When thinking about how much money it takes to produce a movie, there is much more than simply the cost of the visual effects and the salaries of those involved. Costs such as the cut that the move theatres get when they play the movie, the amount of money it takes to market the film all come in to play. With release dates being pushed back due to the current attitude towards large gatherings, the monetary return on a movie is more important now than ever.
With larger than life CGI, movie budgets are becoming bigger and bigger every year. But having the biggest budget does not always guarantee the highest quality and biggest return and in turn, having the smallest budget does not mean that the movie will be of lower quality. That being said, here are 10 low-budget movies that, according to Box Office Mojo, smashed the box office.
Deadpool (2016) - $58m Budget
Arguably one of the most comic-accurate characters in the recent comic-book movie universe. Deadpool, starring Ryan Reynolds, proved to Disney that you don't have to spend $200m to make a great comic book movie. The film was not short of visual effects either with numerous graphic death scenes for antagonists.
Over its four-month run, Deadpool managed to gross a worldwide total of $782m - over 13 times the budget. Fox increased the budget for the sequel and with the old Fox properties such as The Fantastic Four and The X-Men now at Marvel, fans will have to wait and see if Disney sticks to a lower-budget third Deadpool movie or if they keep it in line with their other MCU movies.
Star Wars (1977) - $11m Budget
A movie that was revolutionary for its time in of the standard and amount of visual effects. Younger movie fans may turn their nose up at the CGI compared to the likes of the current Star Wars movies but for 1977 when the film was first released, this use of CGI was almost unprecedented. Star Wars: A New Hope which was originally titled just Star Wars managed to earn a worldwide total of $775m to date. One thing to note is that this $775m is made up of its original release in 1977, its re-release in 1982 and the special edition release in 1997.
ET (1982) - $10.5m Budget
One of the ultimate Spielberg classics, the tale of a boy and his alien friend, similar to Star Wars had three releases: an original, a re-release in 1985 and a 20th-anniversary special. The three released brought in a total of $793m for Universal Studios. Even then, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial made the bulk of its earnings during its original release. Almost 148 million tickets were bought for the movie which in today's average ticket prices equates to over $1.3 billion! It could be argued that the lower budgets of movies 30 years ago are partly due to certain technologies that are available now, not being available back then, but this still proves that CGI-sparse movies do not automatically mean box-office-bombs.
Split (2016) - $9m Budget
M. Night Shyamalan's secret sequel to his 2000 film Glass, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Bruce Willis, the stars of Unbreakable. Glass had a higher budget of $20m but made slightly less than its predecessor bringing in $247m.
The Invisible Man (2020) - $7m Budget
Directed by Leigh Whannell and produced by Blumhouse Productions, the latest installment in Universal's "Dark Universe" has only been in theatres for a few weeks butTime will tell if they continue with another 'monster' property.
The film tells the story of Cecilia (Elisabeth Moss) who, after her husband kills himself, tries to convince everybody that she is being hunted by an invisible enemy. The film will likely be in theatres for another short while so it's final grossing number will be interesting to see on a budget of $7m.
Get Out (2017) - $4.5m Budget
At the 2018 Academy Awards, this film became the winner of Best Original Screenplay, and a nominee for Best Motion Picture, Best Leading Actor and also got Jordan Peele a nomination for Best Achievement in Directing. Get Out stars Daniel Kaluuya in an intense story about his character meeting his white girlfriend's family for the first time before discovering some horrifying secrets about their treatment of African Americans. The movie, with a budget of under $5 million brought in $255m for Universal Studios. Not only was this movie a financial success but also initially was rated 100% on Rotten Tomatoes before dropping slightly to 98%.
The Purge (2013) - $3m Budget
Set is a future dystopian America, every year the government grants its citizens 12 hours in which to commit any crime they like without punishment, including murder. Using methods such as eerie masks and a small number of visual effects to serve the story, The Purge brought in just under $90m - thirty times its production budget! Brought to fans by Universal studios, this sparked a further 4 movies to be made with the next set to hit theatres on July 10, 2020. Two seasons of a TV show surprisingly titled The Purge have also been released which focuses on a group of unalike individuals who discover the lengths they will go to survive.
Saw (2004) - $1.2m Budget
The Saw franchise has been hitting fan's screen now for over 15 years and each film has received incredibly mixed critical reviews but still manages to be a film that fans love to terrorize themselves watching. Jigsaw remains to this day one of the most well-known horror movie villains of all time.
The first movie earned Lionsgate over $103m worldwide on a tiny budget of just over $1 million and remains the highest-rated movie in the franchise with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 49%. Since the original movie, seven more have been released and each has had a higher budget than the original with the highest being Saw 3D at $17 million. A ninth film Spiral is set for release in May 2020.
Napoleon Dynamite (2004) - $400,000 Budget
Chances are if you walk down the street and yelled "Vote Pedro!" a large percentage of people around you will understand the reference. Napolean Dynamite tells the story of the titular character juggling life at home with his older brother Kip (Aaron Ruell) and life at school where he tries to help his friend Pedro (Efren Ramirez) win the class presidency. Upon hearing that it earned just over $46 million at the box office, do not forget that this meant it grossed over 100 times its budget which by any standards is a magnificent achievement. The film's numerous comedic moments manage to make audiences completely forget about the small production value.
Paranormal Activity (2007) - $15,000 Budget
Another Blumhouse production film that displays the entire movie through security cameras set up around a house that is haunted by demons that cause the inhabitants mayhem by opening and slamming doors, dragging them out of bed and dragging them down staircases. The cost-effective methods of creating Paranormal Activity meant that the movie cost the same as a small car but managed to rake in over $193m due to its chilling reputation. The financial success of the first movie lead Paramount Pictures to make a further 5 movies with another coming in March 2021.
