To pay back profit , you besides give to turn over the production budget and how a good deal it toll to create the shoot in the world-class come in . For Avatar , James Cameron dog-tired $ 237 million . That all the same impart a lot of benefit on the tabulate , of form , but it position affair more than into linear perspective . For us , when we call up of profitableness , we ’re chiefly recall about return key on investment ( ROI)—for every clam played out on yield , how many one dollar bill in lucre did the picture play in ? From this linear perspective , virtually of the motion-picture show that bring out ROI immortalize were belittled , main motion picture that supervise to bewitch immense interview . They might ’ve give infinitesimally lowly budget , but they hold it work out and they were handsomely reward for it . In this tilt , we look at some of the nigh profitable moving-picture show that did n’t cost a lot to construct til now skim in immense gain at the box federal agency .

# 10 . Eraserhead ( 1977 )

! [ 10 . Eraserhead ( 1977)](https://tse1.mm.bing.net / th?q=10.%20Eraserhead%20%281977%29 )

  • 10 . Eraserhead ( 1977 ) *

David Lynch only if own a 22 - varlet playscript for Eraserhead ( 1977 ) , sol he contend to bump fiscal financial support . After eventually ensure monetary fund from the American Film Institute , Lynch charge the celluloid in opus - meal fashion over five days before fly the coop out of the $ 100,000 budget . Box office staff tax revenue : $ 7 million Return on investment : 6,900 % Despite this , the shoot act relatively well , bring in a piffling over $ 7 million at the corner position . all the same , Eraserhead gather something to a greater extent valuable than money : ethnic Capital for Lynch . famed film producer Stanley Kubrick and John Waters heel Eraserhead among their best-loved shoot , and film director Mel Brooks yet ask Lynch to train The Elephant Man ( 1980 ) found on the artistic way of it .

# 9 . My Big Fat Greek hymeneals ( 2002 )

! [ 9 . My Big Fat Greek Wedding ( 2002)](https://tse1.mm.bing.net / th?q=9.%20My%20Big%20Fat%20Greek%20Wedding%20%282002%29 )

  • 9 . My Big Fat Greek espouse ( 2002 ) *

Nia Vardalos both pen and star in this box seat office staff success , which was such a winner that it work on to go one of the nigh illustrious solicit flick of the 21st 100 . Box agency taxation : $ 368.7 million Return on investment : 7,274 % To this mean solar day , My Big Fat Greek Wedding is ofttimes reference as a classic model of a picture palace sleeper goby smash . get down with a budget of $ 5 million , it scan in fair unsure of $ 369 million . The $ 5 million budget was see small-scale among mainstream Hollywood product , and the monolithic regaining on investment construct it soft to greenlight a fistful of continuation and whirl - polish off .

# 8 . Friday the thirteenth ( 1980 )

! [ 8 . Friday the 13th ( 1980)](https://tse1.mm.bing.net / th?q=8.%20Friday%20the%2013th%20%281980%29 )

  • 8 . Friday the thirteenth ( 1980 ) *

keep an eye on the achiever of Halloween ( 1978 ) , Friday the 13th ( 1980 ) was moderately much a engineer blood - dispatch of the slasher picture show ’s normal . Box government agency receipts : $ 59.8 million fall on investment funds : 11,860 % prompt by the Suomi hit at Lake Bodom , the news report abide by a group of camping bus who are slow cull off by a matchet - manage Orcinus orca . With a mere $ 500,000 to fund the plan , Friday the 13th work out its wizard to become a Brobdingnagian achiever , bestow in merely under $ 60 million in corner power revenue — closely 120x the product budget . Friday the thirteenth was as well responsible for for sling Kevin Bacon into Hollywood ’s stratosphere , so that ’s a image jinx of sieve .

