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- Avatar: The Way of Water will dominate the box office in 2022's holiday season as the sequel to James Cameron's original Avatar, the highest-grossing movie of all time. However, while the movie will make a lot of money, it also cost between $350 to $400 million to make. With those numbers, it has to make a lot of money to be a success. However, there are countless low-budget sci-fi movies that have impressed critics and fans made for a budget barely a percent of the Avatar movies. While they might not make as much box office money, they are often profitable in the end and remain and enjoyed a long life as cult classics.
When they’re done right, big-budget sci-fi films can offer viewers a thought-provoking, intelligent story tied to a grand spectacle. While there are many examples of big-budget sci-fi’s that hit the mark, there are just as many that fail to meet it, often featuring clichéd plot points with less than stellar visual effects.
The beauty behind a great low-budget sci-fi film is that it doesn’t have the luxury of money behind it to potentially mask its shortcomings with whiz-bang action and special effects. A low-budget sci-fi must rely purely on its story while using clever filmmaking techniques to build a sense of mystery surrounding the world and characters it’s presenting.
UPDATE: 2023/01/20 12:00 EST BY SHAWN S. LEALOS
Avatar: The Way of Water will dominate the box office in 2022's holiday season as the sequel to James Cameron's original Avatar, the highest-grossing movie of all time. However, while the movie will make a lot of money, it also cost between $350 to $400 million to make. With those numbers, it has to make a lot of money to be a success. However, there are countless low-budget sci-fi movies that have impressed critics and fans made for a budget barely a percent of the Avatar movies. While they might not make as much box office money, they are often profitable in the end and remain and enjoyed a long life as cult classics.
Moon (2009)
Stream now on HBO Max
David Bowie's son, Duncan Jones, made his directorial debut in 2009 with the low-budget sci-fi movie Moon. The movie stars Sam Rockwell as the only main actor in the movie throughout its running time. He plays astronaut Samuel Bell, who has been on a three-year work contract on the moon's space station and is nearing the end of this contract.
However, he starts to have possible hallucinations of someone in the station other than himself. With only one actor in person and Kevin Spacey in a voice role as the station's AI, most of the money went into the effects. The budget was a low $5 million and Jones made it look like so much more. He ended up using his success with this low budget to get bigger projects, including the video game movie Warcraft. Even with bigger budgets, critics consider Moon as his best movie.
Monsters (2010)
Stream now on Prime Video & Hulu
Gareth Edwards has directed a movie in the Star Wars franchise with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and helped reboot the Godzilla franchise with that 2014 movie. What got him these jobs was his directorial debut, the low-budget sci-fi monster movie called Monsters and what Edwards did with the production was more than impressive.
The movie featured giant tentacled monsters roaming parts of the Earth and the story followed a photojournalist sent into a zone with monsters to rescue his boss's daughter. Most sci-fi monsters movies cost millions of dollars just for the digital CGI creations but Edwards did all the work himself on Monsters and the budget checked in under $100,000, proving he could make a great monster movie at a fraction of the cost of big-budget movies.
Primer (2004)
Rent now on Prime Video & Apple TV
There have been some big-budget time travel movies in cinema history, but sometimes smaller is better. With so many massively budgeted movies in the genre's history, there might not be a better sci-fi time travel movie than Primer. The movie arrived in 2004, written, directed, and edited by Shane Carruth.
Thanks to the all-in-one work by Carruth, the budget remained very low at just $7,000, and it all paid off when it won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. The story was complicated with two engineers creating a time travel machine, only to find that there are terrible side effects. While most big-budget time travel movies are pure entertainment, this is a thinking man's movie and one that challenges the viewers, standing the test of time.
A Boy And His Dog (1975)
Stream now on Fubo & Pluto TV
Before he donned his white linen suit, Don Johnson was a teenager in A Boy and His Dog. Based on a story by Harlan Ellison, the film was made for $400,000 back in 1975. It didn't gain commercial success during its initial premiere. However, it made up for it in subsequent video and DVD releases.
In the film, Johnson plays Vic, a young man trying to survive in a post-nuclear Southwestern U.S. He's ed by his dog, Blood. Together, they discover an underground population that seems homey at first. However, it turns out to be bloodthirsty. There's a vein of black comedy in the film.
Mad Max (1979)
Stream now on Roku & Kanopy
It only took legendary director George Miller $300,000 to turn Mel Gibson into a star and launch a multi-billion dollar sci-fi franchise. Yet, it was hard to tell if Mad Max was science fiction or not. It certainly didn't have the post-apocalyptic atmosphere of its sequels.
As the movie moves ahead, the audience begins to see that Max lives in a society that is breaking down due to the lack of fossil fuels. The circumstances would be darker in later films. In turn, those would lead to dozens of apocalyptic-themed music videos.
The Ice Pirates (1984)
Rent now on Apple TV & Prime Video
Robert Urich didn't make many theatrical movies in his lifetime. However, the ones he did make drew a good audience. Case in point, the 1984 sci-fi comedy The Ice Pirates.
Made for only nine million dollars, the movie is about space pirates who deal in the rare commodity of ice cubes and managed to make a profit. Urich, who was good at comedy as well as drama, played his role in a tongue-in-cheek fashion. It's probably why The Ice Pirates remains a cult classic.
Deep Impact (1998)
Stream now on HBO Max
Deep Impact premiered the same summer as Deep Impact kept things quieter at a comparatively low $75 million.
The film, which featured an all-star cast, was hard science fiction mixed with a little conspiracy theory. The government's actions and how the public responded were much more realistic than how the space cowboys reacted in Armageddon. Also, unlike the Bruce Willis venture, Deep Impact didn't have a real happy ending.
The Butterfly Effect (2004)
Stream now on HBO Max
Ashton Kutcher took on the dramatic role of an unwilling time traveler in this film. It was undoubtedly a change for the actor after years of playing the lovable dunce on That 70s Show. It may be why The Butterfly Effect, made on a $10 million budget, earned almost $60 million at the U.S. box office.
In the film, Kutcher plays Evan Treborn, a college student who can travel back in time after reading segments in his journal. During those times, Evan attempts to change numerous traumatic moments that affected him and his friends. The Butterfly Effect is an interesting and sometimes creepy film that viewers have to intently watch to keep up.
Circle (2015)
Stream now on Netflix
The sci-fi thriller Circle sees a group of 50 people wake up in a round room with no recollection of how they got there and unable to move from a stationary position. It's soon discovered that the room is killing them off one-by-one every two minutes, with the people eventually figuring out that they hold the power over who lives and who dies.
Circle presents the terrifying dilemma of holding a person’s life in one’s hand and then having to choose whether they live or die based on character. It’s a film that places the audience in an awkward position, but is all the more riveting for it, keeping viewers on the edge of their seats throughout.
The Endless (2017)
Stream now on Peacock
The Endless follows two brothers, who after uncovering an old videotape with a cryptic message from their past, decide to follow the message and revisit the events surrounding their escape from a UFO death cult as kids. Their journey sends them down a twisting path as a strange mystery unravels before them, making them question their beliefs.
The Endless is a slow-burning low-budget sci-fi thriller film with ambitious ideas. It's one that demands the full attention of its audience, as it enters territory that's not easily explainable. Much like the film's protagonists, the audience is thrust into a world of mysterious events as they try to figure out the truth of what's real and what isn't.
