VERY LOW BUDGET, SUPER HIGH PROFIT!

I may not be the one who is working high and low in the film industry, but you can quote me as one of the important player for the industry as I am the audience who is very opinionated to see the success of our film industry, at home. So when some local film-makers took international sleeper hit movies as the benchmark example for them to gain success, I hope they would re-think of their strategy. Because sleeper hit is like a comet, it happened by natural circumstances and it only happen unexpectedly—started low with high end! You cannot plan to see such success, because only miracle could give it a full blown through a very high effort but so low expectation. So through my observation, I took a sample of 500 all-time successful movies that garnered gross-profit collection above USD200 million from Box-Office Mojo (www.boxofficemojo.com). Then supported by information through Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org), I chose movies with production cost that is below USD10 million and here what I have found...

GONE WITH THE WIND

Year Released: 1939

Genre: Epic historical romance

Director: Victor Fleming (& George Cukor)

Budget: USD3.85 million

Profit: USD400,176,459

Return: 10,294%

Comment: The period when the movie was made maybe doesn't have inflation rate and costs were cheap back then. But looking at other movies in this list, that cannot be an excuse (at all!). So to speak, it was released right on the year where World War II started. The movie (that run for more than 3 hours) was adapted on a novel (released on 1936) of the same name wrote by Margaret Mitchell about a spoiled lady in love, Scarlett O' Hara during the era of American Civil War right before the reconstruction period. I read the novel and I've watched the movie, both are epic works as the storyline seriously motivational especially when you're facing the highest difficulty in life and try your every best to survive after all the luxury has gone. When it comes to marketing point, this movie was released right at the beginning of World War II and re-released again a few times from 1947 until 1971. So you know how the circumstance brought the movie to success? Just play with creativity right before and after the period, and enjoy the show.
Fav. Quote: "No, I'm through with everything here. I want peace. I want to see if somewhere there isn't something left in life of charm and grace. Do you know what I'm talking about?"

THE JUNGLE BOOK

Year Released: 1967

Genre: animated

Director: Wolfgang Reitherman

Budget: USD4 million

Profit: USD205,843,612

Return: 5046%

Comment: There are quite a few adaptations for 'The Jungle Book' (1894) collection of stories written by Rudyard Kipling, but this animated movie released by Walt Disney Productions in 1967 was the unforgettable one. The project took a lot of a headache to begin, especially when it came to what direction the storyline should be for the animated version. This movie was the last by the production that involved the magical touch of Walt Disney, the man himself! He controlled almost every aspect of the animation project from storyline to casting. It was a project that everybody was much worried about how Disney took the development direction into something totally new and risky, and also cheaper in budget! He involved greatly in the project and by the time he passed away on 15th December 1966, the movie was released almost a year later, on 18th October 1967 with success. Respect is another reason for something so high in effort but so low in budget to meet its box-office. 

Fav. Quote: "This will take brains, not brawn."

SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER

Year Released: 1977

Genre: Dance/Musical

Director: John Badham

Budget: USD3.5 million

Profit: USD282,400,000

Return: 7968%

Comment: Guest what, I don't have to figure much about how this movie gained its super success with such a little budget. The disco era rose to its fame by mid-to-late 70s, and this movie released by that period. Not only that, the soundtracks of this movie, all of them were hit songs and by the time it reached the high note, the dance sequence had become a troll!  The movie ran only for an hour and a few minutes, released in 2 versions; R-rated and PG-rated. When it comes to budget, one set could be revamped into a few outlook and supporting casts were also repetitive. Yet what so great about this movie is the 'happiness' adrenaline that you can feel while watching John Travolta made his dancing moves as Tony. With that list of songs, those kind of dance moves and many bad swearing, this movie seemed legit for that time and future to enjoy!

Fav. Quote: "Tony, the only way you're gonna survive is to do what you think is right, not what they keep trying to jam you into. You let 'em do that and you're gonna end up in nothing but misery!"

