Nobody believed in their success: 10 films with a budget of “three kopecks” that became a cult

“Furiosa” and “The Translator” by Guy Ritchie, “Major Thunder: The Game” and “Indiana Jones 5” – all these films from recent years have only one thing in common: with their impressive budget they could not even recoup the production costs, let alone marketing expenses. Fortunately, there are more than enough counterexamples.

The first of the most high-profile cases where a movie cost a penny but was worth it was the legendary ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ in 1974. With a budget that was ridiculous even at the time (only $140,000), it brought The film grossed more than $30 million and gained cult status thanks to its brutal realism and innovative approach to the horror genre.

The situation is similar to “Rocky”, “Mad Max” and “The Evil Dead”, from which nothing was actually expected, but their revenues exceeded the budget tens or even hundreds of times.

Even Quentin Tarantino, who essentially has a free hand in the 21st century and can make films without fear of excessive costs, spent only a little over a million on his “Reservoir Dogs” in the early 1990s. The box office wasn’t excellent, but the costs were recouped and the film entered the pantheon of Hollywood’s best thrillers.

There are also more recent examples. Take Gareth Evans’ “The Raid,” for example, about a brave special forces soldier who finds himself in a high-rise building full of bandits. Luxurious fight scenes, stunning editing discoveries, an excellent soundtrack – and a million and a few cents of evergreen currency were spent on all this.

One thing that probably won’t become a cult classic is “Life of Chuck.” It seems that even the writer’s fans are not expecting another Stephen King film adaptation with an impressive cast.