Do you have a dream of appearing in a Marvel Studios film? Are you a big fan of Captain America? And do you have well more than $1,600 in expendable funds in your bank account? Then you are in luck, because your dreams quite possibly might come true.

There is an auction up on charity site, Charity Buzz, which will allow a lucky winner and a friend of his or her choosing the opportunity to win a walk-on role on Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The auction will benefit Toluca Baseball, the little league baseball organization based out of Toluca Lake, California.

The roles are non-speaking and are not guaranteed to make it into the final cut of the film. The walk on roles come with a set visit (naturally) and a meet and greet with whatever cast members are filming during the time of your visit (which can be scheduled from April 2 to June 30, 2013). You will also be responsible for your own airfare, transportation and lodging.

As of this writing, there is 20 days left to the auction and the highest bid on the site is for $1,600. However, the estimated value of the package is $10,000. so don’t expect the price to stay that low for very long.

This auction calls to mind another time when ordinary folk like you an me got the opportunity to share the spotlight with Cap. If you were reading comics back in 1985, then you might remember the ad to the left. Yes, Marvel did an open cattle call for cast members for the Captain America musical. While the current auction is open to anyone with sufficient funds to bid, as you can see, the 1985 musical only wanted tween girls who could act, sing and dance.

As we all know, the Captain America musical ran for a year and a half, won 5 Tony Awards and 7 Drama Desk trophies, and is currently being revived on Broadway. Wait. Sorry, that’s The Mystery of Edwin Drood, which opened in December of 1985. The Cap musical never made it into production. I guess people shied away from the prospect of investing $4 million in a show where Cap’s biggest foe would be middle age (I am not kidding).

The Academy Award Oscar statuette that Michael Curtiz received for directing the 1943 classic Casablanca sold at auction this evening for $2,056,120.00. This is short of the estimated $2.5 million the gold-plated statue was expected to go for. This morning the bidding was only around $700,000.

Casablanca, considered one of the greatest motion pictures ever made, won three Academy Awards and this win for Curtiz would be the only one of the director’s career.

Curtiz’s Academy Award is the latest in string of statues that have gone under the hammer in recent months. Orson Welles’s Oscar for Citizen Kane went for $861,542 in December. This past February an additional 18 statuettes were auctioned, bringing in a total of over $3 million.

In 1950, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences mandated that all Oscar statues being awarded going forward could not be sold be the award winner or their heirs without first offering to sell them back to the Academy for the nominal sum of $1.00. The rule doesn’t apply to statuettes awarded pre-1950 and the last several years have seen the Best Picture Oscar for Gone With The Wind (1939) fetching $1.5 million at auction while its star Vivien Leigh’s Best Actress statue going for $550,000.00. Director Steven Spielberg has shelled out six-figure prices for pre-1950 Oscar statues awarded to Clark Gable and Bette Davis in order to donate them back to the Academy in perpetuity.

The auction was conducted by Nate D Sanders. The images below (click on each for a much larger version) are from their online catalog as is the following product description -

Oscar statue awarded to Michael Curtiz for Best Direction of the 1943 film “Casablanca,” one of the most respected films made during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Like other films considered the greatest of all time, “Casablanca” has consistently grown in acclaim over the years, although it was recognized in its day with three Academy Awards in March 1944 including Best Picture and this Oscar for Best Director. It’s now considered by the American Film Institute to be the second best film of all time, just behind “Citizen Kane.” Produced by Warner Brothers, the film is set in Casablanca, Morocco in 1941. Humphrey Bogart stars as the owner of Rick’s nightclub, with Ingrid Bergman as his ex-lover and Paul Henreid as her Czech Resistance leader husband. Its blend of wartime political intrigue, romance and humor culminates in one of the most moving and quoted final scenes in cinematic history: “Here’s looking at you, kid.” As Rick Blaine, Bogart’s decision to honor duty above all else supports the belief of “Casablanca” as an allegory of the United States’ entry into WWII. Many of Curtiz’s films received Oscar nominations in various categories throughout his career, but “Casablanca” is his singular win. The plaque affixed to the front of the base is engraved: “Academy First Award / To / Michael Curtiz / For The Direction of / ‘Casablanca’”. The plaque upon the opposite side reads: “Academy Of / Motion Picture / Arts And Sciences / First Award / 1943″. Gold-plated statue of “Oscar” standing on a film reel measures 10.25″ in height atop a round black Belgian marble base to an overall height of 11.75″. Base measures 5.5″ in diameter. Statue weighs 6 lbs. 13 oz. Light speckling to finish, else near fine.

Looking for the ultimate Christmas gift for the movie lover in your life? How about the Best Screenplay Academy Award statue that Orson Welles won for writing the classic Citizen Kane. The Oscar will be going up for auction on December 20th at Los Angeles auction house Nate D. Sanders. This is the same Oscar statue that was up for auction in 2007, but didn’t sell then. This time around, it is hoped that the statue will sale for anywhere between $60,000 and $1 million. This is down considerably from the $800,000 to $1.2 million it was expected to earn the last time it had been placed up for auction.

