Making expensive, blockbuster films is an exercise in high risk versus high reward.
Though most mega hit flicks have the potential to bring in big bucks, they also have the
potential to lose a ton of money.
So when a low-budget movie becomes a surprise hit, studio execs can rest easy.
We're talking those diamonds in the rough that were made for less than $10 million but
still managed to gross loads of dough thanks to positive critical reception, awards season
buzz, and innovative marketing and release tactics.
American Graffiti
George Lucas went on to make big box office bucks with the Star Wars franchise, but before
he went to a galaxy far, far away, he went to Modesto, California for his coming-of-age
drama American Graffiti.
At the time, Lucas was a fairly unknown director so he had a hard time getting financial support
for his project.
Universal eventually agreed to make the movie with just a $750,000 budget.
However, they still questioned Lucas' vision, asking him to hire a new editor and recut
the film after he turned in the finished product.
The studio was worried about releasing the film in theaters, but employees who had seen
and loved the film eventually convinced them.
Despite the movie's troubles making it to the big screen, it wound up being remarkably
well-received, earning five Oscar nominations including Best Picture and Best Director for
Lucas.
The film was immensely popular at the box office as well, pulling in $115 million, making
it the 15th highest-grossing PG-rated film of all time when adjusted for inflation.
Lost in Translation
The definitive fish-out-of-water dramedy, Lost in Translation won writer-director Sofia
Coppola an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and earned three other nominations, including
Best Picture.
But the Bill Murray-led movie, which explored alienation and existential dread against a
bustling Tokyo backdrop, wasn't just an awards season favorite.
The $4 million flick earned $119.7 million at the worldwide box office.
"Can you keep a secret?
I'm trying to organize a prison break.
I'm looking for, like, an accomplice."
Lost in Translation, which followed the complicated relationship between Scarlett Johansson's
aimless Yale graduate Charlotte and Murray's aging movie star Bob Harris, first opened
on just 23 screens, earning a total of $925,087.
To put that into perspective, that's an average $40,221 per theater the highest per theater
average for a limited release in 2003.
Annabelle
Annabelle didn't buck the negative reviews many horror movies face, but the $6.5 million
creepy doll film made a killing at the box office.
The movie very, very narrowly lost to David Fincher's Gone Girl in its opening weekend,
but still managed to pull in an impressive $37.1 million.
Annabelle's strong opening exceeded initial $20 million expectations, at least in part
thanks to the movie's popularity on social media.
The movie also had the benefit of being spawned from another popular, low-budget horror series:
the Conjuring franchise, which came from horror maven James Wan.
The movie went on to make an impressive $257 million worldwide.
The Blair Witch Project
The found-footage horror film The Blair Witch Project wasn't just a cultural phenomenon
it was also a box office hit.
The 1999 film about a group of student filmmakers who hunt down a local urban legend was made
for just $60,000 but went on to make $246.8 million at the worldwide box office, including
$140.5 million domestic.
This is even more impressive when considering that the film was shot in just eight days,
with a partially improvised script.
Like many of the movies on this list, The Blair Witch Project benefited from an innovative
release schedule, rolling out slowly to spark interest.
The movie was screened at the Sundance Film Festival without much fanfare, and audiences
were left wondering if they'd just seen a horror movie or the scariest documentary ever.
Building on this excitement, filmmakers used a viral marketing campaign one of the first
to rely on the internet to hook viewers while still maintaining the film's mysterious air.
Get Out
Jordan Peele was already an established comedy actor when he made his feature film directorial
debut with Get Out, a horror film which he made for just $4.5 million.
The movie wound up being a massive success, earning $255 million worldwide.
It was buoyed by near-perfect critical reviews not to mention viewers' conversations surrounding
the movie, which pushed people to hit up their local theaters to see what all the fuss was
about.
Thanks to its innovative premise and some smart marketing techniques, Get Out blew audiences
away and earned $33.3 million on its opening weekend alone.
Buzz for Get Out was so strong that the movie managed to earn four Oscar nominations, despite
the fact that it was released almost a full year before nominations were announced and
the fact that the Academy has traditionally overlooked horror movies.
Peele's debut wound up being the most profitable film of 2017, featuring a 630 percent return
on investment for production company Blumhouse.
Juno
Penned by author/screenwriter Diablo Cody, Juno earned four Oscar nominations, including
Best Picture, Best Director for Jason Reitman, and Best Actress in a Leading Role for its
star Ellen Page, and a win for Best Original Screenplay after it hit theaters in 2007.
The film featured Page as Juno MacGuff, a high schooler who debates her options during
a surprise pregnancy.
The charming indie comedy was made on just a $7.5 million budget, with star Jennifer
Garner even taking a pay cut to help the movie keep costs down.
But thanks to its witty, pitch-perfect writing and strong appeal to teens and young women,
it ended up being a surprise box office success, bringing in $231 million worldwide.
Little Miss Sunshine
"Back up a minute…
You know what a loser is?
