At the box office, numbers are everything. However, when it comes to a movie budget, sometimes numbers aren’t everything. In fact, there are so many small-budget movies that have gone on to make huge numbers at the box office despite making the movie with barely any money compared to some of the biggest box office hits. These movies truly prove that when you have a great idea for a movie and can execute it well, the money that goes into a film doesn’t matter. These small-budget movies prove that.
Rocky
Rocky is one of the most iconic sports movies of all time. Starring Sylvester Stallone, Rocky is a movie that’s still referenced today despite being made in 1976. Many people don’t realize that Rocky was one of these small-budget movies that wound up booming at the box office. According to The Numbers, Rocky cost approximately $1 million to make and stunned many when it raked in $225,000,000 worldwide.
Paranormal Activity
Paranormal Activity was one of those movies that was so realistic that it had us scared to go into our basements for ages. It’s also one of those small-budget movies that blew up at the box office. Paranormal Activity cost just $450,000 to make. In this case, sometimes a low budget is better because at the worldwide box office, Paranormal Activity took home $194,183,034.
Halloween
1978’s Halloween is an extremely iconic horror movie that has gone on to influence so many other slasher movies that have come after it. With a budget of only $325,000, and only 20 days to actually shoot the movie. Jamie Lee Curtis led the way for this low-budget movie to thrive at the box office, as it went on to take home over $70 million at the worldwide box office.
The Blair Witch Project
The Blair Witch Project changed the game for many films as it was filmed as a pseudo-documentary with “found footage” that made it look like the actors were filming themselves as they looked for the Blair Witch. The production budget for this was just $600,000. With all of the talk about the film, it went on to make over $248,000,000 at the worldwide box office.
Napoleon Dynamite
Napoleon Dynamite is one of those small-budget movies that no one thought would go on to be as popular as it was. The movie was made by a group of recently graduated students and shot in only three weeks. With not much else to help them, they had to keep a tight budget and only spent approximately $400,000. Of course, thanks to the movie’s explosion in popularity, it exceeded any expectations, raking in over $46 million.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
1974’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was the start of something really incredible. The very first film would be so successful that it would go on to make sequels and remakes, but there’s really nothing like the first movie. The original film took approximately $140,000 to make, which is literally nothing when it comes to a production budget. However, despite creating the movie with that small of a budget, it went on to make $26,704,148 at the worldwide box office, proving that despite the small budget, a movie can still be a success.
Mad Max (1979)
The original Mad Max, released back in 1979, was another one of the many successful small-budget movies. The movie is filled with tons of action despite having a budget that was so low. It took approximately 200,000 to make the movie, which was a huge feat at the time for a movie like Mad Max. It went on to do really well at the box office, raking in $99,750,000, making it one of the biggest successes on such a small budget.
Juno
Juno is one of those small-budget movies that doesn’t seem like it will blow up at the box office as much as it did. Compared to the other movies on this list, Juno had a much higher production budget of $7 million. That might seem like a lot, but for plenty of movies today, that’s not a huge budget at all. The movie went on to make $231,450,102 at the worldwide box office, proving that despite the small budget, it went on to be bigger than they thought.
Super Size Me
From the time the movie was released, Super Size Me was surrounded by controversy. The movie, which followed Morgan Spurlock who ate at McDonald’s every day for a month, naturally had a very low budget of just $65,000. As the documentary had a lot of people talking, it garnered a lot of attention. Despite everything, it went on to make $22,233,808 at the box office.
Friday the 13th
Friday the 13th was the first film made in the franchise back in 1980, and has really set the tone for other slasher movies in the future. Despite becoming one of the most popular films, it only took $550,000 to make. The numbers were great on the film, and it was able to rake in $59,754,601 at the worldwide box office.
