To attract viewers to the cinema, producers spend millions of dollars on special effects, Hollywood celebrity royalties, advertising campaigns, and more. As a result, the budget of the picture can be hundreds of millions. However, such costs do not always pay off and bring profit.
Meanwhile, there are examples in history of how a film worth several tens of thousands of dollars brought the creators profit and fame. It is these films that are included in today's Top 5 cheapest films in the history of cinema.
5. Night of the Living Dead (budget - $ 114 thousand)
To create this horror movie, they used impressively nightmarish make-up and pork guts instead of computer graphics. The creator of the picture, George Romero, originally planned to shoot a comedy, however, it turned out to be a rather creepy film, from which the blood runs cold. In addition, it was after the "Night of the Living Dead" that the term "zombie" appeared in the cinema. At the box office, the film proved to be incredibly popular, bringing in $ 42 million.
4. Blair Witch: Coursework from the Other World (budget - $ 20 thousand)
This low-budget horror film was filmed in 1999 by fans of American independent cinema. In the story, three students got lost in the woods while filming a course project about a local legend - a mysterious witch from Blair.
Filming with an amateur camera, designed to reduce the cost of the picture, was perceived by the audience as an original find. The film was appreciated by investors and Artisan Entertainment acquired Blair Witch for $ 1.1 million. The film grossed $ 248 million at the box office.
3. Fuse (budget - $ 7 thousand)
Shane Karruta's film, unknown to anyone before, took first prize at the prestigious Sundance independent film festival. The director himself wrote the script and also starred in one of the main roles. The plot is about time travel, and the film takes place in the father's house of Shane Karruta. The entire family of the director starred in the episodes.
Despite the high appraisal of the festival's jury, viewers criticize the film for its disgusting sound quality and not quite convincing performance of the cast. However, during the screenings, no one left the hall, noting that the picture has a certain bewitching appeal, despite all the shortcomings.
2. In bad taste (budget - $ 3 thousand)
This film was the first work of the famous New Zealand director Peter Jackson. The filming of this fantastic film took several years. the entire budget consisted of Jackson's undergraduate scholarship. All the alien weapons in the film were made of aluminum pipes, and Peter Jackson's mother baked the masks for the aliens herself in the home oven. So the creator of "The Lord of the Rings" and "King Kong" did not even think about any computer technologies and special effects.
The director himself played 2 roles in the film, the rest went to his friends. By the way, there is not a single female character in the cinema.
1. Big train robbery (budget - $ 100)
This 1903 film is only 11 minutes long. Thomas Edison took it off, creating the first picture that not only demonstrates an episode from life, but has a short path, but a plot. The film is based on a true story, and briefly follows the daring robbery of the Union Pacific train in 1900.By the way, the film turned out to be one of the highest grossing in the film industry. The collection from the show of "Robbery" amounted to $ 20 thousand, which is 200 times the budget of the picture. For example, "Avatar" paid off at the box office only 11 times.