Popular movies that had a low budget

Movies that are good usually have a reason for it. They are usually super expensive. For example, the popular movie Inception cost a phenomenal $160,000,000. Thats 160 million! But, rarely, a film comes out of the blue that costs next to nothing, and becomes a hit! Heres a list of films you may have heard of, which have surprisingly low budgets.

 Budget: $15,000

Some people hated it and some people were scared out there minds, but Paranormal Activity cost next to nothing when producing the movie. Directed by Oren Peli, the movie went on to earn an outstanding $150,000,000, almost 10,000 times its original budget.

 Budget: $1,000,000

We all know Rocky. Rocky is part of almost everyones life and launched Sylvester Stallone's career. The movie went on to win 3 Oscars and earned an amazing $225,000,000.

Budget: $7000

Although this was only released in Mexico, I find the background to this movie truly amazing. Director Robert Rodriguez also wrote the film, produced it, filmed it and added special effects and sound effects. Rodriguez also made $3000 by becoming a 'human lab rat', which earned him $100 every month. He also wrote the script whilst locked up in a lab cell. However, all his hard work payed off as he made over $2,000,000 when the film was released.  

 Budget: $22,000

Released in 1999, The Blair Witch Project was one of the first films to introduce the 'First person horror genre', and it turned out people loved it. The actors of the film were given no more than a 35-page booklet of mythology, so all the lines were improvised. The film went on to win 11 awards and an earning of over $248,500,000.

 Budget: $29000

Clerks was released in 1994 and is a comedy about two clerks that basically go around annoying customers and playing hockey on the store roof. The film itself has extremely explicit language and is very funny.  The film is so cheaply made that it is said that the rights to the soundtrack cost more than the actual movie to make. The movie went on to win 4 awards and earn a total of over $3,000,000.

Budget: $400,000

Napoleon Dynamite, released in 2004, is about a small town nerd trying to get help his new friend to become class presidency. Jon Heder only got paid $1000 to play his main role in the movie, even though the film went on to earn over $44,000,000.

 Budget: $13,000,000

Ah, Star Wars. Almost everyone has seen it. Are you surprised it had such a low budget? I was. Although not as low as the other movies, I believe that the budget is definitely low for a film with effects that keep up-to-date even 35 years after its original release date. The film unsurprisingly won 6 oscars and earned a total gross profit of around $461,000,000, making it one of the most profitable movies of all time.

 Drop me a comment if you think I have missed any films out or just any genaral feedback would be really appreciated :)