First-time directors have to start somewhere when making their first project and have to cut their teeth in film on a no-budget or micro-budget production. They take on multiple roles of producer, writer, costume designer, production and craft services to save money as there is no budget to hire professionals.
This can spark creative outcomes as the crew and their director have to focus on how to spend the budget, creating a standout indie film that can go on to rake it in at the box office and become a cult classic.
Director Robert Rodriguez’s breakthrough 1993 feature film, El Mariachi, was created on a shoestring budget of only $7,000, launching his career. It still holds the Guinness World Record for the lowest-budget film to gross $1 million at the box office.
Other first-time directors include Kevin Smith, who made Clerks on a $27,000 budget in 1994; David Lynch who created the cult classic Eraserhead in 1977 on an estimated budget of $100,000; and Darren Aronofsky’s film Pi made for $68,000.
Horror has always thrived on producing low-budget films like George A. Romero’s 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead, Wes Craven’s The Last House on the Left and Tobe Hooper’s 1974 masterpiece Texas Chain Saw Massacre that were financed from budgets under $150,000.
But the subgenre of horror, found footage, has created some of the most profitable films. Its low production using unstable cameras and performances that feel so real boomed in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with The Blair Witch Project setting the standard as the godfather of the film movement. Filmed in 1999 on a budget of $60,000, it has gone on to rake in a profit of $248 million worldwide and was followed by the 2007 smash hit Paranormal Activity, which was produced with only $15,000 and has grossed $193 million worldwide.
Notable films that did not make the list, as they did not achieve $1 million at the box office but are included in the spirit of indie filmmaking: Christopher Nolan’s first feature, Following, which was filmed on a budget of £3,000 in 1998. Primer, directed by Shane Carruth, was made with only $7,000 but would go on to win Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize and gain cult status as the lowest-budget film to win the category.
Click above to scroll through the top 30 low-budget films to earn $1 million at the box office that includes Tarnation, Deep Throat, Hollywood Shuffle and Swingers.
Data was provided by The Numbers and Box Office Mojo for financial and sales reports.
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TARNATION, 2003
Dir. Jonathan Caouette.
Budget – $218.32
Gross – $592,014
Worldwide – $1,162,014 -
EL MARIACHI, 1993
Dir. Robert Rodriguez, starring Carlos Gallardo, Consuelo Gómez and Jaime de Hoyos.
Budget – $7,000
Gross – $2,040,920
Worldwide – $2,041,928 -
BROTHER, (aka BRAT), 1997
Dir. Aleksey Balabanov, starring Sergey Bodrov, Viktor Sukhorukov and Svetlana Pismichenko.
Budget – $10,000 (estimated)
Gross – $1,362,281
Worldwide – $1,362,281 -
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, 2007
Dir. Oren Peli starring, Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat and Mark Fredrichs.
Budget – $15,000
Gross – $107,918,810
Worldwide – $193,355,800 -
SLACKER, 1991
Dir. Richard Linklater, starring Richard Linklater, Rudy Basquez and Jean Caffeine.
Budget – $23,000
Gross – $1,228,108
Worldwide – $1,228,108 -
DEEP THROAT, 1972
Dir. Gerard Damiano, starring Linda Lovelace, Harry Reems and Helen Wood.
Budget – $25,000
Gross – $45,000,000
Worldwide – $45,000,000 -
ONE CUT OF THE DEAD (aka KAMERA O TOMERU NA), 2017
Dir. Shin’ichirô Ueda, starring Kazuaki Nagaya, Takayuki Hamatsu and Yuzuki Akiyama.
Budget – $25,000
Gross – $52,406
Worldwide – $27,590,180 -
IN THE COMPANY OF MEN, 1997
Dir. Neil LaBute, starring Aaron Eckhart, Matt Malloy and Stacy Edwards.
Budget – $25,000
Gross – $2,804,473
Worldwide – $2,804,473 -
CLERKS, 1994
Dir. Kevin Smith, starring Brian O’Halloran, Jeff Anderson and Marilyn Ghigliotti.
Budget – $27,000
Gross – $3,073,428
Worldwide – $3,151,130
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CATFISH, 2010
Dir. Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, featuring Nev Schulman, Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost.
Budget – $30,000
Gross – $3,237,343
Worldwide – $3,533,711 -
THE CASTLE, 1997
Dir. Rob Sitch, starring Anthony Simcoe, Anne Tenney, Michael Caton, Sophie Lee, Eric Bana, Wayne Hope and Stephen Curry.
