These Films Are Proof It’s Possible to Make a Blockbuster Hit Without Breaking the Bank

My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Budget: $5M

Nia Vardalos both wrote and starred in 2002’s hilarious comedy, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but could she have possibly imagined the incredible amount of success the film would have? $5 million isn’t a terribly low amount of money to be working with, but when you’re talking in terms of Hollywood blockbusters, it’s a different story. Still, she knocked it out of the park, and the film grossed a whopping $250 million at the box office.

It was such a huge hit that it was followed several years later by the sequel, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 and a TV series dubbed My Big Fat Greek Life. The film centers around Greek bride-to-be, Toula (Nia Vardalos) and her hilarious pre-wedding escapades to try and get her family to be more accepting of her non-Greek fiancé, Ian (John Corbett).

Rocky

Budget: $1M

Rocky is a classic fighting movie from 1976, starring Sylvester Stallone as a boxer fighting his way through tough times in Philadelphia. Stallone’s popularity increased tenfold as a result of this film, which wound up grossing around $200 million, an impressive feat, considering the small budget director John Avildsen had to work with. The film was so popular that it’s resulted in 7 sequels; the latest being Creed II in 2018.

In 1977, Rocky was not only nominated for 7 Academy Awards but won 3 others, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Film Editing. Among the numerous nominations were the awards for Best Actor and Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Writing, and Best Music/Original Song.

Split

Budget: $9M

Split is a strange and yet very interesting movie, which received somewhat mixed reviews among some critics and audiences. The dark and twisted movie stars James McAvoy as the mind of about 23 different people living inside one body (with multiple personality syndrome and split personality disorder). He kidnaps a few teenage girls and chaos ensues as his personalities battle each other and he struggles to find himself, in the 2017 film that was produced for $9M. Despite the mixed reviews, the film brought home nearly $270 million.

The drama/thriller was created by horror master M. Night Shyamalan, which explains why it’s so creepy and odd but also unquestionably brilliant. And McAvoy’s performance alone is worth watching the film for. On Rotten Tomatoes, Split has a certified fresh score of 77%, not too shabby.

Pulp Fiction

Budget: $8M

Quentin Tarantino’s crime-thriller masterpiece Pulp Fiction came out in 1994 and wowed critics and audiences around the world. The unique and seedy film about the underground world of mobsters, gangsters and the women they love was created using a budget of only $8 million but ended up making $212 million at the box office.

Multiple critics throughout the years have called it one of the greatest films to ever be made. Perhaps the fact that it was full of stars like John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson contributed to its outrageous success in theatres. Whatever the reason, Pulp Fiction rightfully earned its place on this list. It was nominated for 7 Oscars and won 1 for Best Original Screenplay.

Goldfinger

Budget: $3M

Goldfinger is one in a series of James Bond films, in which Sean Connery plays the dashing and daring 007. The movie was filmed for a modest (by Hollywood standards) $3 million and was hailed as being one of the best in the franchise. And, it seemed as though audiences agreed with critics, seeing as though the film grossed nearly $126 million, which was pretty substantial for the 1960s.

The movie was based on the book written by Ian Fleming, which was first published in Europe about 5 years before the 1964 silver screen debut. There are now a whopping 24 films in the James Bond Franchise, with 2015’s Spectre being the most recent addition.

A Nightmare on Elm Street

Budget: $1.5M

Wes Craven’s A Nightmare on Elm Street is arguably one of the best horror movies ever made. It is the ultimate cult classic that launched an incredible franchise – and Johnny Depp’s career. Who could possibly forget the bedroom scene with a teenage Johnny? If you haven’t seen the classic and you actually needed another reason to, there it is!

The film, which centers around a psychopathic madman who kills teenagers in their dreams, was produced with a budget of $1.5 million and grossed over $25 million after its release in 1984. The movie forever solidified Wes Craven’s place in the horror hall of fame as one of the greatest (and most twisted) minds of all time. Now, there are 11 movies in the super successful franchise.

