousands of teenage girls will have fainted in front of their bedroom poster of Twilight star Robert Pattinson and a similar number will no doubt have swooned over his screen rival Taylor Lautner’s ripped abs as they prepare to watch their heroes in the latest Twilight Saga movie, Eclipse, which opens in selected cinemas today and nationwide on 9 July.
The two men, who face off as vampire Edward Cullen and wolf Jacob Black respectively, are part of a huge industry spawned by Stephenie Meyer’s stratospherically popular novels about the creatures and the woman (the indecisive Bella Swan, played by Kristen Stewart) struggling to choose between them.
Its popularity has extended to the collectibles and memorabilia industry – meaning parents face a hefty bill if they are to satisfy the demands of their fanatical offspring.
First there are the Twilight books themselves, which will already have set parents back over £50 (including the latest spin-off novella, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner) if they paid full price, and £25 if they’d bought them all from Amazon. Then there’s the movie tickets (at least £24 if a child has seen all three films at a rough price of £8 a pop) and the DVDs (£10-£20 each in stores or £5-£8 each online). The films generated $396m (£264m) at the US box office and $191m in DVD sales in America.
Now, anything featuring Pattinson, Stewart or Lautner’s picture, signature or sweat will find a market on film memorabilia websites such as Prop Store and auction sites such as eBay.
A quick trawl of “Robert Pattinson autograph” on eBay shows 67 Pattinson-signed posters (typical price £50), prints and film cells. One person is selling a signed Twilight film cell with Pattinson and Stewart’s signatures on for a whopping £499 (postage free).
As with all memorabilia, buyers need to beware of cheaper printed autographs – the cheapest of these are going for just 99p.
Dodgy-looking replica props (such as a “dreamcatcher”) can be found on eBay for £50 upwards, while “Edward Cullen-style” jackets go for similar amounts and devoted fans can hug a Twilight pillow for £9.99. If that doesn’t excite the teens in your household, there are always Forbidden Planet’s keychains (£3.99), badges (£4.49 for a set of four), metal lunch boxes (£14.99), fleece blanket (£9.99), reversible Edward/Jacob double duvet cover (£29.99) and dolls designed to look like the characters (£139.99). Whether you are Team Jacob or Team Edward, there’s clearly something for everyone.
But is any of this going to be worth something in future years or should Twilight fans be looking for something more memorable?
“The general rule is to avoid anything that is produced to make money,” says Adrian Roose, director at Paul Fraser Collectibles. “They’re fun items but the millions of badges, caps and pens are unlikely to ever be worth much. We’d advise collectors to look out for signed copies of the Twilight books. First edition books are the best bet – a signed Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone first edition sold for $24,000 at auction in February 2010, against an estimate of $15,000.”
Roose also recommends movie posters as very few people have access to them and they tend to get thrown away. “Also look out for original art work and unpublished writings of Stephenie Meyer. JK Rowling’s The Tales of Beedle the Bard (one of seven known copies) sold for £1.95m at auction in 2007, against a £50,000 estimate. Annoyingly we were outbid by Amazon.”
Neil Roberts, head of popular culture at auction house Christie’s, says his company only deals with original movie props and Twilight fans should play it similarly safe. “There is a cult of limited edition products these days, but no proof as to whether they will ever appreciate in value. There are so many limited edition things now that you have no idea whether you have a piece of genuine interest or just rubbish, so original props stand a better chance. Be realistic and play it safe.”
“The most valuable items today come from films made decades ago but which are now considered a classic, such as King Kong, Citizen Kane or The Wizard of Oz,” says Value My Stuff Now’s Stephen Maycock, also a consultant specialist for Bonhams.
“Are the Twilight films going to be up there with Citizen Kane in 50 years’ time? Who knows – but an original prop or something else made in tiny numbers might be worth something. If you have the gun that shot the villain or a costume worn by Robert Pattinson, you stand a good chance, certainly more of a chance than buying a Twilight figurine or toy. But then, maybe the world won’t remember Robert Pattinson in 50 years’ time. Maybe he’ll give up acting and become a teacher.”
If you go down the prop route, you might also look out for the film production companies that have affiliations with major auction houses or hold charity auctions, as this could be a good chance to snap up a piece of film-making history.
As for Twilight itself, Neil Roberts says he is unsure about its enduring appeal. “Films can work on two levels, they can be a popular movie as well as a genre film. Twilight falls into the vampire genre which is popular again now, which might help collectibles. But then you might find that the purists, who are potential buyers further down the line, believe something as light as Twilight is diluting the vampire genre.”
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