World’s Best-Selling Film: In recent years, there have been many low-budget films that exceeded expectations and achieved great success at the box office. In particular, South Cinema’s low-budget films have earned a lot of money at the box office, while the big-budget Bollywood films often turned out to be flops. However, small budget films are now giving tough competition to expensive stories. For example, The Kashmir Files recently recorded a profit of 2000 percent on a budget of just Rs 15 crore while it earned Rs 341 crore. But a Hollywood film earned a profit of 13,30,000 percent, many times more than Kashmir File, and no other film can compare with it. And it is said to be the most profitable film to date.
The most profitable film in the world to date: This is actually a low-budget horror film called Paranormal Activity from 2007 by filmmaker Oren Peli. The film was also directed by Peli and is a blockbuster film. Modeled on the 1999 hit The Blair Witch Project, the film used a found footage format and was shot exclusively with amateur handheld cameras or CCTV.
The film was made on a budget of 6 lakh rupees: Paranormal Activity’s crew and just four actors kept the budget limited to 15,000 dollars (6 lakh rupees as per 2007 exchange rate). After being acquired by Paramount Pictures, the ending was changed and some post-production work was added, increasing the total budget to US$215,000 (₹90 lakh).
The success of Paranormal Activity spawned a franchise that spawned six sequels and spin-offs. The total worldwide revenue of the 7 films in the Paranormal Activity series is $890 million (Rs 7,320 million) while their budget is just $28 million (Rs 230 million). Here, too, no other franchise has such a high success rate.
Paranormal Activity also popularized the found footage genre, which was used by many independent filmmakers in the horror genre. Some examples include The Last Exorcism, Apollo 18, The Devil Inside, and the V/H/S series.
The most successful films in the world: Before “Paranormal Activity,” this title was held by “The Blair Witch Project.” This 1999 film was made on a budget of $200,000 (Rs 85 lakh) and grossed $243 million (Rs 1045 crore) worldwide. The 2003 film Tarnation, on the other hand, was made on a very low budget of just $218 (Rs 10,000) and grossed $1.2 million (Rs 5.5 million). The 1972 porn film Deep Throat was made on a budget of $25,000 (Rs 1.9 million) and grossed $22 million (Rs 17 million). This list also includes the 1977 horror film Eraser Head, which was made on a budget of $10,000 (Rs 87,000) and grossed $7 million (Rs 6 crore) at the box office.