Get Out

Budget: $4.5M

Get Out is a tantalizingly unique thriller directed by comedian turned director, Jordan Peele. It was the first film that Peele has directed, though because of his status he was able to scrounge together a cool $4.5 million in funds to produce the mind-bending film. The movie stars Daniel Kaluuya, who plays the boyfriend of a woman (Allison Williams) when the two go visit her family for one of their reunions at her parents’ house, and Daniel gets more than he bargained for when something turns out to be very, very wrong.

The film grossed over $220 million at the box office and earned Peele his well-deserved industry cred as a director. Get Out was nominated for a number of awards, including Best Picture and Original Screenplay, at the Academy Awards, and 5 different nominations at the 23rd Critics Choice Awards. It wound up being on the top 10 list of most profitable films in 2017.

The Blair Witch Project

Budget: $60,000

The Blair Witch Project had a terrific PR campaign before it hit theatres. The previews of these teenagers lost in the woods on what looked like homemade footage was so thrilling, because it was unlike anything audiences had ever seen before. That probably contributed in large part to the fact it brought in nearly $250 million worldwide. Although the previews ended up showing pretty much the best parts of the film, which was created by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, who did all of the writing, directing and editing themselves.

After it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1999, it grabbed the attention of distribution companies and earned itself a $1.1 million distribution deal. Since the film’s release, several other directors have followed suit in this film style, creating other “found footage” hits like Paranormal Activity. The film also prompted the release of a few sequels, Blair Witch (2016) and Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, which came out just a year after the original.

Little Miss Sunshine

Budget: $8M

Abigail Breslin found her breakthrough role in the form of Olive Hoover, daughter of Sheryl and Frank in Little Miss Sunshine, for which she won her own Academy Award. The film, which follows an eclectic family across the country on a road trip in their yellow van, brought in over $100 million in theatres. In the grand scheme of things, that may not seem like a lot, but it is considering the fact they created the masterpiece with only $8 million.

It was written by a newbie screenwriter named Michael Arndt, who was actually planning on crowdsourcing as much as possible and shooting it with a handheld camera himself. He even wrote the final scene for the screenplay just 6 weeks before it debuted at Sundance. Luckily, he ended up pitching it to the professionals instead and sold it for a quarter-million dollars to Marc Turtletaub, who also paid the $8 million in production costs for the movie to come to life.

Buried

Budget: $2M

Buried is an underrated film that hasn’t gotten as much credit as it really deserves. The film stars Ryan Reynolds as a soldier who finds himself in a terrifying predicament – he’s buried alive with only his lighter and thoughts to keep him company. The movie was produced using only $2 million, thanks in large part to the fact they didn’t need a ton of locations for filming.

But since the story and acting were so incredible, audiences flocked to theatres to see Reynolds in action, and the movie ended up bringing in over $20 million. The profit is more than was originally anticipated, but not surprising considering how intense the storyline and thrills are throughout the film.

Paranormal Activity

Budget: $15,000

If you thought that $150,000 sounded low, you’re probably pretty shocked to hear that the next film on our list was shot for an incredible $15,000. Paranormal Activity tells the age-old tale of a family living in a haunted house with some undead residents that aren’t fond of sharing the space. It was filmed entirely using home cameras on tripods, and there were very few cast members and locations involved, which really helped to cut down on the costs.

The film was a box office hit and wound up bringing in more than $193 million. It also sparked a brand-new franchise which has so far seen a total of 6 motion pictures.

Halloween

Budget: $300,000

Halloween is a cult classic in the horror industry. The 1970’s film that was created by John Carpenter revolves around a deranged psychopath in a mask that’s obsessed with finding and brutally murdering his sister (Jamie Lee Curtis). The movie set the bar for slasher films and became enormously successful, all with only a $300,000 budget. Now, there are 11 films in the franchise, which have together grossed over $600 million in the box office.

In 2007, horror director Rob Zombie remade the classic film, with a much higher budget of $15 million. John Carpenter’s original movie grossed around $67 million after its release, while Rob Zombie’s made around $80 million.

Night of The Living Dead

Budget: $115,000

When you ask someone to tell you what they consider to be the original zombie movie, 9 out of 10 times they are probably going to say Night of The Living Dead. The horror classic was directed by George Romero and produced for just under $115,000. The film was shot and premiered in Pittsburgh and ended up bringing in $12 million from the U.S box office and nearly $20 million internationally.

