Year by year, movie budgets continue to escalate; year by year too, the names of certain producers and directors become synonymous with bloated, over-budget productions. Sometimes it seems as if it’s more about how much you can spend, rather than the quality of what you spend it on.
But what about those film-makers at the other end of the financial spectrum? – those people slaving away in the realm of the micro-budget, for whom overcoming artistic and technical limitations is part of the challenge, and who succeed in making an entire film for around 0.01% of the budget of the most expensive movie ever made*?
Join us as we take a look at some of the films that prove you don’t need to spend obscene amounts of money^ to make a good movie…
…or in certain cases, to make a right stinker…
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It’s A FISTFUL OF PENNIES—all throughout August at the B-Masters’ blog!
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*Currently considered the most expensive movie ever made: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides ($378.5 million)
^Upper limit for this Roundtable: $50,000
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Liz Kingsley is the insane genius behind And You Call Yourself a Scientist!
#1 by Anna on July 31, 2016 - 10:14 am
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Oh, this should be fun! 🙂
I have been shaking my head for some years now when I see the bloated budgets from Hollywood, like “The Lone Ranger”. $215 million – or more! – for a cowboy movie? I know the Ranger wears a mask like a superhero, but he’s still a cowboy.
There is always something to be said for artists facing limits, I think the relative quality of “Star Wars” vs. “The Phantom Menace” is a good example of more money and much fewer limits not making for a better film.
I used to find low-budget indie horror DVDs at the local big-box store, and while uneven, I’d say they we’re all as good or better than anything Hollywood was sending to theaters in that period (2010-2012).
#2 by RogerBW on July 31, 2016 - 10:39 am
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The canonical example of this for me is El Mariachi, compared with its flabbier sequels.
#3 by Anna on July 31, 2016 - 10:56 am
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@RogerBW – Agreed. Now, “Desperado” was pretty good, and it might be that I have affection for it because I saw it first, but when I later saw “El Mariachi”, I was blown away by how tight, efficient, and fun it was to watch.
#4 by RogerBW on July 31, 2016 - 12:10 pm
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Anna – yup, I’ll watch and enjoy all three, but the padding goes up with the budget.
Mike – the weird thing is, good scripts don’t cost any more than bad scripts. But I rather suspect that finding a good script takes more time and effort than most producers are willing to put in.
#5 by Mike on July 31, 2016 - 11:51 am
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Jaws- considered one of the all time greats. Estimated budget, around $8 mil.
Jaws: The Revenge- considered one of the all time worst. Estimated budget, around $23 mil. Perhaps instead of funding Michael Caine’s castle some of that money should have went to building a better shark. Or purchasing a better story.
#6 by Anna on July 31, 2016 - 1:56 pm
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@Mike – “Jaws” is an excellent example of ‘Art from Adversity’. I think Spielberg is much like Lucas, they both made much better movies when budgets were tighter and when some things were just beyond a director’s control.
@Roger – Totally agreed.
#7 by Jason Farrell on August 1, 2016 - 9:34 am
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Very, very interesting theme ..you guys always come up with creative, non-obvious ideas
#8 by lyzard on August 1, 2016 - 8:13 pm
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KeithB gets the credit for this one.
#9 by EGM3 on August 2, 2016 - 1:46 pm
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Consider the work of Lewton and Ulmer. Quality films on non-existent budgets.
#10 by lyzard on August 2, 2016 - 6:28 pm
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Non-existent by Hollywood standards—usually $100,000 and up, and therefore not qualified.