A real loser is somebody who is so afraid of not winning, they don't even try."
The tragicomic 2006 indie flick Little Miss Sunshine, which earned the love of critics
and fans alike, chronicled the trials and tribulations of young Olive Hoover played
by Abigail Breslin who ropes her family into a cross-country road trip so she can compete
in the Little Miss Sunshine beauty pageant.
It also earned four Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, which translated to two well-deserved
wins.
Not too shabby for a movie that was made for just $8 million.
It ended up becoming a box office behemoth, earning $100.5 million worldwide.
"You're not nearly as stupid as you look."
Fox Searchlight, the studio that distributed the film, clearly saw the box office potential
in Little Miss Sunshine right off the bat, buying the film for $10.5 million after a
standing ovation at the first screening caused a bidding war.
Having that much buzz around the film right out the gate got film enthusiasts excited,
while the quality of the movie led to a long and successful box office run.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
My Big Fat Greek Wedding was just a few days shy of spending a whole year in theaters,
and during that time, the $5 million romantic comedy went from a low-budget film with few
big names to a massive money-maker, bringing in $368.7 million worldwide.
That box office success was very unique.
The movie opened to just $597,362 from 108 theaters, but it continued to build up impressive
box office totals throughout its run, eventually hitting the number two spot after 20 weeks.
The movie spent 17 consecutive weeks in the top 10.
The movie's success was truly unprecedented, as most movies usually see a downward trend
after their opening weekends.
Rocky
"He picked you, Rocky!
Rocky it's the chance of a lifetime."
Rocky may not be the top grossing film in the long-running franchise at the box office,
but it's $117.2 million worldwide was especially impressive when you consider that the film,
starring a then-unknown Sylvester Stallone, had a measly $1 million budget.
In addition to its impressive box office haul, the film won three Oscars, including Best
Picture.
Stallone also earned an Oscar nomination for writing the script for the movie, but despite
its astronomical success, he actually had a hard time getting it made.
Stallone said that he went through "about 20 different incarnations" of the film before
he landed on the finished project, but even then it wasn't easy.
Producers Irwin Winkler and Bob Chartoff had to mortgage their homes and use their personal
savings to finance the film.
All that effort clearly paid off.
The Rocky franchise holds the top four spots for highest grossing boxing films, most recently
taking over the box office with 2015's Creed, which also was an awards season favorite,
snagging Stallone an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
Saw
2004's torture flick Saw didn't just make $103.9 million against a miniscule $1.2 million
budget the movie also managed to launch a lucrative horror franchise.
But the original Saw was able to achieve its initial box office heights by using strong
word-of-mouth to hold on to viewers throughout its October and November box office run.
Saw proved popular with young viewers, with 60 percent of the opening weekend audience
under 25 years old.
That's likely thanks to the flick's young director, then-newcomer, James Wan, who managed
to make the movie in just 18 days while keeping the budget low.
The franchise has continued to build on its strong start, and although it has stumbled
at points, the eight films together have still brought in a total of $976.3 million worldwide.
The most recent release, 2017's Jigsaw, pulled in $102.9 million worldwide against a $10
million budget, proving just how impressive Saw's initial feat was.
Split
M. Night Shyamalan went low-budget for his 2017 horror flick Split, making the James
McAvoy-starring thriller for only $9 million.
This decision wound up working out well for the twisty director, with the film pulling
in $278.5 million worldwide and holding on to the number one spot for its first three
weekends at the domestic box office.
Split, an indirect sequel to Shyamalan's 2000 film Unbreakable, featured McAvoy as a man
with what appears to be dissociative identity disorder who kidnaps three teenage girls.
The movie received positive reviews from critics, earning a 76 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and
was nominated for Best Thriller Film at the Saturn Awards.
Split became Shyamalan's fifth film to pass $100 million at the domestic box office, proving
that the director still has the power to bring in large audiences.
However, Split's low budget made that figure even more impressive.
Paranormal Activity
Go ahead roll your eyes.
You were expecting this one.
But whether you're tired of hearing about it or not, Paranormal Activity's success story
is one for the ages.
It's not often a movie with a budget of $15,000 grosses $193.5 million bucks worldwide.
The micro-budget horror flick was shot in just seven days on a handheld video camera
by Israeli director Oren Peli, a video game designer with no past film experience.
After the movie terrified legendary director Steven Spielberg, studio execs began to take
notice.
Paramount ultimately bought the film with the intention to reshoot it with a higher
budget.
However, when a test screening blew audiences away, they decided to release Peli's version
of the film after drafting an alternate ending.
Paranormal Activity's success was partly due to positive reviews, sitting at an 83 percent
on Rotten Tomatoes.
Paramount also implemented an innovative marketing strategy for the movie, putting it in limited
release and letting it build buzz before setting it into wide release the weekend before Halloween.
In its first weekend in wide release, the little ghost flick that could earned the number
one spot with $21.1 million.