The zombie thriller was so well received that Romero went on to direct 5 more of them. The original movie was done in black and white in 1968, and in 1990, a color remake directed by Tom Savini debuted. Unfortunately, Romero had never given his okay and found himself fighting for a percentage of the profits in court with Savini.

My Left Foot

Budget: $600,000

Daniel Day-Lewis played the amazing role of Christy Brown, a man who has been born with cerebral palsy and can only control one of his feet (we’ll let you guess which one). The “dramedy,” as it may be called in today’s film lingo, was produced in 1989 with a budget of just $600,000. Audiences fell in love with the performances and My Left Foot wound up making nearly $15 million in theatres – not bad when you compare it to its production costs.

The film was nominated for several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. Daniel Day-Lewis won both the Academy and BAFTA Awards for Best Actor for his role, and Brenda Fricker won for Best Supporting Actress.

Moonlight

Budget: $4M

Moonlight is a unique coming-of-age tale about the emotional development of a young man throughout multiple stages of his life, from childhood through young adulthood. It brings some very important issues to light and shows them in a way that no movie really has before. The movie was put together with a modest budget of just $4 million but ended up grossing over $65 million after its release.

It won a number of awards, including being the first film with an all-black cast to win an Oscar for Best Picture. Not only that, but it was also the first LGBTQA themed film to win the same award. It was nominated for 5 of the other categories that year, too: a big win for writer and director Barry Jenkins. The film’s writer, Joi McMillon, became the first African American woman to be nominated for an Oscar in editing, for her stellar behind-the-scenes performance, too.

Saw

Budget: $1.2M

If you’ve seen this gory, cutthroat classic, you know that the majority of the action in this film takes place in a single (incredibly disturbing) location. This, in addition to the fact it was filmed using a fairly small number of actors and actresses, lends to the fact they made over 100% profit back on the $1.2 million budget they produced it with.

The Hollywood legend that everyone knows and loves was actually the product of a short film that was produced using next to nothing. Lionsgate bought the film and put together the budget that was used to turn it into a successful movie that grossed over $115 million in theatres, launching a franchise that would become the second highest-grossing in its genre.

The Purge

Budget: $3M

Considering the fact that The Purge has turned into a multi-million-dollar franchise, it may be hard to believe that the original movie was put together with a budget of just $3 million. Now, there are multiple multi-million-dollar films along with a limited series on TV. Each of the films (and the TV episodes) have their own theme, but they all follow the same storyline about “The Purge.”

The story is about one night per year during which the federal government sanctions all crime – including murder. In most of the films, the government themselves are on the “no-kill” list, with the exception of a few certain instances throughout the franchise. The budget for the more recent films has been a bit higher, thanks to the success of their predecessor.

Friday the 13th

Budget: $600,000

The original Friday the 13th is definitely a classic horror movie, and arguably one of the best slasher films ever made – and they did it all with a budget of less than $600,000. The gory slaughter-fest hit nearly $60 million at the box office and turned into an extremely successful franchise. Now, there are 11 Friday the 13th movies, including Freddy vs Jason, which combines this franchise with Nightmare on Elm Street’s Freddy Kruger.

The movie was written and directed by Victor Miller and was his highest-grossing movie of all time. Miller is still writing screenplays today and has a horror film called Eden Falls that’s coming out later this year. Although he didn’t write the scripts for any of the movies that came after the first, he’s still responsible for creating a cult classic.

28 Days Later

Budget: $6.6M 28 Days Later has made it on to pretty much every list of the best zombie movies of all time. It’s got a little bit of everything, along with some great acting (and action). It was filmed in 2002 and made in London with a budget of $6.6 million. Cillian Murphy stars as Jim and delivers a powerful performance alongside talented co-stars such as Naomie Harris and Megan Burns.

The film, which was written by Alex Garland, infuses classic zombie virus outbreak dread with a more modern spin on how the fight for survival plays out. Garland credits George Romero’s Night of The Living Dead as one of the main sources of inspiration for his own film, which brought in over $80 million in profit.

