A large budget is no guarantee of the quality and success of the film, to which there are hundreds of confirmations. Tens and hundreds of millions were spent on some of the paintings, and the output was such trash that there was no question of any profit or rewards.
At the same time, history knows many cases when directors made films for ridiculous money by the standards of the industry, but this brought huge profit and success.
Let's recall the top ten cheap paintings, which without exaggeration can be called cult, although they spent a penny on their production.
10. Halloween | 1978
John Carpenter in 1978 decided to shoot a horror movie, having only 300,000 dollars, which was quite a bit even at that time.
The lead singer, Jamie Lee Curtis, was paid only 8,000, and Nick Castle, who played Michael Myers himself, received a miserable 25 bucks a day.
There was not enough money so much that even decorative autumn leaves (removed in the spring) had to be collected for each take after each episode.
The result exceeded all expectations: the film grossed 70 million at the box office and “turned the game around”, ushering in a new era of the horror genre and becoming the progenitor of all slashers.
9. Clerks | 1994
Kevin Smith had absolutely no money for the production of his debut picture, but more than enough desire. Selling his comic book collection and collecting debts, he hardly scored 27,000, which were barely enough.
The shooting was carried out in a store where Smith at that time worked as a seller, and many of his roles were played by his friends. Since he was only allowed to take pictures outside of working hours, most of the events took place inside when the blinds were closed, since it was late at night in the yard.
Three weeks of work and the film, stuck together literally on his knee, was ready, and he was waiting for "long-playing success."
In a limited box office, “Clerks” earned about 3 million, and also laid the foundation for an entire universe of heroes Jay and Silent Bob.
Now this comedy shot on a black-and-white camera is considered a cult and is familiar to almost every movie fan and admirer of the genre.
8. The Night of the Living Dead | 1968
George Romero, like Carpenter, had a tremendous impact on the genre of horror films. If it were not for the “Night of the Living Dead”, shot for 114,000 dollars, then there would simply be no “Walking” and other dead people (well, or they would be different).
The film was shot in black and white in order to save money, and local theater-goers were called for the main roles. Romero entrusted the leading role to the black man at all, which was not the norm for that time.
Many studios abandoned the picture until it finally got to the cinemas, in which it increased its budget 200 times and went down in history forever.
7. Mad Max | 1979
The adventures of the charismatic Max Rokatansky in the near future, plunged into chaos and anarchy, cost director George Miller only 200,000, which for dystopias with explosions and pursuits is a penny.
They saved on everything, but most of all on fees: for example, Mel Gibson received only 10 thousand for the main role, and bikers from the crowd received almost beer.
After the release, the picture collected 100 million, and Max himself is still one of the most popular movie heroes.
6. Taxi driver | 1976
The story of an unbalanced Vietnam War veteran, suffering from insomnia, performed by Robert De Niro, who, tired of the dirt created on the streets, decides to clean up the city himself, cost Martin Scorsese $ 1,300,000, which is very, very little, considering the characters .
De Niro, who at that time was already the owner of the Oscar, had a bunch of offers with royalties with 6 zeros, but nevertheless accepted the offer of Scorsese and starred in the Taxi Driver for 35 thousand.
Later, the film grossed at the box office 30 million and became a landmark tape, having also received 4 Oscar nominations.
5. The Blair Witch | 1999
The horror, shot in the style of a manual camera, became the progenitor of the whole genre, and only 22 thousand dollars were spent on it.
Not the most ingenious plot and acting did not stop him from blowing up the market and making almost 250 million, becoming the highest-grossing film in history in terms of budget to fees ratio.
4. Rocky | 1976
Another picture of 1976, this time the cult sports drama with Sylvester Stallone in the title role. The first part of the upcoming film series was shot for $ 900,000, with Stallone receiving just ~ 23,000.
Given the high-quality staging of the final scene, which took a lot of money, the rest had to be tough to save.
True fans will probably remember the scene in which Rocky before the fight notices that he has the wrong colors on his poster above the ring. To this, the manager answers him that this is not important, thereby emphasizing his status as an outsider.
In fact, they made a different color by mistake, but there was no money and time to remake the poster, so we decided to shoot this scene. As a result, the film, from which no one really expected anything, brought the creators 225 million.
3. Cards, money, two trunks | 1998
They tried to start shooting this film for 3 years, but could not find the money for it. As a result, he became interested in the wife of the musician Sting, who was a producer and was able to provide funding in the amount of 960,000 pounds.
The amount was so small to implement all the ideas that the director and many members of the crew worked for free, and the actors were invited to the main roles without any experience (this film was the debut for Vinnie Jones and Jason State).
2. Mad Dogs | 1991
Quentin Tarantino was also a beginner in 1991 and was ready to shoot his first film, Reservoir Dogs, on black and white for his own 50,000, but in the end, Harvey Keitel became interested in his script, thanks to which the studio allocated $ 1.2 million.
However, this money was also not enough and many scenes were shot in an abandoned morgue, and the actors' personal transport was used in the frame.
1. The dollar trilogy of Sergio Leone
The Italian director in the 60s took off the classic spaghetti western, for many years setting new standards in this genre and starting his path to greatness.
We are talking about the films “For a Fistful of Dollars” (1964), “A Few Dollars More” (1965) and “Good, Bad, Evil” (1966).
Particularly noteworthy is the first part, withdrawn for only 200,000. Later on, the amounts increased, but even the most expensive third part cost only 1.2 million.