Long thought lost, Welles’s Oscar was revealed to be in the possession of cinematographer Gary Graver, who stated that the director had given him the statue as payment for working on Welles’s unfinished 1974 film The Other Side Of The Wind. Graver tried to auction the Oscar through Sotheby’s, but was sued by Welles’ daughter Beatrice Welles, who was eventually awarded ownership of the Academy Award by a California court.

Beatrice Welles put the Oscar up for auction herself, but was sued by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences. The Academy had enacted a stipulation that the Oscar statues could not be resold without first offering to sell them back to the Academy for the nominal sum of $1.00. However, a California court ruled that as this rule was enacted in 1950, the Citizen Kane Oscar was not covered by the policy. The auction went ahead in 2003, with the Oscar being acquired by the Dax Foundation, who has decided to resale the statue and use the proceeds to help fund the non-profit organization’s charitable works. However, the statue failed to move at the 2007 auction and it appears that the Dax Foundation has sold the Oscar privately, as the reported current owner of the statue is wishing to remain anonymous.

Via Hollywood Reporter.

The recently discovered only surviving print of an Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon will be going up for auction next month in Los Angeles. The animated short Hungry Hobos from 1928 was discovered in the United Kingdom’s Huntley Film Archives in Herefordshire after having been thought lost for decades.

The cartoon is being auctioned by Bonhams Entertainment Memorabilia, whose catalog describes the film thusly -

Walt Disney Hungry Hobos, 1928, the only known copy of the film previously recorded as lost, featuring Oswald The Lucky Rabbit and Peg Leg Pete, comprising a 16mm double perforated celluloid acetate positive print, silent, probably dating from around its distribution date of late 20s/early 30s, total running time 5 minutes, 21 seconds and 2 frames at a running speed of 24 frames per second.

Estimate: US$30,000 – 40,000

The Huntley Film Archives is planning on putting the proceeds from the sale towards the many of the 80,000 titles in their collection that are in need of restoration. I would not be surprised if Disney were to be the ones to swoop in and snatch this piece of their history up.

The Oswald The Lucky Rabbit series was created by Walt Disney and animator Ub Iwerks wfor Universal Studios. They created a total of 26 Oswald shorts, 12 of which are still considered missing. When Disney asked for and was refused a raise in the cartoon series’s budget in 1928, he left with Iwerks to found his own cartoon studio with a new animated star – Mickey Mouse.

Ironically, Hungry Hobos first premiered on May 14, 1928, one day before Disney held the first test screening of Mickey Mouse.

Trigger, the faithful steed to film and TV cowboy Roy Rogers for nearly three decades, will be put up for auction next month. The horse, who was stuffed and mounted by Rogers after its death 45 years ago this July 3rd, is one of 300 items up for bid that were once part of the collection at the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum, which closed its doors last year. Trigger is expected to go for somewhere between $100,00 and $200,000.

Trigger, a golden palomino, made its movie debut as Olivia de Havilland’s mount in the 1938 swashbuckler The Adventures Of Robin Hood. Later that year, Rogers picked the horse out of several potential steeds for his first lead film role, Under Western Stars. Rogers was so impressed with the horse, that he bought it and renamed it Trigger. Reportedly, Rogers had Trigger trained to respond to 150 trick cues and to walk up to 50 feet on its hind legs.

Via CMT.

There’s a plethora of Superman related items that are being auctioned off to preserve the childhood home of his creator, Jerry Siegel. And a couple items will be of interest to movie fans.

Novelist Brad Meltzer, through his Ordinary People Change the World charity, has established The Siegel and Shuster Society. The organization’s mission is to raise enough money to repair the childhood home of Jerry Siegel–the home where he came up with the idea for Superman–and preserve it as a historical location.

The way the society plans to raise these funds is by a celebrity auction.

Of interest to movie fans is an early, unshot first draft of the original Superman movie, signed by Richard Donner. The script comes from the personal collection of comic creator Geoff Johns.

Another, even more rare movie-related item is a Superman IV: The Quest for Peace T-Shirt signed by Jerry Siegel himself. The writer signed a bunch of T-shirts before he died and left them to his wife to sell if she needed money. She is giving one of them to the auction.

There are many more items donated by some of the biggest names in comic books and TV, including VIP passes for The Colbert Report and a walk-on role on NBC’s Heroes. A complete list of auction items is listed here. The items will be broken down and auction off over the span of four weeks. The first batch is on eBay now.

Meltzer has recorded a video about the cause and why he believes in it:

 

As you can see, the house is in a state of severe disrepair.  Jason Sherry, who produced the video, had this to say about the building:

You see that and it really looks like a building that, if you just looked at that element, was abandoned for a number of years until you realize that right there next to this giant hole in the plaster where you can see the wooden beams—and some of those are cracked—there’s a bed with a comforter. There’s a dresser with somebody’s book they’ve been reading and medication and slippers next to the bed. Somebody is actively living there now with the house in this condition.

