"Life of Pi" movie lifeboat for sale at $40,000

Indian actor Suraj Sharma (R) playing the character Pi, stands near a tiger named Richard Parker in a lifeboat, one of the props used in the new film ''Life of Pi'' by director Ang Lee, in this undated publicity photograph from the film released to Reuters November 16, 2012.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Life of Pi" is yet to hit movie theaters, but fans can already buy the film's trusty lifeboat that becomes home to a young Indian boy shipwrecked with a tiger.

U.S. online retailer Gilt Groupe said on Friday that the lifeboat, replicated from real rafts used between the 1920s and 1950s, is among props from the movie up for sale next week.

The lifeboat is priced at $40,000 in the sale starting on November 19. Proceeds will go towards the Orangutan Foundation International, in recognition of one of the other animals who initially survives with title character Pi in the film.

"Life of Pi" is based on the best-selling novel by Yann Martel, directed by Ang Lee and stars newcomer Suraj Sharma. It opens in U.S. movie theaters on November 21.

Other items up for sale include movie posters signed by Lee, a collection of vibrant saris, and other props valued between $140 and more than $6,000.

(This story was corrected in paragraph 3 to state that the sale starts on November 19, not November 15)

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Paul Simao)