GREASE

Year Released: 1978

Genre: Musical

Director: Randal Kleiser

Budget: USD6 million

Profit: USD394,955,690

Return: 5046%

Comment: A year before was the beginning of the disco era and the 'Saturday Night Fever' still took its toll of success under the armpit of John Travolta's dancing moves. For us Malaysian, it was like the era of watching Dharma Harun sexy dancing moves with his slender (skinny and tall) body in 'Adik Manja'. Guess what? The movie production of 'Grease' took that popularity chance into the next level of dancing fame in film. But this time the movie didn't represent the 70s era, because it was adapted from a successful musical broadway of the same name that regulates around the teenagers lifestyle back in 1950s. To cut it short, there's a genius marketing strategy that didn't put a lot of cost to promote this movie—just put the deviation, and there it goes the success!

Fav. Quote: "It doesn't matter if you win or lose, it's what you do with your dancin' shoes."

DIRTY DANCING

Year Released: 1987

Genre: Dance/Romance

Director: Emile Ardolino

Budget: USD6 million

Profit: USD213,954,274

Return: 3466%

 Comment: If you read the history of how this movie was made and almost being rejected for screening, I bet everyone will reconsider their likeliness to even enjoy this movie. But it became a surprise hit, despite of its erotic and rhetoric dancing moves to reveal soft-porn in love, the storyline did deliver an honest tale. As you know, the era of 70s and 80s were the rising period of spreading sex and drugs in public, thus watching this movie during the era was like a mild journey of sex to love (after 'Blue Lagoon'!!!). It was even reported that the group of audience for this film was mostly adult although it was first meant to be targeted for teenagers. The funny part now is that, many thought this movie success was because of its storyline so it has been adapted into a few shows and entertainment programmes which none gained success. To me the success of this movie was because of the marvelous acting skills and a dance-film maker of exceptional sensitivity. Just like how many hit movies was made about dancing we watched lately.     

Fav. Quote: "It's not on the one, it's not the mambo. It's a feeling; a heartbeat."

PULP FICTION

Year Released: 1994

Genre: Pulp Crime

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Budget: USD8.5 million

Profit: USD213,928,762

Return: 2416%

 Comment: In my opinion, Quentin Tarantino is the man when it comes to making movie with lots of rampant ideas, immodest dialogues and crazy plots with so much fun to watch. He is even the idol of most young film-makers as he also a producer, a writer, a director and also an actor. He's considerably a genius in Hollywood's film industry because he plays by the odd and not likely care what the audience wants as long he's having fun making you watching it with pleasure! This movie is the starting point where the world started to notice Quentin Tarantino, closely. When you asked me what so good about this movie now, I would say NOTHING because I've seen many of its kind now. Yes, this movie is a cult! It has set an example of creativity gone wild and almost feels like a beautiful crime. But how come the budget so low with all the box-office casts? Don't bother, just ponder to what Tarantino envisioned for this movie with such a tight budget, and he nailed it good! After that, saying no to Quentin Tarantino and his idea was considerably the act of an idiot. 
Fav. Quote: "A royale with cheese... "

FOUR WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL

Year Released: 1994

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Director: Mike Newell

Budget: USD4.4 million

Profit: USD245,700,832

Return: 5484%

 Comment: All of the movies in this list are unexpected hits, so does this one. This movie was like a magical turning point for the acting career of Hugh Grant  while the co-star, Andie McDowell was quite somewhere in the mainstream of Hollywood fame. I'm not sure how many Americans were in this movie beside Andie McDowell, but majority were British a.k.a. English! But this is where you'll know why the unexpected becomes the expected when the writer and the director of this movie are what we know of them now. The writer of this movie was the founder of Comic Relief, the talented Richard Curtis whom later became success with other movies like the 'Notting Hill' (1999), 'Bridget Jones's Diary' (2001), 'War Horse' (2011) and 'About Time' (2013 ). Also the director of this movie was Mike Newell, which to my account a genius behind the movie of 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' (2005) and 'Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time' (2010). I believed there's a formula of 'English + American' that can bring box-office success to a movie. Maybe!