Napoleon Dynamite

Budget: $400,000

Napoleon Dynamite is about an incredibly awkward teenage boy who lives with his grandma in Idaho. Jason Heder, who plays the title role, was only originally paid $1,000 to star in the comedy, which ended up grossing nearly $45 million in theatres. Heder, of course, renegotiated his contract and was able to get a percentage of proceeds after the film skyrocketed.

The movie was entirely filmed in Idaho and released at Sundance in 2004. It was received so well by audiences that it almost made the top 10 on Bravo’s list of the top 100 funniest movies of all time. Jared Hess, who both co-wrote and directed the film, probably didn’t imagine the enormous amount of success this strange little movie would see.

Star Wars

Budget: $11M

$11 million may seem like an insanely high amount of money, and it is on the high end of this list, but when you compare it to the $775 million profit Star Wars made – you can see why it made our list! George Lucas had his own production company at the time he put his masterpiece together, and after this film came out, his company (Lucasfilm) launched straight to success. Before E.T hit theaters, Star Wars was the single highest-grossing movie in history.

The cult classic turned into an uber-successful franchise with 10 movies total, including the latest film: Episode IX, which came out this year. The original film won an impressive 6 Academy Awards, including the awards for Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing and Best Music/Original Score. George Lucas was also responsible for bringing the world the amazing Indiana Jones franchise – thank you, George! He ended up selling Lucasfilm to the Walt Disney Company in 2012.

The Hills Have Eyes

Budget: $230,000

It should come as no surprise that the 1977 cult classic The Hills Have Eyes made it on to this list. After all, it was directed by the king of horror himself, Wes Craven. This film came out before his Nightmare on Elm Street Days, so he didn’t have quite the amount of funding that was available for those films. However, since Last House on the Left was such a success, one investor stepped in and offered up $230,000 for the film’s production.

The movie was made entirely in the Mojave Desert, using a camper and the open desert as the main locations throughout. The film made around $25 million in the box office and spawned a franchise that includes a recent remake of the original that was released in 2009.

American Graffiti

Budget: $750,000

American Graffiti was the 2nd film ever directed by George Lucas. His more recent movies have a considerably larger budget than the $750,000 he could muster up for this one back in 1973. Around the same time as this movie came out, he was developing his “space opera”, which of course turned into Lucas’ masterpiece franchise – Star Wars.

American Graffiti ended up making over $110 million, which prompted executives in Hollywood to start paying more attention to the talented upcoming director. The film was also nominated for 5 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, but unfortunately ended up losing out to other films around that time, such as The Sting.

The Evil Dead

Budget: $100,000

The Evil Dead is another creepy cult classic that began as a short film back in 1981. The short film attracted financiers who backed the feature-length version, which ended up pulling in nearly $30 million in the box office – quite a feat for a movie that was made in the early ’80s! The king of horror himself, Stephen King, absolutely loved the movie and helped creators land an awesome distribution deal with New Line Cinema.

The film, which was both written and directed by Sam Raimi, was shot mainly using a cabin deep in the woods in Tennessee. It’s been followed up with a few sequels and spinoffs along with the television series, Ash vs The Evil Dead.

Mad Max

Budget: $300,000

Mad Max is a dystopian thriller from the late 1970s that stars Mel Gibson. The movie was filmed for an incredible $300,000 and yet it ended up pulling in around $100 million. That’s an impressive number now, much more in 1979. The finances were so incredible that the film landed in the Guinness Book of World Records for the best ratio of profit to budget.

Decades later, Mad Max: Fury Road was produced for a much, much higher budget of $150 million. It also made even more money than the first, hitting over $350 million in sales at the box office. There have been 4 movies in the Mad Max franchise made to date, each of which has made Rotten Tomatoes’ “certified fresh” list.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

Budget: $1.35M

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels is a British crime thriller from 1998 directed by the one and only Guy Ritchie. You may know Ritchie’s name from when he was married to Madonna, but he’s also a talented director. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was his first feature film and wound up launching his career. But he wasn’t the only one who benefited from the success of the movie.

