Top 10 Brilliant Movies Made With Almost No Money

low budgets require big imaginations

welcome to watchmojo.com and today we're

counting down our picks for the top ten

low-budget movies it's really not much

of a scratch I don't think it's seen

anything besides it's in question here

for this list we'll be taking a look at

films that were made by major studios or

independent investors with a budget no

greater than 1 million dollars and these

films not only earned huge returns at

the box office they also became cult

favorites launching the careers of some

of Hollywood's most profitable directors

in the process [ __ ] yeah dude I'm all

for me 10 bucks

number 10 Napoleon Dynamite last week

Japanese scientists explained place

explosive detonators at the bottom of

lake loch ness if you think featuring

no-name actors and spending little to no

money on advertising or good ways to

break into the film industry then you

have a lot in common with Napoleon

Dynamite director Jared Hess I see you

drinking 1% is that because you think

you're fat with a $400,000 budget has

his comedy debut about an awkward teen

and his equally awkward family and

friends has made a staggering 46 point 1

million dollars and that doesn't even

include the massive sales on all those

vote for Pedro t-shirts Pedro just

listen to your heart that's what I do

but what the film brought to starring

actor Jon Heder is something money can't

buy

mad props for his epic dance skills and

nobility status in meme history it's

just too bad he didn't have the gift of

foresight when he agreed to star in the

film for a mere $1,000 don't worry they

paid him more later number 9

clerks 37 dicks in a row who would ever

want to watch a film about a day in the

lives of two convenience store clerks

that would be like coming into work

twice but clerks had perfect timing

because the 90s were a decade where

movies about two guys just talking were

perfectly acceptable but they brought

independent god

none that thing plumbers aluminum ciders

roofers not just empiricist that were

you getting exactly just like slacker

from which kevin smith drew his

inspiration the film cost under $30,000

to make and has managed to become a cult

classic it garnered 3.2 million dollars

at the box office through nothing but

subdued charm and Static camerawork

launching Kevin Smith's directing career

and making sure the iconic duo Jay and

Silent Bob had the chance to strike

again and again in Smith's subsequent

films all you [ __ ] are gonna

pay you are the ones who are the ball

lickers number eight the Evil Dead Oh

God

some do comedy some do horror but only

Sam Raimi can do both like the perfect

grilled cheese sandwich the marriage of

two understated ingredients creates

something stupendously cheesy

when the film screened at the 1982

Cannes Film Festival it sparked the

appreciation of many horror fans

including the master himself Stephen

King and though it's now a beloved cult

classic it took a few good decades and

international exposure for the film to

gross over 29 million dollars aside from

cementing the dreaded Cabin in the Woods

cliche in horror history the film also

became a self-referential media

franchise with film sequels video games

comic books and more recently a TV

series number 7 Night of the Living Dead

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annoying that the number of zombie

themed movies Hollywood has been pumping

out lately

you can thank George a Romero this film

started the zombie genre and is

considered one of the most influential

in horror history purposely shot to

conserve every bit of the 114 thousand

dollar budget Romero

carefully thought-out each aspect of

production along with the

socio-political undertones attributed to

the film it sparked controversy due to

its graphic nature it is tough with a

kid that old man is so stupid now get

the hell down in the cellar you can be

the boss down there I'm boss up here

however it was a critical success

worldwide making an estimated 30 million

dollars at the box office

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it probably would have made more if it

weren't for a copyright oversight on

behalf of the distributor which

registered the film under public domain

and made it the internet archive's most

downloaded film number six hi 12:45

restate my assumptions one mathematics

is the language of nature Darren

Aronofsky's directorial debut into

surreal territory won him the directing

award at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival

though most people know Aronofsky for

requiem for a dream that films box

office earnings weren't even twice its

budget high on the other hand has been

extremely successful making 3.2 million

at the box office with a budget of

68,000 and limited distribution never

hear of Kabbalah Jewish mysticism look

I'm kind of busy right here I understand

as if math weren't enough to induce

paranoia in the average viewer the

combination of religious themes and

mysticism contributed to the bleak and

uneasy atmosphere that is now considered

Aronofsky signature style it's

mathematics numbers ideas number five

Mad Max look any longer out on that road

and I'm one of them you know a terminal

crazy back in the day Mel Gibson was

just an Aussie actor trying to break

into Hollywood when he starred in Mad

Max with a 350 thousand dollar budget a

very modest one by industry standards it

was an astounding success that brought a

near 100 million dollar return

that impressive budget to earnings ratio

also nabbed at the Guinness World Record

for most profitable film ever made if

you're lucky you can heck through your

ankle well almost it held that title for

20 years until another film on our list

beat its record more on that later

Mad Max is post-apocalyptic theme

inspired several sequels including fury

road starring Tom Hardy a man who is no

stranger to high grossing indie films

number 4 El Mariachi special effects in

cinematography aren't cheap

but in the hands of a magician a little

imagination goes a long way in his

directorial debut Robert Rodriguez was

able to create magic with a mere seven

thousand dollars

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just 23 years old at the time Rodriguez

shot the film in Mexico with limited

resources and Columbia Pictures

executives were so impressed they

decided to distribute it in the US the

gamble was worth every penny as El

Mariachi made around two million dollars

at the box office

yes esto el dorado then completed later

the western action flick was inducted

into the Library of Congress for its

national significance and inspired

subsequent sequels the total box office

earnings for the Mexico trilogy one

hundred and twenty five million dollars

number three the Blair Witch Project in

the torso of each man the intestines had

been torn out crudely love it or hate it

the Blair Witch Project is almost solely

responsible for the found-footage genre

and in the age of the selfie stick this

genre is only too happy to make a

comeback with the gimmick that real

witches live in our national forests it

easily duped audiences into shelling out

two hundred and forty eight million

dollars at the box office the real

mystery is how the film costs sixty

thousand dollars to make when all it

took was three actors a shaky camera and

some camping equipment that is so not

cool

no it's not that is so not cool no it's

not cool despite this the Blair Witch

Project crew has the undying gratitude

of any independent filmmaker for

discovering a winning B horror formula

the shaky or the camera the bigger the

revenues and it's not because I made

that we're here hungry cold hunted

number two Halloween Michael

this film and its antagonist might as

well be known as the sucker that just

won't die with seven sequels for the

franchise and what seems like near

eternal immortality for Michael

Halloween was put together with a

$300,000 budget and made 70 million

dollars at the box office

the film's horror elements rely very

little on special effects instead opting

to build tension through editing and a

haunting musical score composed by

director John Carpenter himself

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carpenter admitted to being inspired by

another low-budget slasher The Texas

Chainsaw Massacre series which also made

a killing at the box office before we

unveil our number one pick here are some

honorable mentions there was value in

the thing clearly that they were certain

uh but what is the application in a

matter of hours they pretended to

everything from mass transit to

satellite watching now stand aside were

the adversary tis but a scratch scratch

your arms off

[Music]

number one paranormal activity you can

either buy a second-hand car or you can

make another paranormal activity movie

it took director Oren Peli a handheld

camera a budget of $15,000 and a week

off work to create what is now known as

the most profitable horror film of all

time with the power of the World Wide

Web

word of mouth an interesting marketing

strategy and some wishful thinking

paranormal activity pulled in a whopping

193 million dollars at the box office

and spawned a never-ending stream of

equally lucrative sequels for a combined

total of 889 million dollars but not

only did it bring home the bacon

paranormal activity also scared the

bejesus out of everyone do you agree

with our list was pretty good what's

your favorite low-budget movie

[Applause]

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