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 loads of 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.” 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.
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.
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.