What Makes Low Budget Films So Successful?
 

Open water (the one filmed on cheap cameras in the sea) and Blair Witch Projects are 2 that come to mind.

These films cost fuck all to make, have no stars in them and made MIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLIONS...

What made them so successful?

they look real, that's why.
and blair witch had a great promotion

because they're better than all the hollywood crap
when they've got no money they have to put their brains to use
because they can't use all the technology available to those with money.

blair witch 1 was good once he got the money blair witch 2 sucked.

Their director, and the promotion. :)

But what was it inherent in the film that made them "special" and appeal to a mass market?

The two examples I suggested are both based on fear I guess. Playing to that emotion.

The movie Saw was low budget and made shit loads.

Saw was a financial success: shot on a meager budget of about US$1.2 million, it earned over $55 million at the box office.

I can name several more, such as

SAW 2 : cost 10 mil makes $80mil domestic
SAW 3 : cost 10 mil makes 76 mil domestic
CABIN FEVER cost 3 mil makes 40 mil

these numbers do not include DVD/Cable/Overseas $$$$

Horror is a genre that can sell w/out stars. But now with the explosion of DVDS/ BLU RAY/ HDVD Giant screen TVs...movie studios have exclusive lines that go straight to DVD and sometimes do 3 times the business as the theatrical counterparts. People like staying home now. We are shooting our 1st horror film in FEB 07, cost nearly $100k . we will give you the results 6-12 months later

Most small movies actually have some thought and effort put into the script. Hollywood only seems to be able to rip off Japan and India for movie ideas, or re-make old movies and TV shows.

nina, you are actually who inspired this thread with your comments in my other thread about investments.

See, I think that's the key and you've hit the nail on the head. Horror. Horror is universal, men and women watch it. Whereas my GF doesn't like action and I don't like chick flicks.

For the guys saying Saw (great film btw) maybe I should clarify, even though Saw is considered low budget, I kinda meant low low budget. Kinda maximum a couple of hundred grand. or so.

There is a Russian movie "Brat" that had very low budget. It was a great success. May bebecause of the new ideas. Fresh and stylish and foremost - unique.

Don't forget about Napoleon Dynamite.. cost less than 400k to make and has made hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide with film/dvd/merchandising.. :thumbsup

now, don't draw the conclusion that a low budget is needed for success :)
if your scripter/producer sucks it really doesn't matter how big/small the budget is.


Edit: actually thats not entirely true. with a big enough budget you can make any shitty movie sucessfull (take titanic).

then again for each successfull low budget film there are about a hundred that end up losing tons of money on the project...

I think because they are real, and they are acutally made to be funny because its from the heart.

Ok let me find you a brand new low budget HIT

HARD CANDY/COST: $500k-$800k sold to LION'S GATE for $5 mil, it's DVD rental and sale have been double that.

WOLF CREEK
HOSTEL
CABIN FEVER

all have sequels coming, but also look at the straight to DVD properties
JEEPERS CREEPERS
PUPPET MASTERS THESE MOVIES ARE CHEAP and bring in hundred's of thousands.

Like I said in the other thread our producer friend is doing movies ( Like Vencie Underground) crappy cop movie $500k made 2.4 mil in sales..rent it tonight at Blockbuster.
When a movie is in the $200k-$500K..crappy story , corny idea, will still make it's money back if the production value is there.

A movie $1 million movie is the same as a $20 million..the difference is the casts pay salary.

Austin Powers 1 was considered a flop when it came out, not until after it hit DVD, is when it made real money and spawned the franchise, with the main producer being Demi Moore


Porn is FAST money..Movies are LONG money..You will make money on movie properties forever

I like LONG money for sure.

This made me laugh, a user review from IMDB about that Venice Underground film.

"Somebody owes me 1 hour and 32 min's of my life back. This film is beyond terrible. If it'd been terrible I'd have suffered through it happily."

lol

I reckon, with the right idea, I could come up with the next cheaply made blockbuster. Hey, if you spend 10 or 20K and it does nothing, you've not lost much... Hmmm... definitely got my brain cogs working.

hit me up, got something for you

I guess it's basically the unique scare factor. Promotion comes next.

You got skype instead nina (for typing chat not voice)? I don't really use ICQ

the story reveals only when you watched the movie. and if it has a good promotion, then you'll watch it...

because they are unique, not the same old crap

Exactly, they actually take there time to make it good so they can make some money

my username: ehartsoe

Marketing.
You can sell pure shit to morons if you package it correctly.

I still haven't watched blair witch, it's on tv now and I still don't get it!

My experince as an actor trying to make it in Hollywood was that big companies use "formulas" to make movies; basing the next film on a concept that is "proven to make money"(even when it didn't).

So big budget movies must have certain events in the script to be made and they must "appeal" to the targeted demographic(which is usually where they call the average american a low-educated-racist who loves guns, violence and heroes)

Low budget films therefore have more room to branch out and be more interesting.

The Hollywood Formula:

- Boy meets pretty girl
- Boy sees villain
- Boy humiliates or roughs up bad nigga or spick(prefably in their own hood)
- Boy defeats villain
- Boy is now a hero
- entwined with, violence, guns, property damage, car chase
- Boy gets pretty girl
- Happy ending

My agent refused to peddle a script I wrote because "boy" didn't get "girl" and those were his exact words!


I am a believer that Rocky(I) was a hit because it evaded the formula:

- Rocky(boy) "accepts" ugly girl; sister of friend to get a job
- nigga humiliates boy
- no car chase, only controled violence in ring, no guns, no property damage
- Villain beats shit out of boy in ring
- Ending with just happy to be alive rather than just happy

Sly Stone wrote it himself and refused to change the script and that was a very good move.