Jason Statham acted as “Bacon” in the film, which ended up kickstarting his career as well. It had a fairly small budget of just $1.35 million but ended up making nearly $30 million back. Now, Ritchie’s filmed such mega-hits as Sherlock Holmes 1 and 2, and Statham has made his way on to the A list, acting in blockbusters like Crank, The Transporter and most recently, The Meg.

Swingers

Budget: $200,000

It’s kind of hard to imagine Vince Vaughn starring in a movie with a budget with less than $1 million, but back in the 1990s, he wasn’t exactly the A-lister he is today. He and Jon Favreau starred as two wannabe actors in Hollywood trying to live life in the fast lane, after moving to Los Angeles from New York City. The dark comedy was filmed with a modest $200,000 budget but ended up making about $25 million at the box office.

Plus, it can be credited with launching Vaughn and Favreau’s careers, along with that of the film’s director, Dough Liman. The film was also written by Favreau, who happened to write the entire thing in less than a month. He only actually cast himself in the film due to the lack of funding to hire more actors.

The Big Sick

Budget : $5M The Big Sick is an adorable romantic comedy about a couple who stems from different ethnic backgrounds that must rally together with the in-laws when one of them develops an illness that threatens life as they know it. The film was produced with a modest $5 million budget and brought back over $55 million in the box office.

The movie is somewhat based on the relationship between its director and co-writer, Kumail Nanjiania and his wife (and co-screenwriter of the film) Emily V. Gordon. The Big Sick was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay and ultimately became one of the most profitable movies in 2017. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval score of nearly 99%.

The Full Monty

Budget: $3.5M

Long before the days when ladies were swooning over Channing Tatum in Magic Mike, the British film, The Full Monty, shocked and awed audiences with its tantalizing male stripteases and hilarious moments. In the 70’s hit, 4 steelworkers who are fed up with their boring and tough lives decide to try their hand at wowing hungry female onlookers as Chippendales-style male entertainers.

The film was made with less than $4 million but ended up producing nearly $260 million at the box office. The comedy was such a hit that the British Film Institute called it the 25th Best British Film in the entirety of the 20th century. That’s not too shabby for a movie that was made with a considerably low budget, is it?

Supersize Me

Budget: $65,000

Supersize Me is an informative, yet equally as entertaining documentary that touches on some really important issues about society and its consumption of fast food. The film was produced by Morgan Spurlock, who both starred in and directed it himself. It basically featured him stuffing his face with nothing but food from the fast-food conglomerate for 30 days straight and documenting what was happening to his body (and mind) as a result.

Let’s just say that his findings are pretty scary, to say the least. Everyone knows that fast food isn’t healthy, but they may not realize just how dangerous it can really be to live on nothing but that kind of food. Spurlock produced the film using only $65,000, but audiences ate it up and he watched as it hit nearly $30 million at the box office.

Juno

Budget: $6.5M

Juno delighted audiences when it arrived in theatres back in 2008 due to its comedic relief and one-of-a-kind take on teenage pregnancy. Ellen page delivered an Academy Award-winning performance in the title role, really making a name for herself in the film industry. The film earned its $6.5 million budget back within a matter of days and ultimately made over $230 million. Plenty of household names appeared in the movie, including Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Allison Janney, and Michael Cera.

Garner played the happy expectant young mother waiting for the baby that Juno (Ellen Page) was carrying and was so interested in appearing in the film that she accepted a salary that was substantially lower than what she was typically paid. The film itself won multiple Academy Awards alongside Page’s, including the awards for Best Writing in an Original Screenplay and Best Motion Picture of the Year.

Once

Budget: $160,000

They say that to make a movie that anyone’s actually going to want to pay attention to, you need a budget of at least $150,000. So, the creators of Once are basically magicians for turning a movie with a budget of only $160,000 into $20 million over a few weeks at the box office. Once is a beautiful Irish romance film starring Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova as street-performing musicians trying to make it in Ireland and end up falling madly in love.

The film won an incredible number of awards, including The Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2008, and The Independent Spirit Award for Best Foreign Film in 2007. The soundtrack also received a nomination for a Grammy.

