20 big-time films that were made with a small-time budget

You don't need a lot of money to make a good movie. These 20 low-budget films were absolute hits. All budgets are estimated, per IMDb. 

The filmmakers behind Napoleon Dynamite had a camera, a dream, and a damn good sense of humor. What appeared to be a really, really good home video — made for an estimated $400,000 — became one of the best comedies of its decade. 

In 2008, Slumdog Millionaire was all anyone in Hollywood could talk about. The film was a revelation, and its low budget (an estimated $15 million) and huge box office performance ($378,411,362 worldwide) made its investors loads of money. 

But if any movie looks like a home video, it’s The Blair Witch Project. But that didn’t make it any less terrifying. The found-footage film made hundreds of millions at the box office — $248,639,099 worldwide — and it’s still one of the most well-known horror films of all time. The film's estimated budget was $60,000.

These days, Star Wars films are enormous investments. Their production costs are massive. But long before becoming its own cinematic universe, the very first Star Wars film was made on a relatively low budget of $11 million. The worldwide gross was nearly $775.4 million.

Juno is proof that all a movie needs to be good is a great script and honest performances. Despite its low production budget of an estimated $7.5 million, Juno earned multiple Oscar nominations, and it’s still one of both stars’ best performances. 

If Split freaked you out, you weren’t alone. The horror film was very unsettling, and its low budget ($9 million) only added to that effect. But it was wildly successful at the box office ($278,454,417 worldwide).

Visually speaking, it’s not hard to tell that The Texas Chain Saw Massacre was made on a low budget (an estimated $140,000). But you wouldn’t know that based on its impact. The film redefined the genre in many ways, and people still love to watch it. 

Another low-budget film (an estimated $8 million) to earn Oscar nominations, Little Miss Sunshine catapulted Abigail Breslin into superstardom. She didn’t need special effects or a huge marketing budget to become a star.

Some might argue that horror films are better with a low budget. They might not win that argument, but they’ll certainly have plenty of evidence at their disposal. Annabelle is one such piece — a well-done horror flick made on a shoestring budget of an estimated $6.5 million. 

Rom-coms aren’t known for having particularly big budgets (unless they star Julia Roberts and George Clooney and are filmed on remote islands), but they aren’t usually considered low-budget either. My Big Fat Greek Wedding is a rare example of the latter, having been made with an estimated $5 million, and it’s one of the best of the genre. 

James Cameron is nearly a billionaire now, but when he was writing The Terminator, he was living in his car. He managed to get The Terminator made on a very low budget (an estimated $6.4 million), and its box office performance ($78,371,200 worldwide) and enduring legacy (as well as Cameron’s subsequent career) have proven it was a worthwhile investment.

Quentin Tarantino could probably get any film budget he wants approved now, but he had to earn that privilege. One of the films that got him there was the low-budget Pulp Fiction (an estimated $8 million), an Oscar-winning film that showed everyone the value of a black bob. 

Don’t let anyone tell you that a low-budget movie can’t go on to become one of the greatest films of all time. It probably won’t, but that doesn’t mean it can’t. Rocky became a blockbuster despite its low budget (an estimated $960,000) and made Sylvester Stallone a sequel and box office king. 

Another popular low-budget horror film, Saw, garnered multiple sequels after its successful start. Concept is king in horror, and Saw is proof, having been made with an estimated $1.2 million.  

Your greatest memory surrounding Moonlight is quite possibly its controversy with La La Land after the latter was mistakenly announced as the 2017 Best Picture winner at the Oscars. But it should also be noted that Moonlight was produced on an incredibly small budget of an estimated $4 million. 

You probably wouldn’t look at The King’s Speech and think it was a low-budget production (an estimated $15 million), but considering its cast, it’s amazing it didn’t cost more. The film got Colin Firth his Oscar and had everybody in the film world buzzing. 

After seeing how successful The Blair Witch Project was with its signature found-footage style, Paranormal Activity was made on an even smaller budget of an estimated $15,000. It's a good thing they didn’t have to pay the ghosts. 

If American Psycho could license its memes, it would probably have earned enough by now to have paid the production costs. They were very low, and the memes have performed very well. The movie was made with an estimated $7 million. 

An absolute classic, The Breakfast Club had an extremely low budget of an estimated $1 million. But that didn’t stop it from becoming one of the greatest coming-of-age movies of all time. Nothing could stop John Hughes from making great films. 

It doesn’t take much money to make people laugh. Monty Python and the Holy Grail is one of the greatest comedies of all time, and it was made for well under a million dollars (an estimated 229,575 pounds, which converts to approximately $310,469.34).