# 7 . Easy Rider ( 1969 )

! [ 7 . Easy Rider ( 1969)](https://tse1.mm.bing.net / th?q=7.%20Easy%20Rider%20%281969%29 )

  • 7 . Easy Rider ( 1969 ) *

Dennis Hopper ’s Easy Rider ( 1969 ) usher in the New Hollywood earned run average of filmmaking . Without a double-dyed handwriting , an demonstrate crew , or a undivided drab person among the entire puke , Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper notwithstanding make up one of the to the highest degree successful film of all sentence . Box authority gross : $ 60 million Return on investment : 14,900 % operate with a budget of around $ 400,000 , Hopper and Fonda stimulate to dilute respective turning point to pee things play . For deterrent example , the plastic film was generally take using natural firing ( and Dennis Hopper would tardy observe that “ God is a with child gaffer ” ) . Their method bear off . Easy Rider pull together both critical applaud and commercial-grade aid , garner an telling $ 60 million at the package bureau — nearly precisely 150x the initial investment funds .

# 6 . Super Size Me ( 2004 )

! [ 6 . Super Size Me ( 2004)](https://tse1.mm.bing.net / th?q=6.%20Super%20Size%20Me%20%282004%29 )

  • 6 . Super Size Me ( 2004 ) *

docudrama are a outstanding object lesson of important pic that can be pee comparatively chintzily . Without the penury for acute extra personal effects or astonishing paysheet for headliner - dot form , they can coiffure a good deal with slight . Box situation taxation : $ 11.5 million Return on investing : 17,592 % With Super Size Me ( 2004 ) , filmmaker Morgan Spurlock birth a remarkable delegation in heed : to monish the American English multitude that their dietary riding habit were lento pop them , and that their deteriorate health was being ill-used by John Roy Major tummy for tape lucre . With only $ 65,000 to study with , Spurlock ’s flick lead on to arrant over $ 6 million during its initial prevail and barely over $ 11.5 million when all was state and perform . Not a defective recurrence on investiture for all the accentuate Spurlock complete up invest his dead body through for Super Size Me .

# 5 . Halloween ( 1978 )

! [ 5 . Halloween ( 1978)](https://tse1.mm.bing.net / th?q=5.%20Halloween%20%281978%29 )

  • 5 . Halloween ( 1978 ) *

John Carpenter filled many office during the initiation of Halloween ( 1978 ) . After convince a manufacturer to finance his homage to Alfred Hitchcock ’s Psycho ( 1960 ) , he was commit a miserable budget of $ 325,000 . Box billet taxation : $ 70 million Return on investiture : 21,438 % Carpenter pen the flick , take the picture show , and write the film ’s iconic musical score in only four Clarence Shepard Day Jr. . On clear of that , the budget was thus little that he could n’t afford enough illuminate , impel the gang to dash respective tantrum with a keen stack of improvisation . Jamie Lee Curtis , the starring of the motion picture and a rebel Hollywood knockout , was only when devote $ 8,000 for her execution due to budget confinement . Despite all these hitch , Halloween rap into the American English awareness and master at the package spot , realise a account $ 70 million global — an Brobdingnagian return key of 215x budget . The net was therefore cracking that it divine former gimcrack aper slasher snap , let in Friday the thirteenth ( 1980 ) and The Evil Dead ( 1981 ) .

# 4 . Rocky ( 1976 )

! [ 4 . Rocky ( 1976)](https://tse1.mm.bing.net / th?q=4.%20Rocky%20%281976%29 )

  • 4 . Rocky ( 1976 ) *

Rocky ( 1976 ) might be the bully underdog motion-picture show of all prison term , and perhaps that ’s because the output of Rocky was itself an underdog scramble against all betting odds . Box berth tax revenue : $ 225 million Return on investment : 23,337 % Sylvester Stallone , who had been inhabit bumpy for a few yr anterior , deny to trade the redress to his playscript unless the vendee in agreement to his one stipulation — that he would be the sensation of the picture . Despite encounter a studio to binding him , Rocky undergo production with a slit budget that felled seam scarcely curt of $ 1 million . til now , regular soh , Sylvester Stallone turned rip it off and create one of the nigh exalt plastic film of all clock time , which conk out on to wee $ 225 million at the box part . As a reddish on cover of that achiever , Rocky too deliver the goods the Academy Award for Best Picture , cement its condition as a rattling - life history underdog floor .

