Tuesday, March 19, 2024

UPDATED “Django” Dolls, Pulled from Stores, Sell for Thousands on Black Market

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UPDATE FRIDAY JAN 25TH: eBay is pulling the “Django” dolls from its service. We broke this story this past Tuesday. See below.

Earlier: The action figures made for Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained” were pulled from stores in the last couple of weeks. Some people found them offensive, an uproar occurred, and the “Django” dolls became history. Or not.

Now it seems that whatever dolls were made by NECA are selling well, like hotcakes, on Ebay and other internet sites– even though NECA has removed them from their website as well. The most popular is Broomhilda, the character of a slave girl played by Kerry Washington. It’s hard to say why, but the Broomhilda action figure is selling for upwards of a thousand dollars to collectors.

The dolls shouldn’t have been made; they were inherently racist and there were dozens of complaints. But pulling them off store shelves created a collector’s market overnight. Some sites are offering the full set of 8 figures for anywhere between $8,000 and $15,000. It remains to be seen who will pay those prices, but collectors obviously think someone will.

The dolls, 8 inches tall, represent characters played by Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson and James Remar. The figures for the five men come in sets ranging in the thousands of dollars. But the Kerry Washington figure — if it can be found– is often advertised at a price equal to the total of the others. It’s hard to say whether or not that’s a compliment as critics have derided the dolls for commercializing slavery.

It’s unclear how many dolls were manufactured, although one site suggests that only 1,000 sets made it to stores.

Meanwhile “Django Unchained” has become Quentin Tarantino’s most successful film to date with over $130 million box office office sales so far. It’s also the biggest movie for the The Weinstein Company, whose other $100 million-plus hits have been Tarantino’s “Inglorious Basterds” and the Oscar winning “King’s Speech.”

“Django” is nominated for Best Picture at this year’s Oscars, along with original screenplay by Tarantino. Christoph Waltz is nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

 

 

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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