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

Always invest in your weird friend's low-budget horror film!
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

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

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

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.
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