Fav. Quote: "I don't know... I suppose it's, uh, 'honey' because it's sweet as honey, and 'moon' because it's the first time a husband got to see his wife's bottom."

THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT

Year Released: 1999

Genre: found-footage horror

Director: Eduardo Sánchez & Daniel Myrick    

Budget: USD60,000

Profit: USD248,639,099

Return: 414,298%

Comment: Now... this is a real success of the unexpected hit! This is not only a comet but a big meteor that has brought Armageddon to the world's film industry by giving all the million budget movies a bloody punch to the face! This is the most unthinkable profitable movie project ever made. Really, it WAS! When it was first released, I didn't have to wait for the medias to market the movie to me, everyone was talking about it! Much worse everybody (even me!) thought it came from a real-footage that had been edited for public-screening worldwide. Not until sometimes later that I realized it was totally a fiction performed in the most cheapest and anomaly kind of way. This movie is the most famous cult that has inspired all found-footage movies that we've known of today, include the successful box-office of low-budget 'Paranormal Activity' series and high-budget 'Cloverfield' (2008). But you know what? The directors of this movie, Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez are now still struggling to make another super hit movies, or maybe they don't as they are just playing lose with all their creations now. Meanwhile the casts, only Joshua Leonard was busy working as supporting actor in a small (almost unnoticed!) role in a few quite profitable projects like 'Prom Night' (2007) and 'Shark Night 3D' (2011). Wouldn't it be nice if the found-footage (or real-footage!) style of making movie could be patented... *sigh*  
Fav. Quote: "I'm afraid to close my eyes, I'm afraid to open them."

FAHRENHEIT 9/11

Year Released: 2004

Genre: Documentary

Director: Michael Moore    

Budget: USD6 million

Profit: USD222,446,882

Return: 3607%

Comment: Taking documentary into the fame of cinema is not an easy task. You need to master a good edit regime that will make audiences nailed into their seats for more than an hour and than come back again with new audience or promote it to other people to become an audience. Most importantly the documentary should be available during the heat of time when the agenda was mentioned or else, suffer the period of 'missing the point'. This is an 'anti-Bush' documentary movie released on Jun 2004 made by Roger Moore as purpose to bring down the Republican leader, George W. Bush during the United States presidential election held on November 2004, so the democratic party led by John Kerry could win. But instead, though this movie has made a global box-office success, George W. Bush still won his presidential seat until the financial crisis in 2008 brought him into justice, forced him to resign and then replaced by the new Democratic leader, Barack Obama. Now do you really think this movie could become a hit if not because of the issues and the period it was made for release, plus the analogical concept of its title? I think Michael Moore who is famous for his political cinematic works has unexpectedly nail the right trigger before his ability started to decline.
Fav. Quote: "You cannot kill someone without killing a part of yourself."

MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING

Year Released: 2002

Genre: Romantic Comedy

Director: Joel Zwick    

Budget: USD5 million

Profit: USD368,744,044

Return: 7275%

Comment: What I remember when this movie came out, the world was in big crisis of terrorism issues that involved religious ethnic wars. Then came the Greek to conquer the cinemas worldwide! My editor had been talking about it, my friends did and so did my fans. But uptight with my schedule as a writer, sub-editor and comic artist, I didn't got the chance to watch the movie in that year, not until yesterday night (just for this review). So after 12 years since the Greek hit cinemas, my observation can only tolerate at one simple bind; everyone's acting was so convincing that I felt a lot for my Malay root in Greek! As Malay are likely a blend of Spice and Soup, so does Greek with the blend of Spaghetti and Grill, also African American are Coffee to Milk. And all can be very over-protective of their own native when it comes to mix-marriage (I believe most do until tradition is broken by freedom of choice). Come to think of it now, this movie cinematic adventure is not as great as how I've watched 'My Best Friend's Wedding' and not as romantically powerful as I've watched 'Four Weddings and a Funeral'. But I think the word 'Greek' in its title, represented by the lively story of a Greek Family and positive approach to mix-marriage (fun scripts too!), does play quite a role for its biggest success, especially for United States after the 9/11. No pressure!

