Low-budget films that unexpectedly collected a huge box office

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

How to invest less and get more - this principle is guided not only by thrifty housewives, but also by the bigwigs of the film business. Sometimes these savings don't work, and films fail at the box office. But the opposite situations also happen - a movie shot by novice directors and with the participation of young unknown actors suddenly "shoots" and becomes cult. After all, the main thing is an original idea and a good team that gets real pleasure from work. And with them - and the viewer. Today we have made a selection of just such low-budget paintings that not only brought a solid jackpot, but also glorified their creators.

Mad Max, 1979

It's hard to believe that Mel Gibson himself starred in this low-budget film. Nevertheless, this is so - in 1979, the novice actor had not yet asked for crazy fees (he received only 15 thousand dollars for participating in the filming), and the picture was only the third in his film career. This film is still called by film critics one of the best works in the diesel punk style. And the story of its creation is incredibly simple. One day, Dr. George Miller, who has worked as an ambulance doctor for a long time and has seen enough of the consequences of road accidents, met with an aspiring cinematographer and producer Byron Kennedy. Also, an article by American journalist James McCausland was chosen as an idea of inspiration, which talked about the automotive culture of Australia and the problems of the global fuel industry.

Miller initially wanted to raise in the film the theme of a huge number of road accidents due to the fact that the quality of the roads does not match the high speeds of modern cars. McCoughland supplemented it with the thesis that for racers, a vehicle is the only meaning of life. Plus the 1973 "oil embargo" and fights in the queues for the right to refuel the tank - this is the general concept of the militant. Due to the fact that the budget was too minimal, the main screenwriter McCausland received only 3,500 dollars for the year of work on the script, and he had to combine his main work at the publishing house with this one.

He worked on the script in the evenings, and Miller came to him early in the morning to discuss future pages. For filming, many cars were allocated to them free of charge, dummies were used in the work, and a group of bandits were local bikers who liked the idea of the film and the opportunity to become famous. It is noteworthy that even the final editing and work with sound were carried out by the young directors literally in the kitchen. Nevertheless, the film won awards for Best Screenplay, Sound and Music.

And his characters became cult - references to the film were used in video games, music videos, cartoons, and in California there is even an annual festival on the theme of the film. So, the budget is 300 thousand, the fees are more than 100 million dollars.

The Musician, 1982

This is exactly the film, after finishing work on which the director Robert Rodriguez came to fame. The painting cost the creator only 7 thousand dollars, which the young Rodriguez earned himself. He was involved in experiments in a medical laboratory developing drugs. At the first screening of this action movie at the Toronto International Film Festival, Rodriguez met with Quentin Tarantino. Subsequently, this acquaintance grew into strong friendship and cooperation.

The film tells about the adventures of a musician-guitarist who came to find happiness and good fortune in a small Mexican town. Ironically, a professional assassin also comes there, accustomed to hiding his weapon in a musical instrument case. Local mafiosi start hunting, but by mistake they track down the wrong "musician". The film also features love, gangster humor, drama - all that is needed to get on the National Register of films of cultural, historical and aesthetic significance."

At minimal cost, attributable to Rodriguez's authorship as a screenwriter, director, cameraman and producer, the film grossed over two million dollars and became the first part of the famous "Mexican trilogy" ("The Musician", "Desperate", "Once Upon a Time in Mexico").

"Breakfast Club", 1985

A teenage comedy, which, nevertheless, thanks to its deep meaning, was able to acquire the status of a cult among the youth. It was by imitating her that films in this genre were filmed for the next decades, young actors became famous, and the musical theme, written specifically for the film, gained popularity. And it's all thanks to ad agency employee John Hughes and his team. The aspiring screenwriter has already been creating successful humorous sketches for several years, and now he decided to try himself as a director.

The young film company A&M Films also believed in him, and allocated 1 million dollars of the budget. Little-known actors were selected as performers, and the gym of an abandoned school was chosen as the location for filming, which was stylized with written-off books to resemble a library reading room. The film also featured the director's car, as there was no money to rent an expensive BMW. The spirit of freedom reigned on the set - the actors were allowed to improvise, during the breaks, modern music sounded, and John Hughes maintained a lively atmosphere of the youth party, dressing himself in a bright sweatshirt, jeans and sneakers.

In addition, since according to the law, underage actors could not work more than 4 hours a day, the director often invited them to his house - they talked a lot and agreed on their love for British pop culture. The result was an unusual youth film that unexpectedly earned more than $ 51 million. As noted by film critics, the tape managed to stand out with a bold departure from stereotypes in the image of adolescents and their environment, be remembered for its extraordinary directing, editing, as well as live dialogues of real youth from the streets.

"Paranormal Activity", 2009

A horror film shot in a pseudo-documentary manner, by the standards of Hollywood, cost the creator a mere penny. Think for yourself - with a budget of 15 thousand dollars, his box office receipts amounted to 193 million dollars. Just a financial phenomenon: the profit exceeded the production budget by almost 13 thousand times! And again, saving on the cameraman, screenwriter, producer and director - all the work was done by the novice director Oren Peli. By the way, they didn't spend on the scenery either, because the shooting took place in Oren's own house and lasted a week.

There are only two characters in the picture - newlyweds who settled in a strange mansion and decided to shoot something on camera that wanders around the house and frightens them with incomprehensible sounds. Experimental horror became a sensation, but at first it was shown in a limited number of American cinemas. And for the rental rights, Paramount paid modestly, estimating the film and sequels at 350 thousand dollars.