Boris Karloff's The Mummy Movie Poster Expected to Sell for More Than $1 Million

As anyone who's been to a Hard Rock Cafe can tell you, movie memorabilia is pretty cool. ​Old movie props, costumes, set pieces, and advertisements have created an entire industry of professional collectors willing to shell out big bucks for rare or nostalgic parts of cinema history. And now, a major item has just been offered up for auction at Sotheby's, as Paleofuture reports.

A poster for Boris Karloff's 1932 horror film The Mummy—one of only three believed to still exist—is up for auction and is expected to fetch somewhere between $1 to $1.5 million. Often cited as one of ​the greatest horror films of all time, The Mummy's famous poster revolutionized film marketing at the time due to designer Karoly Grosz's approach to white space and creative use of bright colors.

The three known Mummy posters have been held by private collectors since they became ​rare commodities (fun fact: one of them is currently owned by Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett). The last time one was sold was in 1997 and fetched $453,500, breaking the record for most expensive movie poster and holding that title until 2014. If it sells for more than $1.16 million, it'll break the record again.

Sotheby's recently made headlines when a painting by famed street artist Banksy sold for more than $1 million at one of its live auctions and immediately began to shred itself. Perhaps to prevent a similar situation or restore its reputation, Sotheby's is moving the auction of the poster from this Saturday up to today and is holding it online. Bidding ends, fittingly, on Halloween.