Fav. Quote: "Kimono, kimono, kimono. Ha! Of course! Kimono is come from the Greek word himona, is mean winter. So, what do you wear in the wintertime to stay warm? A robe. You see: robe, kimono. There you go!"

JUNO

Year Released: 2007

Genre: Comedy-Drama

Director: Jason Reitman   

Budget: USD7.5 million

Profit: USD231,411,584

Return: 2985%

Comment: Simple reason why this movie made a big hit, look at the main casts; Ellen Page (X-Men: The Last Stand), Michael Cera (Superbad), Jennifer Garner (Elektra) and Jason Bateman (Silver Spoons), then the director, Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking) and the producers; John Malkovich and Mason Novick. All these people received many awards before 'Juno' ever did. And this team has convinced to the audience of the talented writing work of Diablo Cody, which became another award winner who then created another not so success work but interesting to watch like 'Jennifer's Body' (2009) and 'Young Adult' (2011). I don't know what so great about Diablo Cody in a bigger way but I do fancy her story of 'Jennifer's Body' and 'Young Adult' more than 'Juno'. Thing is, this movie was supported by quite influential people in the industry to easily market and brought it to the awards stadium. I bet this movie also success because of a powerful networking among its team members to the public and business relations, especially that Mason Novick. Considerably everyone involved in this movie is talented people, I bet 'Juno' was exactly an expected hit but not to the account it reached above USD100 million, what's more the USD200 million hit! So to speak, Diablo Cody was fated enough with 'Juno', is all that matters. Done!  

Fav. Quote: "I'm just like losing my faith with humanity."

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 3

Year Released: 2011

Genre: found-footage horror

Director: Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman 

Budget: USD5 million

Profit: USD207,039,844

Return: 4041%

Comment: The most successful movie in the category of found-footage was 'The Blair Witch Project' then came the 'Paranormal Activity' (2009) with budget only USD15,000 to gain profit (worldwide) of USD193,355,800 with gross return of 12,889% (not even close to win against 'The Blair Witch Project'). But this movie production (mostly led by Jason Blum and Oren Peli) has provided a formula or a franchise to be develop by others under their quality supervision. Simply said, the first success is not wasted by a continuity through sharing of expertise with others to generate the same horror at a different phase of creativity but under the same theme. So in this continuation, at least one (this one) reached profit above USD200 million and dropped profit with the next (Paranormal Activity 4) and dropped again with the latest (Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones), at constant USD5 million of budget. So when it comes to 'Paranormal Activity 5', I hope the idea will be refreshed! But referring to the list of Box Office Mojo, so far there are only 21 found-footage movies successfully available for worldwide record and the only reason of their success was because audience love the thrill of watching found-footage since the 'Cannibal Holocust' (1980), but too much of it (copycats!) is a promise of total failure. End!

Fav. Quote: "It’s a real life poltergeist. Kristi’s like Carol Anne."

So nobody can expect these movies to become hit, it was unplanned and like Mongul tried twice to invade Japan, both plan was thwarted by the attack of natural disaster (storm in 1274, typhoon in 1281), also like how winter saved Russia from the attack of Napoleon with Grande Armée (in 1812) and Hitler through Operation Barbossa (in 1941); taking these movies as inspirational success is seriously not a good point, but a lesson to be told, yes it is. I bet the success of this movies are despite of their low budget, the honest contribution of remarkable profit was convincingly derived by the good quality performance of directing, acting and best teamwork, which most successful big-budget movies contributed too. Therefore, it is best to build a team where you can give more jobs, good pay and best return of a movie to deliver more success in the future. 

"The idea is to work and to experiment. Some things will be creatively successful, some things will succeed at the box office, and some things will only - which is the biggest only - teach you things that see the future. And they're probably as valuable as any of your successes." 

— Harold Prince