The Most Successful Low-Budget Movies + Movie Review: Jackass Forever + Trailer Park: Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Netflix)

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Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome back to Movie Mike's Movie Podcast, your go to source for all things movies. I am your host, Movie Mike A K eight Mike D. I'm just the guy who loves movies. I would talk about them even if I didn't have this podcast, and every single week I bring you a movie exploration topic. Sometimes I talked to actors and directors. Today, I want to talk about some of the most successful low budget movies. These are all films that got made for a pretty small amount of money and ended up doing really well at the box office. I'll get into my review of Jackass Forever and in the Trailer Park you had another Texas Chainsaw Massacre reboot is coming to Netflix, so we'll talk about that. Thanks for being subscribed, Thanks for listening every single week. Special shout out to the Monday Movie crew. And if you're down, I'm down. Let's talk movies. In a world where everyone and their mother has a podcast, one man stands to infiltrate the ears of listeners like never before in a movie podcast, a man with so much movie knowledge. He's basically you're like walking on with glasses from the Nashville Podcast Network. Movie So I usually get a lot of good feedback whenever I do episode it's discussing some movie math. It's one of my favorite subjects to dive into. And this week I wanted to get into movies that made a lot of money with a pretty small budget. And first of all, I just kind of want to set the stage or what a normal movie cost to make nowadays, and I think that will be a little bit better of a reference we get into some of these low budget movies now. A typical movie now cost around sixty five million dollars to make. It depends on who is the lead in it, because now actors are getting paid twenty thirties, sometimes upward of fifty million dollars for a single role. Streaming has greatly changed how much an actor can make because when you go and do movies or streaming services, there's really not a whole lot of money to make on the back end with ticket sales. But generally a movie can get made for sixty five million dollars. Of recent note, Joker, which was made in twenty nineteen, was fifty five million dollars to make. Joaquin Phoenix made about four point five million dollars for that movie, but then you have bigger production movies, the Marvel movies, the big action movies, and a movie like Spider Man No Way Home cost about two hundred million dollars to make, and that goes on to make you know, one point seven billion dollars. So that's kind of a range for a normal movie, and you think, oh, maybe an animated movie will cost a little bit less. Well, No and Gonzo also cost a hundred and fifty million dollars to make, and that has made around two hundred and thirty three million dollars. Another movie for reference, Don't Look Up, which came out on Netflix, that costs about a hundred and ten million dollars to make, and thirty million of that was paying Leonardo DiCaprio. Twenty five million of that was playing Jennifer Lawrence. So a great deal of a movie like that is paying the big star actors. And when you talk about low budget movies, generally the consensus is anything made under two million dollars would be a low budget movie. This is a very independent movie. Anything under the two million dollar range is probably gonna have relatively unknown actors or maybe bigger actors taking a lower salary in order to get a movie made or it's the very first in the franchise of movies that later the sequels will make a lot more and the actors will get paid a lot more for I think it's very rare to find a movie under two million dollars, So we'll get to some of those movies under the two million dollar mark. But I didn't want to start a little bit higher just to kind of get a bigger range on this topic with the movies that got made for less than ten million dollars. So we'll start first with Little Miss Sunshine that came out in two thousand and six that had a budget of eight million dollars. The movie stars Steve Carrell. It's like a drama t slash comedy road trip movie. And with it only costing eight million dollars to make, after Fox Searchlight Pictures bought the rights to it, we're able to put it out in theaters. After it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. It went on to make a hundred and one million dollars. But not only that, this movie was highly critically acclaimed, one Oscars for Best Original screen Play, Best Supporting Actor. So I feel like sometimes with these lower budget movies. Almost the idea is for it dictor to awards season. I feel like in between the ten million dollar and the five million dollar range is where a lot of these movies live. Because another movie that came out in two thousand and seven, Juno, costs six point five million dollars to make, ended up making two d and thirty one million dollars at the box office and also just had a lot of critical acclaim. And with both of these movies, they have a low five feel and a lot what goes into having a successful movie with the lower budget is the story. I think you'll see a theme in all of these movies. There has to be something so dynamic about the story that would have people you know, really pick out and want to watch this movie. And I think that's where the real success is with