Someone just paid 14.7 million dollars

[kacekwl]

for the sled from the movie Citizen Kane. So it's obvious someone needs a tax break.

[Sugarmaggie]

1. Folks can't afford a child's sled

Plain sick I say!

[LearnedHand]

2. Another view

That sled is the defining metaphor for a historically significant film. It’s properly a museum piece and thus likely worth something like that value.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. Exactly. A little more knowledgeable and more conscious of history than the Original Post. . . . nt

[Mike 03]

11. Yeah, my first thought when I read this post was "Probably Steven Spielberg."

I think he's a huge fan of the film. But it could just as easily be a dozen other directors. That is considered an enormously important film, one of the most important films ever made.

[Shellback Squid]

3. rosebud

[Cloudhopper]

5. Quick research shows the movie itself made less than $2m

This is just gross.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

7. Which is almost...

…$43 million today.

[LearnedHand]

6. More context

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c89en7nvz3wo

[Sogo]

8. It's probably just a pile of rust and rotted wood at this point.

I once worked for someone who had what she said was the sword from Zorro. It was a pathetic piece of rusted metal. I was very skeptical of the price she wanted for it. (And, believe me, she did not have it stored or cared for in a very protective manner....) I don't know if she ever got her price, because my work for her was just a short-term gig.

[Dave says]

15. My dad was in the film business and did post-production special effects

Mostly TV commercials as we were based in NYC. (He was also known as one of the the best colorist in the country. I was an editor for awhile.)

He'd bring home all kinds of things from time to time. A 15 inch reel-to-reel audio tape recorder that weighed a ton (had a huge transformer in it to smooth the electric current to minimize wah-wah distortion). He brought home video cameras and VCR-like video players before VCR was a thing. He'd bring home 35mm prints of movies. All kinds of goodies.

Mine and my brother's favorite was a scale model of the sailboat used in Sinbad the Sailor (there were several models, used for different scenes). It was perfect down to the smallest detail (wood, of course) and about 2.5 feet long. My brother and I spent hours playing with it until we wore it down and it fell apart. We were young.

[JoseBalow]

9. So like, the ashes?

[La Coliniere]

10. The amount paid is 17x the film's original budget.

Last edited Fri Jul 18, 2025, 06:04 PM - Edit history (1)

According to Wikipedia. the production budget was $839,747.
As a side note, I will never forget my first viewing of Citzen Kane in 1974. I was studying film history and finally had the opportunity to see the film on the big screen after hearing it referred to many times, in many different contexts, but I really didn’t know what to expect in terms of plot, content and genre. Needless to say, I left the theater believing I’d just seen the work of a genius and one of the greatest films of all time. I still hold that opinion. RIP Mr. Welles.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

13. You can't compare costs/prices...

…over an 84 year time span.

The cost today to make the move would be over $18 million.

[Dave says]

14. It is one of the best films ever made

I've seen it nearing a dozen times and every time I see it I see something new. Welles was a genius!

[Dave says]

12. But it's RedBud everyone! Worth every cent!!

I have two in me basement that I'll let you have for an even $1 million. Deal??