15 Low-Budget Blockbusters That Prove Anything's Possible With A Dream And One Million Dollars

By:
15 Low-Budget Blockbusters That Prove Anything's Possible With A Dream And One Million Dollars

Hollywood is an unpredictable rollercoaster. Brilliant industry veterans might accidentally flush hundreds of millions of dollars down the toilet, while a failed porn director can turn a few hundred thousand dollars into a multi-million dollar franchise. At the end of the day, only one thing is certain: if a weirdo asks you for some money for his indie horror film, you give him your money!

The Blair Witch Project $500K-ISH CRACKEDC Reports on the film's budget range from around $200k to around $800k. Either way, it was a profoundly good investment, bringing in $249 million for telling some actors to run off into the woods and cry into a Go-Pro for a little bit.

Super Size Me $65K CRACKEDO Morgan Spurlock's 98-minute mukbang brought in $22 million, and, as a fun little bonus, solved the obesity epidemic in America.

Monty Python And The Holy Grail $380K They blew their first attempt at a feature film with 1971's And Now For Something Completely Different. But they scraped together less than half-a-million dollars in funding for Holy Grail, and turned that into a $5 million theatrical run.

Eraserhead $10K CRACKEDc David Lynch's 20-page student film took 5 long years to make, but stayed in Los Angeles theaters for 3 years, pulling in a cool $7 million.

Get Out $4.5 MILLION CRACKEDcO Jordan Peele's first attempt at film directing upended the horror scene once again, and pulled in $255 million in theaters.

Rocky $1 MILLION CRACKED COM Even adjusted for inflation, that's still a relatively small $4.5 million investment. They raked in $225 million, not to mention 10 Oscar nominations and 3 wins.

Juno 7.5 MILLION CRACKED.CON Jennifer Garner had to take a pay cut to make ends meet, but they ended up popping out a $231 million critical darling.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding $5 MILLION They spun that five mil into a $368 million theatrical release. They invested $18 million of that into the sequel, which bombed by comparison (a paltry $90 million).

Saw $1.2 MILLION CRACKED.COM You heard it here first: horror movies are a foolproof investment. Director James Wan's first film ended up banking $103 million (after being in production for less than 3 weeks).

Friday the 13th $550K CRACKED.COM They managed to turn half-a- million bucks into a whopping $93 million and an entire juggernaut of a franchise. Good thing, too, because Jason didn't even get his iconic mask until the 3rd film.

Star Wars $1 MILLION CRACKED CON The weekend A New Hope hit theaters, George Lucas fled to Hawaii to escape the avalanche of bad press he was anticipating. Instead, he hit a jackpot of $550 million in the first run alone.

Napoleon Dynamite $400K P o i CRACKED CO This goofy little indie film, which the actors thought would be lucky to make ah festival, raked in $46 million at the box office, and gave class clowns everywhere something to quote when they ran out of Anchorman material.

Donnie Darko $4.5 MILLION CRACKED Director Richard Kelly calls that paltry budget a fair bit for a debut movie. They only managed to turn that into $7.5 million at the box office, but it became a cult sensation and a cultural touchstone that, most importantly, launched Jake Gyllenhaal's career.

The Terminator $6.4 MILLION The first film alone grossed $78 million worldwide, or 12 times the initial budget. That doesn't even take into account the impact of the broader franchise, or Arnold introducing a generation of Americans to the Spanish language in T2.

Little Miss Sunshine $8 MILLION CRACKEDOON After becoming a big hit on the festival circuit, Fox Searchlight Pictures scooped it up and turned it into a $101 million piggy bank. Along the way, they picked up Oscars for Best Original Screenplay and Saddest Steve Carrell.
Scroll down for the next article

Must Read

MUST READ

Forgot Password?