Remember when the neurotic Cameron Frye accidentally sends his dad's Ferrari crashing through a giant glass window? It was an iconic scene in 1986 and now the infamous glass house from Ferris Bueller's Day Off has been sold for a whopping $1.06 million. The modernist home, located in Chicago's Highland Park, is actually a functioning 4-bedroom house built on the edge of the forest. In the movie, the car falls into a wooded ravine below the structure and Ferris Bueller incredulously says to his nervous friend, "You killed the car."
The house was first built in 1953 and gained notoriety when it was chosen as a location for the cult classic 80s film. Director John Hughes had an affinity for filming around Chicago, where he grew up, and this scene put Highland Park into the limelight. Placed on the market in 2009 for $2.3 million, the glass house dropped nearly a million dollars before it was purchased Thursday by an anonymous buyer.
But any way you slice it, $1.06 million isn't a small chunk of change, and the Ferris Bueller's Day Off house isn't the first piece of movie history to make big bucks. Here are 10 other movie props that sold for a ton of money.
DOROTHY'S RUBY SLIPPERS - $2,000,000
When you think of movie memorabilia chances are this is the first one that pops into your mind. But while the ruby slippers are an iconic piece that sold for a lot of money, they are by no means the most expensive item to ever be purchased.
MARILYN MONROE'S WHITE DRESS - $5,600,000
It's a scene that's been parodied across pop culture, but now one person can replay the sexy subway grate scene in the original dress itself. It only cost $5.6 million to do so!
AUDREY HEPBURN'S BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S DRESS - $923,187
Another famous dress that sold for big bucks was the black Givenchy number Hepburn wore in the 1961 classic film.
THE COWARDLY LION COSTUME - $826,000
This Wizard of Oz costume was made from real lion pelts and when the owner sold it for over half a million dollars he said it was "the highest price ever for a costume."
THE GENERAL LEE - $450,000
In addition to movie costumes, another big-ticket memorabilia item are vehicles from films. The original bid in 2007 for a replica of The Dukes of Hazzard car was almost $10 million but the buyer claimed his account was hacked and the car instead went for half a million. The actual car that was used in the show was sold in 2012 for a much more modest $110,000.
CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG - $505,000
This magical automobile from the 1968 film fetched less than its $1 million value, but still took home a pretty penny.
JAMES BOND'S ASTON MARTIN - $4,100,000
It gained notoriety in the Goldfinger film and since then has boosted the value of regular Aston Martins. The car sold at this auction wasn't just a replica of the film's famous vehicle, but actually contained all of Bond's gadgets including an "ejector seat, machine guns, rotating license plates, bullet-proof shield, tracking device, removable roof panel, oil slick sprayer, nail spreader and smoke screen." Plus all these could be "controlled from factory installed switches hidden in the center arm-rest." That's intense.
THE DELOREAN - $541,000
You can't talk about movie cars without mentioning the Back to the Future DeLorean. In 2011, the time traveling vehicle sold for over half a million dollars. When you consider its street value of $30,000, that's quite the markup. But a portion of the money went to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research so it was all for a good cause.
HAN SOLO'S BLASTER - $200,000
You'd be remiss to talk about famous movie props and not talk about Star Wars. Basically everything from those films has sold for serious $$$$ but a couple of major pieces stand out like the blaster Harrison Ford uses that sold for 200K in 2013.
LUKE SKYWALKER'S LIGHTSABER - $240,000
Another major piece of Star Wars history is the iconic weapon used by Mark Hamill's Luke Skywalker. It sold for well over its $185,000 asking price in 2008.
Since most of us will never have the cash flow to buy our own movie props, at least we can marvel at the fact that the Ferris Bueller house just sold for less than a pair of red shoes. And that's the true definition of movie magic.
Images: poprevolver; 20th Century Fox [2]; Paramount Pictures [2]; giphy [2]; Tumblr/jupiter2; gifsoup; United Artists; Tumblr/luridity