Blue Valentine

Budget: $1M Blue Valentine tells the dramatic tale of a young couple from the inception of their rocky, 5-year relationship to the tense ending of their marriage. Ryan Gosling plays the male lead across Michelle Williams as “Cindy,” the female lead. The entire thing was shot for right around $1 million and brought back over $16 million in return.

Gosling and Williams had a hand behind the scenes as executive producers on the film, which was nominated for several awards. Michele was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and Gosling was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor.

Nightcrawler

Budget: $8.5M

Nightcrawler is a dramatic thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal as an overly aggressive journalist, who inserts himself into seedy situations and crime scenes to get good video footage for local news stations. The film was both written and directed by industry newbie Dan Gilroy, who wound up making a huge name for himself with his debut, which was produced for only $8.5 million and earned back over $50 million when it hit theatres.

Open Road Films used some stealth marketing techniques and transmedia projects to promote the movie, including making up social media profiles in the name of the antihero of the production, Louis Bloom. The movie did so well that it was hailed by a number of critics as one of the best of all time and won the Oscar for Best Screenplay.

Annabelle

Budget: $6.5M

James Wan is the mastermind director behind several of the most terrifying horror movies. He started off his journey in Hollywood when he directed cult classic Saw back in 2004. Then, he wowed audiences a few years later with his stellar behind-camera performance in Insidious, followed by both of The Conjuring films.

But in 2014, he struck again when he produced the incredibly creepy prequel to The Conjuring – Annabelle, a movie about a possessed doll directed by John Leonetti. The film grossed nearly $260 million, which is even more impressive than it sounds when you factor in its $6.5 million budget. It was such a hit that it spawned the release of a prequel in 2017 and a sequel in 2019.

Eraserhead

Budget: $10 000

This was David Lynch’s was feature film, and in true Lynchian fashion, it was, of course, an experimental style horror film. This tiny budgeted movie initially took some time to gain attention, but by the time it did, it had become an unstoppable cult hit. In 2004, the United States Library of Congress entered it into the National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

That sure is a measly amount of money for such an influential film. The film is a fixture in film schools and collections of budding film enthusiasts to this day.

Clerks

Budget: $31,665

The low-budget classic by maverick filmmaker became the symbol of every teenaged slacker during the 90s'. This simple black and white film portrayed the daily lives of store clerks, Dante Hicks and Randal Graves. The initial budget was only $27,575 and only went up to a measly $31,665.

By the opening weekend, it had already made more than that. In the U.S alone it made a total of $3 million, a surprise fortune for an indie filmmaker and comic book nerd. From that moment on, Smith became more than just a hipster filmmaker. He's now a pretty successful director. A big leap from the convenience store clerk he once was.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre

Budget: $140,000

Making a good horror film is like striking gold. These things can be piggy banks, running up millions at the box-office. People do love their thrills. This was certainly the case for The Texas Chain Store Massacre as it brought in $30.9 million in the U.S alone. The film became an instant classic and the template for the gory slasher film. The film also spawned a series of sequels, making it an obvious choice for horror nights around the world.

The film, according to Entertainment Weekly has been listed as the second scariest film of all time, following The Ex. Thanks, Leatherface. This character will forever be burned in our minds.

Slacker

Budget: $23,000

Richard Linklater, the master of coming of age stories out-did himself in the 1991 low-budget comedy-drama “Slacker. The film, which only had a shoestring budget of $23,000, ended up grossing over $1.2 million in the U.S. Part of the budget came out Linklater's own credit card.

The film even inspired the low-budget hit, Clerks. Not only was this a box-office surprise, but the British film magazine, "Empire", included it in its list of 50 greatest American independent films.

Pi

Budget: $60,000

A film about a paranoid mathematician who has isolated himself from the world, Pi (not to be confused with the blockbuster hit, The Life of P), enchanted its viewers. This certainly was a big surprise, considering it cost the film a measly $60,000. The 1998 film that followed the mathematician's search for natural patterns in the universe bought in $3.2 million in the U.S. alone.

The film ended up winning a number of awards including the Gotham Awards, the Open Palm Award, as well the Dramatic Directing Award at the Sundance Film Festival.