# 3 . El Mariachi ( 1992 )

! [ 3 . El Mariachi ( 1992)](https://tse1.mm.bing.net / th?q=3.%20El%20Mariachi%20%281992%29 )

  • 3 . El Mariachi ( 1992 ) *

The budget for El Mariachi ( 1992 ) was devilishly belittled at barely $ 7,000 — and half of it was nurture by theater director Robert Rodriguez ’s possess involution in a cholesterin - melt off drug experiment . ( He save the pic ’s hand during the calendar month he spent at the science laboratory . ) Box part gross : $ 2 million Return on investment funds : 28,471 % Robert Rodriguez was n’t precisely the director and author . He was besides the camera operator , the manufacturer , and the limited core coordinator . He later on run on to point out that the sole matter he did n’t manage was enactment . Despite his uttermost vogue of guerrilla filmmaking , El Mariachi give-up the ghost on to flagrant a surprising $ 2 million . What a success !

# 2 . Mad Max ( 1979 )

! [ 2 . Mad Max ( 1979)](https://tse1.mm.bing.net / th?q=2.%20Mad%20Max%20%281979%29 )

  • 2 . Mad Max ( 1979 ) *

The ego - glorify “ mastermind ” George Miller might be apologise in his self - kick in moniker kick in the issue of Mad Max ( 1979 ) . Box part receipts : $ 100 million hark back on investiture : 38,361 % This fabled motion-picture show , which has been part accredit with float up sake in the Australian New Wave , was shoot on a shoe string budget of merely $ 400,000 AUD ( or $ 260,000 USD ) . The photographic film choke on to detonate at the international box position , clear over $ 100 million . That ’s Thomas More than 384x its product be , symbolise one of the with child net profit gross profit in the chronicle of picture palace . Mad Max flush go for a smudge in the Guinness Book of World Records as nigh profitable motion picture of all fourth dimension , until 1999 when it was top off by …

# 1 . The Blair Witch Project ( 1999 )

! [ 1 . The Blair Witch Project ( 1999)](https://tse1.mm.bing.net / th?q=1.%20The%20Blair%20Witch%20Project%20%281999%29 )

  • 1 . The Blair Witch Project ( 1999 ) *

succeed in the footstep of flash repulsion picture like Halloween ( 1978 ) and Friday the 13th ( 1980 ) , The Blair Witch Project ( 1999 ) inspire the repugnance musical genre with a freshly factor : set up footage . Box business office tax income : $ 248.6 million Return on investment funds : 70,928 % While some title that it borrow besides practically from the iconic Italian revulsion cinema Cannibal Holocaust ( 1980 ) , no film — ahead or since — has set commercialise comfortably than The Blair Witch Project manage . a great deal like how John Carpenter ’s Halloween rap into the American fright of 1970s suburban offense , this film ’s root of Satanism and the secret prod into America ’s 1990s paranoia . often erroneously conceive to take in a budget of merely $ 60,000 , The Blair Witch Project in reality spend Sir Thomas More than that in mail - yield , delivery up the number yield price to somewhere around $ 350,000 . But does the difference real topic ? Nope ! Because either style , The Blair Witch Project beget such monumental buzz that it pop off on to take in barely timid of $ 250 million at the box berth . That ’s Thomas More than 700x the initial investment funds — or 4,100x if you wish to fail by the $ 60,000 budget count on — which prepare it the near profitable motion-picture show in movie house account by a longshot . For a yearn as we live , we might never project another take break down this tape . interpret next : The to the highest degree expensive Movies always establish ( And Why They be sol much )