For all those who think the only way to make more money is by investing a huge amount of money, this article is going to be an eye-opener. Film Industry is one such secretary that generally involves an expenditure of millions in order to make a film. According to an estimate by Parlay Studios, it costs a studio between $70 million to $150 million to make a movie. The general perception is that the more the budget the better is the film. This does not mean that movies made with lower budgets are not good or don’t perform well. There are movies that flop despite the makers pouring in millions for the production and promotion of the movie. The vice-versa is also true.
The script is the soul of any movie and no matter how effective the branding and promotion strategies are, it is the audience that decides the fate of a movie once it hits the screens. From modern-day to the late 19th and early 20th century, there have been movies that left a mark on the audience despite being low budget. I am going to tell you about 7 such low -budget movies that performed remarkably well.
- Star Wars Episode IV – A New Hope: Star Wars series is one of the most successful and commercially acclaimed movies that received huge praise from the audience. It is difficult to even imagine that Star Wars Episode IV was a low budget movie. But, the movie’s net budget is surely gonna surprise you as it was made for just $11 million. The low budget of the movie didn’t stop it from getting the audience’s love and huge box office numbers. The movie went on to earn a whopping $775.5 million.
- My Big Fat Greek Wedding: Unlike its title, the famous Rom-Com was made on a limited budget and went on to earn praise from the critics. The movie narrates the story of a Greek girl breaking barriers to marry someone outside her traditions. The budget of the movie was just $5 million and it became the highest-earning romantic comedy in 2002 – a record that it holds till date. The movie went on to earn a whopping $368.7 million. The profits were almost 75 times the movie’s budget. The sequel of the movie came out in 2016.
- Moonlight: It is almost impossible to believe that Moonlight was made on a limited budget. The movie cost the makers merely $4 million and despite this, it won the prestigious Academy Award for Best Picture in 2017. Several other awards were won by the movie including the Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor award that went to Mahershala Ali. The movie earned $65.3 million worldwide. The movie was seven times cheaper than the Oscar winner movie of that year.
- ‘Buried’: Buried is an intense movie that forces you to think. It is the story of a man trapped in a coffin who is trying to escape. The movie was made with limited resources and Ryan Reynolds effortless acting added a unique flavour to it. The movie was made at a ridiculously low price of $2 million. Considering the Hollywood standards, Buried is a really cheap movie. The movie went on to earn ten times the money it took to make the movie. The total earnings of the movie was $19.4 million.
- Saw: There’s something special about Hollywood’s horror movies with most of them delivering on the big screen. The movie was made for a ridiculously low budget of $1.2 million. The Saw series has eight movies in total. While other parts of the movie had relatively bigger budgets, this particular one managed to please the audience despite being a low-budget film. The worldwide earnings of Saw stand at $103.9 million.
- Rocky: Rocky is today known for Sylvester Stallone but years back, it was the movie that made Stallone everyone’s favourite and Rocky became a synonym of the macho men of that era. The interesting story is that the makers were not sure of casting Sylvester Stallone until the very end. The movie was made for a very low budget of $1.08 million. The action-packed movie was successful in garnering a huge amount of love from the audience. It went on to earn $117.2 million.
- Mad Max: The 21st-century kids who saw Mad Max Fury on the big screen won’t be able to believe that the original Mad Max that came out in 1979 was made on a very low budget. It was made on a very low budget of $350,000. To keep the budget of the movie low, some crew members were given cases of beer instead of cash. It went on to earn $8.7 million.
