Budget: $750,000
“American Graffiti” was the 2nd film ever directed by George Lucas. His more recent movies have a considerably larger budget than the $750,000 he could muster up for this one back in 1973. Around the same time as this movie came out, he was developing his “space opera,” which of course turned into Lucas’ masterpiece franchise — “Star Wars.”
“American Graffiti” ended up making over $110 million, which prompted executives in Hollywood to start paying more attention to the talented upcoming director. The film was also nominated for 5 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, but unfortunately ended up losing out to other films around that time, such as “The Sting.”
Star Wars
Budget: $11M
$11 million may seem like an insanely high amount of money, and it is on the high end of this list, but when you compare it to the $775 million profit "Star Wars" made — you can see why it made our list! George Lucas had his own production company at the time he put his masterpiece together, and after this film came out, his company (Lucasfilm) launched straight to success. Before "E.T." hit theaters, "Star Wars" was the single highest-grossing movie in history.
The cult classic turned into an uber-successful franchise with many episodes. The original film won an impressive 6 Academy Awards, including the awards for Best Visual Effects, Best Film Editing, and Best Music/Original Score. George Lucas was also responsible for bringing the world the amazing Indiana Jones franchise — thank you, George! He ended up selling Lucasfilm to the Walt Disney Company in 2012.
The Hills Have Eyes
Budget: $230,000
It should come as no surprise that the 1977 cult classic "The Hills Have Eyes" made it onto this list. After all, it was directed by the king of horror himself, Wes Craven. This film came out before his "Nightmare on Elm Street Days," so he didn’t have quite the amount of funding that was available for those films. However, since "Last House on the Left" was such a success, one investor stepped in and offered up $230,000 for the film’s production.
The movie was made entirely in the Mojave Desert, using a camper and the open desert as the main locations throughout. The film made around $25 million in the box office and spawned a franchise that includes a recent remake of the original that was released in 2009.
The Evil Dead
Budget: $100,000
"The Evil Dead" is another creepy cult classic that began as a short film back in 1981. The short film attracted financiers who backed the feature-length version, which ended up pulling in nearly $30 million in the box office — quite a feat for a movie that was made in the early ’80s! The king of horror himself, Stephen King, absolutely loved the movie and helped creators land an awesome distribution deal with New Line Cinema.
The film, which was both written and directed by Sam Raimi, was shot mainly using a cabin deep in the woods in Tennessee. It’s been followed up with a few sequels and spinoffs, along with the television series "Ash vs. The Evil Dead."
Mad Max
Budget: $300,000
"Mad Max" is a dystopian thriller from the late 1970s that stars Mel Gibson. The movie was filmed for an incredible $300,000, and yet it ended up pulling in around $100 million. That’s an impressive number now, much more in 1979. The finances were so incredible that the film landed in the Guinness Book of World Records for the best ratio of profit to budget.
Decades later, "Mad Max: Fury Road" was produced for a much, much higher budget of $150 million. It also made even more money than the first, hitting over $350 million in sales at the box office. There have been more movies in the Mad Max franchise made to date, each of which has made Rotten Tomatoes’ “certified fresh” list.