So, if you choose to contribute to this auction, not only will you be preserving a part of history, you will be improving the living conditions of the house’s current residents.

And if you are not interested in any auctioned off items, but still want to contribute, you could purchase T-shirts or other merchandise designed by Chip Kidd or just make a cash donation. 

Addendum: Rich here, just to add in the interest of disclosure that although Bill and I know Jason Sherry, the video’s producer, we still would be running this story simply because we feel that this is an important project. With just Sherlock Holmes and Tarzan for company, Superman is probably one of the most recognized fictional characters in the world. Not only did his appearance jump start the fledgling comic book industry, but he also was one of the first superheroes to appear on the big screen, in a series of cartoon adventures from the Fleischer Studio. Preserving our cultural heritage is, I feel, one of the most important things to do to help educate tomorrow about the type of people we were today. Preserving and sharing our cinematic heritage is one of the reason’s I founded FilmBuffOnLine and I strongly urge you to help support Brad Meltzer and Ordinary People Change The World.

Marvel.com is reporting that certain articles of clothing and set pieces from The Incredible Hulk are set to be auctioned off.

To the right is a grey, hooded sweatshirt and pair of jeans Bruce Banner wore in the movie. The auction for this item can be found here.

Right now, all they have are clothing items, but they claim that they will also be auctioning off a pair of Humvee’s from the movie, including one with a “sonic cannon” still attached to it.

Starting bids on the posted items range from $499 to $999 and are the auctions set to end anywhere from Wednesday morning to Friday night. Each item comes with a certificate of authenticity signed by Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and Stan Lee, a up-and-coming actor who had a small role in the film (oh, and also co-created the Hulk back in 1962).

Auctions such as these are typically done in support of some charity, but none of the information about the auctions on eBay or Marvel.com state the proceeds are going to any charitable organization. Something to consider before placing a bid.

An investment is only as good as the price you can get when you ultimate divest yourself of it, and it looks like the Dax Foundation’s 2003 investment in the Academy Award statue awarded to Orson Welles for co-authoring the screenplay for Citizen Kane might not have been a wise move.

As we reported back in October, the Dax Foundation had purchased the Oscar statue back in 2003 and was planning to have it auctioned by Sotheby’s earlier this week, hoping to earn anywhere between $800,00 and $1.2 million. However, it failed to find a bidder who would meet the minimum price that the Dax Foundation had placed on it.

Welles’ personal copy of the film’s 156-page script, the last revised draft before the final shooting script, was sold for $97,000 to an anonymous telephone bidder.

I have to admit to some surprise that there wasn’t a single bid that met the reserve price the Oscar had on it. Since the Academy clamped down on the sale of the statues starting in 1950, very few Oscars have hit the auction block and recent years, those that have were bought up by Academy members who then donated them back to the Academy. Steven Spielberg is known to have done this on a couple of occasions and I figured the historical value of this particular Oscar would have pulled an Academy-friendly philanthropist out of the woodwork.

New York auction house Sotheby’s has announced plans to auction the Academy Award that Orson Welles won for co-authoring the screenplay to Citizen Kane. Although it is a perennial topper of critics “Best” lists, Citizen Kane only won one of the nine Oscar statues it was nominated for in 1941. It is also the only Academy Award Welles would ever win over the course of his career.

The Oscar statue will go under the gavel on December 11, with Sotheby’s expecting it to be sold for anywhere between $800,00.00 and $1.2 million.

Long thought lost, Welles’s Oscar was revealed to be in the possession of cinematographer Gary Graver, who stated that the director had given him the statue as payment for working on Welles’s unfinished 1974 film The Other Side Of The Wind. Graver tried to auction the Oscar through Sotheby’s, but was sued by Welles’ daughter Beatrice Welles, who was eventually awarded ownership of the Academy Award by a California court.

Beatrice Welles put the Oscar up for auction herself, but was sued by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences. The Academy had enacted a stipulation that the Oscar statues could not be resold without first offering to sell them back to the Academy for the nominal sum of $1.00. However, a California court ruled that as this rule was enacted in 1950, the Citizen Kane Oscar was not covered by the policy. The auction went ahead in 2003, with the Oscar being acquired by the Dax Foundation, who has decided to resale the statue and use the proceeds to help fund the non-profit organization’s charitable works.

Several older Oscars have been sold at auction and by private dealers for sums in the six-figure range. The Best Picture Oscar for Gone With The Wind (1939) fetched $1.5 million at auction while its star Vivien Leigh’s Best Actress statue went for $550,000.00. Director Steven Spielberg has shelled out six-figure prices for pre-1950 Oscar statues awarded to Clark Gable and Bette Davis in order to donate them back to the Academy in perpetuity.

Previously: Academy Attempts To Block Sale Of Oscar