Primer

Budget: $7,000

Made with the bare minimum and with a cast of five young actors,  newbie director Shane Carrutha practically made his film student's budget. In fact, in order to save money on the production, Carruth took on multiple roles and was the writer, director, producer, cinematographer, editor, and music composer. That's one talented guy. The actors were actually his friends and family so he must have saved a fortune on the cast.

In the end, it really paid off and the movie landed in a series of prestigious film festivals, most notably the Sundance Film Festival, for which it won the Grand Jury Prize in the year 2004. The film ultimately grossed $840,000 at the box office. Not too shabby.

El Mariachi

Budget: $7,000

A film about a traveling mariachi musician who finds himself entangled in the law by being mistaken for a murderous criminal. The film paved the way for film director Robert Rodiguez's gory obscure action films. As one of his firsts (made in 1992), the Spanish language film was both written and directed by Rodriguez and was made for only $7,000 budget. Rodriguez, who was a film student at the time made money for the film by being a human lab rat and getting medical tests done on him.  That's commitment!

The film eventually made over $2 million worldwide which was a huge surprise considering it was an extremely low budget student film. The film consisted of not one professional- not in the crew and not the casts, so that is quite an accomplishment.

Frances Ha

Budget: $3M

This delightful simple story follows the chaotic life of a dancer living in New York who is forever between apartments. The film was created by indie king and queen, Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig. The two made this film together with little publicity. By the time it came out, it had created a huge buzz and a few million dollars.

The film was brought the now-married couple closer together. For a couple of years, the two would share drafts of the script. When it was ultimately done, Baumbach (the now Oscar-nominated filmmaker) directed the film.

Home Alone

Budget: $15M

Probably the greatest Christmas classic of all time, Home Alone has been entertaining families for decades now. The reruns and screenings continue every year making it one of the most beloved films in America and maybe even the world. From the look of it, it probably seemed like this was one big-budget film, especially with its great cast members including, Joe Pesci, Catherine O'Hara, and the legendary John Candy. But that was not the case at all!

This film, in fact, cost only $15 million to make, which, granted, in the late 80s' wasn't that cheap, but, considering that the film brought in almost a half a billion dollars, makes it all the more incredible. It also cemented child actor, Mcauley Culkin as America's favorite kid.

Fahrenheit 9/11

Budget: $6M

Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore had already created a reputation for himself as a controversial figure with his film Bowling For Columbine. But nothing could compare to the documentary Fahrenheit 9/11. While most documentaries have a more niche appeal, this one gained attention on an international scale as it covered the events leading up to and post 9/11.

The film's message created a heated international debate and even rivaled some 2004 blockbuster comedies and hit films like Dodgeball, The Terminal, and Lemony Snicket. In the end it made $222,446,320. Nobody expected this film to do as well as it did

March Of The Penguins

Budget: 8M

Similar to Fahrenheit 9/11, this was another documentary film that became a mega-successful box office hit. While the film was not political or controversial, it still seemed to capture the hearts of millions around the world as it followed the life story of an emperor penguin. It was as delightful as any live-action feel-good film and it didn't even star one human. It wasn't even animated either. This was all purely penguins.

For six weeks, the film stayed in the top ten until it slowly dropped to number six. Still pretty high. This was a real feat for a non-mainstream film and even made ended up making $127,392,693. Impressive!

Slumdog Millionaire

Budget: $15M

Even with Danny Boyle's incredible reputation, no one foresaw the success of this 2008 heart-warming film coming. Especially not at that level of budget. It just goes to show you that's a good film is not all about money. The touching story followed the harsh life of a young man who grows up in Mumbai and his search for his childhood love. It's a film about destiny, overcoming hardships and the power of true love.

Calling it a "sleeper hit" would be an understatement as the film grossed $82 million worldwide. The film was no doubt a critical and commercial success and out did a bunch of blockbusters that year.

The King's Speech

Budget: $15M

Another film on a meager budget that was a huge success, both critically and commercially. The 2010 four-time Oscar-winning film directed by Tom Hooper (ex-Eastenders and The Damned United) made quite box-office splash. The film initially hit quite a low number in the opening weekend, but as the word grew, it slowly began to gain more and more attention until it eventually made $414,211,549  worldwide.

