What is the measure of a successful film release?
It's a question as old as the industry itself. And the answer, as with most things in Hollywood, likely depends on whom you ask. Golden-age MGM exec Louis B. Mayer might have quoted the number of tickets sold, a record his studio's Gone With the Wind (1939) still holds. James Cameron, meanwhile, could point to the record $2.18 billion his 2009 blockbuster Avatar grossed at theaters worldwide. It’s impossible to compare the two films in terms of success, of course, as each holds the currency of "success" as defined by its own era.
Yet amid the vagaries of economics and clever accounting, there remains one constant: Story. Worry about selling your story to the audience and the rest -- investors, distribution, box office -- will follow. Here are seven films produced for under $500,000 that did just that. Will yours be on a similar list someday?
Darren Aronofsky financed his surrealist breakout with $100 piecemeal donations from his relatives. His script about a young Jewish man who risks everything to pursue a dangerous obsession (hint, hint) would prove a lucrative investment, returning half its $60,000 budget upon its premiere. It went on to earn $3.2 million on just 60 screens.
Boy meets girl. Boy sings to girl. Girl sings to boy. They take a chance on a dream. We've seen and heard it countless times since The Jazz Singer (1929), and yet this Irish gem played a $150,000 shooting budget to the sweet tune of $20 million. How? Compelling characters, good songs, and an unassuming script that wears its heart on its sleeve. Sometimes the familiar things are popular for a reason.
Kevin Smith salvaged his car, maxed out a few credit cards and sold his beloved comic book collection to finance the $27,000 that would launch this anthem for the slacker generation. Smith’s film was so funny that Miramax budgeted an additional $230,000 for post-production, including a civil attorney hired to appeal the MPAA’s unprecedented NC-17 “language” rating.
The first horror release to target Halloween weekend, this indie schlock film garnered $47 million domestically and carved out a new sub-genre of horror, the slasher film. Whereas contemporary low-budget horror films of the day would sacrifice quality by shoehorning elaborate settings and complex special effects into every scene, co-writers John Carpenter and Debra Hill accommodated for their film's $300,000 budget with each line of script. The result was an economical and accessible plot that co-opted pre-established themes (Psycho, The Thing) to scare audiences without the grindhouse blood and gore.
Although not as widely popular as studio-backed sequels Desperado (1995) and Once Upon a Time in Mexico (2003), Robert Rodriguez spent only $7,000 of the $9,000 he had raised for production, making his feature debut a success even before Columbia Pictures snatched it up off the Mexican home video market. The film would earn over $2 million in the U.S., which for three weekends at no more than 90 English-speaking theaters is successful no matter how you spin it.
Morgan Spurlock risked liver damage and his marriage to make this pre-YouTube videologue, which follows Spurlock as he attempts to eat nothing but McDonald's food for 30 days. The McDocumentary went viral at the box office, earning back its $65,000 production budget eight-fold during its opening weekend. IDP wisely chucked in another $1 million for prints and advertising, expanding distribution from its initial 40 screens to over 200 at the height of the film's run toward a $30 million combined gross.
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
What "desert island" list of successful low-budget movies would be complete without George Romero's indie classic? Produced for $114,000, the film hit theaters the year the production code ended and a month before the MPAA would establish its rating system -- meaning young children were casually attending matinees of one of the most violent films ever made. Romero's cannibalistic satire of capitalism didn't prevent his film from biting off $12 million domestically.
See Mickey Keating's 8 Great Horror Films You Probably Haven't Seen
Also check out our In The Can Podcast on DIY Filmmaking in Hollywood
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