7 low-budget films that made cash registers go cha-ching!

Hollywood is usually divided into two categories. One is big studio movies which feature ticket-selling stars in the leads. Second is independent movies which are funded by either some academy or small time producers or even moviemakers themselves. Indie movies are mostly made on shoestring budgets. They are released with limited screening and are usually not expected to smash the box office records. But then, as always, there are exceptions every rule.

Movies like Rocky, King's Speech became the sleeper hits and won Oscars! In the recent time, M Night Shyamalan's movie Split starring James McAvoy is creating waves at the box office after being made with only $9 million. 

This proves that give quality content, a gripping story, and a cast that can pull off the characters, and you have a hit on your hands. Budget no matter. Let's take a look at 8 such low-budget movies that created history and carved out a special space in the hearts of movie buffs.

Rocky

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Rocky is one of the most loved film franchise of all time. It's a rags to riches American Dream story of Rocky Balboa, an uneducated but kind-hearted working class Italian-American boxer working in a meat warehouse and as a debt collector for a loan shark in the slums of Philadelphia. Rocky starts out as a small-time club fighter, and later gets a shot at the world heavyweight championship.

The film also stars Talia Shire as Adrian, Burt Young as Adrian's brother Paulie, Burgess Meredith as Rocky's trainer Mickey Goldmill, and Carl Weathers as the champion, Apollo Creed.

Not many know that the first film of the series was made with just $1 million and was shot in only 28 days. It earned $225 million in global box office receipts, becoming the highest-grossing film of 1976, and went on to win three Oscars, including Best Picture.

Nobody can stop themselves from throwing punches in the air when the Rocky theme song plays!

Juno

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Made under $7.5 million, Juno earned $231.4 million. The rom-com starring Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Allison Janney, and Oscar winner JK Simmons is a story of 16-year-old high-school junior in Minnesota. Juno discovers she's pregnant after one event in a chair with her best friend, Bleeker. In the waiting room of an abortion clinic, the quirky and whip-sharp Juno decides to give birth and to place the child with an adoptive couple. She finds one in the PennySaver personals, contacts them, tells her dad and step-mother, and carries on with school. The chosen parents, upscale yuppies meet Juno, sign papers, and the year unfolds.

The movie won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

The King’s Speech

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With twelve nominations at the 83rd Academy Awards, The King’s Speech became the film to receive the most number of Oscar nominations in 2011. The film won four Oscars including Best Picture. The King’s Speech had a budget of $15 million and went on to making $414 million. This is a story of King George VI, played by Collin Firth, and his terrible stutter. When he ascends to the throne due to circumstances out of his control, his speech therapist, played by the brilliant Geoffrey Rush, comes to his rescue.

The best scene in the movie, when a King lets loose with the language and take out his frustration by using choicest of the English curse words. Blimey!

The Conjuring

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The Conjuring released in 2013 and took everyone by surprise as it blew past Johnny Depp's The Lone Ranger to become a massive hit. The film was made with a $20 million dollar budget and would go on to make a staggering $318 million worldwide.

Based on true events, the film tells the tale of Carolyn and Roger Perron who move their family into a dilapidated Rhode Island farm house in 1971 and soon strange things start happening around it with escalating nightmarish terror. In desperation, Carolyn contacts the noted paranormal investigators, Ed and Lorraine Warren, to examine the house. What the Warrens discover is a whole area steeped in a satanic haunting that is now targeting the Perron family wherever they go. To stop this evil, the Warrens will have to call upon all their skills and spiritual strength to defeat this spectral menace at its source that threatens to destroy everyone involved.

Paranormal Activity

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Director Oren Peli filmed Paranormal Activity over seven days at his own house for $15,000. The spooky handheld camera horror film became a massive hit via word of mouth. The movie ended up pulling in $193 million worldwide, which sparked the production of sequels.

Set in 2006, a young couple, Katie and Micah, who have recently moved to a new house in San Diego, California, are terrorised by a demon that Katie believes has been following her all her life. The film is designed to look like a found footage-styled film with Micah filming the activity in their house.

Slumdog Millionaire

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Director Danny Boyle directs an incredible film about a teen who grew up in the slums, and later becomes a contestant on the Indian version of Who wants to be a Millionaire? He is arrested after being suspected of cheating, and during his interrogation, every life event that gave him an answer to the questions are revealed. The film was made with a budget of $15 million and scored a box office collection of $377 million. The film also won seven Academy Awards including Best Picture.

Split

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M. Night Shyamalan’s Split was made with just $9 million. The film starring James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy, Betty Buckley, Jessica Sula and Haley Lu Richardson is ­­about three girls who are kidnapped by a man with 23 different personalities and 24th, the most frightful one about to be unleashed. They have to work out which of those personalities will help them escape and which of those personalities will try to stop them. James McAvoy produces a master class performance playing the psychotic kidnapper with 24 personalities.

The film released in the US on 20th January and as maintained #1 position on the box-office since. The film has gross moe than 100 million already and released in India on 24th February, 2017.