The film's success was also helped by the great Colin Firth who perfectly embodied King George VI and his struggle to get through his stammering. Geoffery Rush's portrayal of Lionel Logue, the king's speech therapist didn't hurt either.

Drive

Budget: $16m

The year 2011 was filled with some critically acclaimed films such as Attack The Block and Troll Hunter, but these films failed to actually make money. When Drive came out, however, it was a  different story. The film, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, tells the story of a stuntman and getaway driver who does whatever he can to protect the woman he falls in love with, even if it means breaking the law.

The film made $81.4 million, largely due to the rising status of Ryan Gosling who was getting praise for his Golden Globe-nominated performances in Blue Valentine and Crazy Stupid Love. While the film was marketed as an action-packed Fast and the Furious style film, it really ended up being more of a slow-burning and emotional drama.

Winter's Bone

Budget: $2M

The indie darling of 2010, the starred the young Jennifer Lawrence- right at the beginning of her path of becoming one of Hollywood's most sought-after actresses. The film told the story of a young woman's life in the dirt port mountain town of Ozark. It's shoestring budget and niche stylings attracted the attention of the Sundance Film Festival.

The Debra Granik directed film ultimately grossed almost $8 million in the U.S alone and was a huge step in Lawrences' career.

The Kids Are All Right

Budget: $4M

Based on the synopsis alone, this 2010 film seemed like a potential hard-sell. Even with Julianne Moore and Annette Benning on board, execs had their doubts about the story of a lesbian couple whose lives go for a loop when their sperm donor enters the picture years later. In the end, everyone was proved wrong.

The Focus Feature production ended getting premiered at Sundance and grossed $29.1 million in the U.S alone and $8.1 million overseas, making that a worldwide total of $37.2 million. Unfortunately, many naysayers credit Focus Feature's incredible marketing campaign for the film's success.

Titanic

Budget: $200M

These next few films might not be considered low-budget, but when to put next to their box office earnings, the money put in to make these movies makes it looks like small potatoes. Case in point, James Cameron's Titanic. One of the highest-earning movies of all times, this film cost $200 million to make. That's money well-spent. The 1997 classic gave us the most tragic and unforgettable love stories in modern cinema.

The 1997 film, who of course starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet made 2.187 billion dollars. Ka-ching indeed. It also helped Celine Dion cement her international music career. Whether it deserved all that money, is unclear, one thing that will never remain undisputed, however, was the size of the wooden raft. There definitely was enough space!

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Budget: $306M

Ah, the Star Wars series. Since 1977, these films have been making bank. We're at the point where we just utter the name and people flock to the cinemas without any thought. George Lucas has since hung up his lightsaber for this one let J.J Abrams take the reigns on this one. While it took a hefty price-tag to make this film, it still made almost $3 billion at the box-office. This was the highest-grossing Star Wars movie ever made.

The 2015 sci-fi fantasy starred on John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Harrison Ford, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, and Carrie Fisher. It definitely rekindled everyone's love for these classic space movies.

Avengers: Infinity War

Budget:  $356M

A sure way to make millions upon millions is to place the entire cast of every single Marvel film and put them all together in one giant CGI filled super-hero spectacle. That's precisely what happened with the 2018 film Avengers: Infinity War. The film from the Avengers franchise had the highest-grossing domestic opening weekend of all time after its April 27 release.

The film made $2,003,241,872. Just as well, as it cost $356 million to make. We suppose we should all thank the star-studded cast which included, Robert Downey, Jr., Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Elizabeth Olsen, Mark Ruffalo, Bradley Cooper, and much, much more.

Jurassic World

Budget: 150M

Steven Speilberg's 1993 sci-fi- action-adventure classic came along the way. Now a multi-million dollar franchise, the latest installment earned almost $2 billion. The films have since taken a slightly darker turn and now feel more like sci-fi horror, thanks to the vision of the director, Colin Trevorrow. There have been three more since this one, so you know it's a success.

The film starred Hollywood favorites, Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Ty Simpkins,  and was released in 2015.