Budget – $30,000
Gross – $1,007,834
Worldwide – $1,013,683 -
THE BROTHERS McMULLEN, 1995
Dir. Edward Burns, starring Jack Mulcahy, Maxine Bahns, Edward Burns and Mike McGlone.
Budget – $50,000
Gross – $10,426,506
Worldwide – $10,426,506 -
GABRIELA, 2001
Dir. Vincent Jay Miller, starring Jaime Gomez, Seidy Lopez and Zach Galligan.
Budget – $50,000
Gross – $2,335,352
Worldwide – $2,335,352 -
GIVE ‘EM HELL, HARRY!, 1975
Dir. Steve Binder, Peter H. Hunt, Producer. David Permut and starring James Whitmore.
Budget – $52,000
Gross – $11,000,000
Worldwide – $11,000,000 -
THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, 1999
Dir. Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sánchez, starring Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams and Joshua Leonard.
Budget – $60,000
Gross – $140,539,099
Worldwide – $248,639,099 -
SUPER SIZE ME, 2004
Dir. Morgan Spurlock.
Budget – $65,000
Gross – $11,536,423
Worldwide – $20,645,757 -
THE WRETCHED, 2020
Dir. Brett Pierce and Drew T. Pierce, starring John-Paul Howard, Piper Curda and Jamison Jones.
Budget – $66,000
Gross – $1,814,193
Worldwide – $4,369,493 -
PI, 1998
Dir. Darren Aronofsky, starring Sean Gullette, Mark Margolis and Ben Shenkman.
Budget – $68,000
Gross – $3,221,152
Worldwide – $4,678,513 -
THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, 1972
Dir. Wes Craven, starring Lucy Grantham, Jeramie Rain, Sandra Peabody and David Hess.
Budget – $87,000
Gross – $3,100,000
Worldwide – $3,100,000 -
ERASERHEAD, 1976
Dir. David Lynch, starring Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart and Allen Joseph.
Budget – $100,000
Gross – $3,100,000
Worldwide – $3,100,000 -
FACING THE GIANTS, 2006
Dir. Alex Kendrick, starring Alex Kendrick, Shannen Fields and Jason McLeod.
Budget – $100,000
Gross – $10,178,331
Worldwide – $10,307,987 -
HOLLYWOOD SHUFFLE, 1987
Dir. Robert Townsend, starring Robert Townsend, Craigus R. Johnson and Helen Martin.
Budget – $100,000
Gross – $5,228,617
Worldwide – $5,228,617 -
THE MIGHTY, 1998
Dir. Peter Chelsom, starring Kieran Culkin, Elden Henson and Sharon Stone.
Budget – $100,000
Gross – $5,228,617
Worldwide – $5,228,617 -
OVER THE HILL TO THE POORHOUSE, 1920
Dir. Harry F. Millarde starring Mary Carr, William Welsh and James Sheridan.
Budget – $100,000
Gross – $3,000,000
Worldwide – $3,000,000 -
THE GALLOWS, 2015
Dir. Travis Cluff, Chris Lofing, starring Reese Mishler, Pfeifer Brown and Ryan Shoos.
Budget – $100,000
Gross – $22,764,410
Worldwide – $42,964,410 -
A GHOST STORY, 2017
Dir. David Lowery, starring Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara and McColm Cephas Jr.
Budget – $100,000
Gross – $1,596,371
Worldwide – $1,951,683 -
THE BIRTH OF A NATION, 1915
Dir. D.W. Griffith, starring Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh and Henry B. Walthall.
Budget – $110,000
Gross – $10,000,000
Worldwide – $11,000,000 -
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, 1968
Dir. George A. Romero, starring Duane Jones, Judith O’Dea and Karl Hardman.
Budget – $114,000
Gross – $12,087,064
Worldwide – $30,087,064 -
TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, 1974
Dir. Tobe Hooper, starring Gunnar Hansen, Marilyn Burns, Edwin Neal and Allen Danziger.
Budget – $140,000
Gross – $30,859,000
Worldwide – $30,859,000 -
ONCE, 2006
Dir. John Carney, starring Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova.
Budget – $150,000
Gross – $9,439,923
Worldwide – $20,936,722 -
SWINGERS, 1996
Dir. Doug Liman, starring Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau and Heather Graham.
Budget – $200,000
Gross – $4,505,922
Worldwide – $6,618,578
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