a low budget movie. It's something that you want to tell your friend about whether the subject matter alone is worthy of wanting to watch the movie. And sometimes in Juno's case, it doesn't hurt to have a really good soundtrack, but also just really good actors who put up a performance that is worthy of winning an Oscar. Along with that original screenplay, that's something that hasn't been done before. And this is really something that I kind of feel is like a win for a director, a win for an actor to be a part of a production like this. And sometimes it is the lower budget movies from an actor that becomes some of fans just favorite movies. So those are a couple under the ten million dollar mark. Now let's get into movies that got made under five million dollars. And right at the five million dollar mark is twenty seventeens Get Out, directed by Jordan Peel and with the relatively low price tag of four point five million dollars to make this movie, and went on to make two hundred and fifty five point four million dollars. That's a pretty good profit margin. And this is the first time in this list I'll talk about horror movies, but I feel like horror is a really lucrative genre when done right, when you have a unique concept, you don't really need a whole lot of other movie magic making effects. It's all about the story. It's all about creating that feeling of of stress, of anxiety when you're watching a movie. If you can create that energy of keeping people on the edge of their seat while watching something that you know invokes a feeling of being scared in the theater at your house. That's all you need. It's just that feeling. And horror movies can do that, and they can do that for a pretty low budget if done right. And also in this category of movies made under five million dollars, you have movies that are cult classics. And I want to talk about Donnie Darko, which came out in two thousand and one, cost only four point five million dollars to make. And while this movie wasn't a box office success in any means, it only made seven point five million dollars at the box office, But Donnie Darko has become a cult classic, which almost goes further than any amount of money you can make at the box office. Sometimes movies come and go. A movie that made a lot maybe just a few years ago, we kind of forget about. But a movie like this that lives on forever and becomes people's favorite movie of all time, I think that's almost worth more. And even though it doesn't have that commercial success to really hold on too, if you can make a cult classic, you can almost live forever through that. Johnny dark it was probably a movie that this next generation will watch again in generations to come, we'll keep watching because it has this following. So while it's not successful financially, I think you can measure success in other ways of you know, how long this movie is going to last and how much people are going to continue to watch this movie. And the thing that director James Gunn kind of explains so well that I was able to take away from recently is that he said that a lot of his favorite movies he didn't watch in theaters, like Jaws is one of his favorite movies, but he's never seen that movie in theaters. Really none of us have. But that movie lives on forever and never because we watch it at home streaming her on the DVD on the Blu Ray. So when Donnie darkos case, that's how I measured this movie's success. Other movies in this bracket are from two thousand and three. Lost in Translation cost four million dollars to make, ended up making a hundred and eighteen million dollars, also got nominated for four Oscars and one for Best Original Screenplay. And also in this bracket, The Oscar Wins Keep on Coming. Steen Moonlight came out cost four million dollars to make, ended up making sixty five million dollars at the box office, and then the following year won the Oscar for Best Picture. A few more movies here to mention. Garden State, which came out in two thousand and four, was made for only two point five million dollars, ended up making thirty five million dollars at the box office. Another case of a really good soundtrack really helping this movie and helping it live on. Then in two thousand and four, Saw came out, only cost one point two million dollars to make, but ended up making a hundred and three million dollars at the box office. Movie that everybody talked about when that movie came out, how just shocking and in credit a bull it was, and with just one point two million dollars, that spawned an entire franchise that has now grossed over a billion dollars. And then one more in this bracket. In nineteen Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs came out. He made that movie for one point two million dollars. It went on to make about two point nine million dollars at the box office, but really kick started his career after Reservoir Dogs. Basically everybody wanted to mimic that movie and make their own version of Reservoir Dogs. All right now, I want to get into movies made for a million dollars or right around it. In the first movie from nineteen seventies six, it's just a little bit above a million. But I feel like this is a pretty amazing feat for this movie. And the movie is Rocky, which was made for one point one million dollars, went on to gross two hundred and twenty five million dollars in a movie that has become Sylvester Stallone's signature movie has also spawned one of the best movie franchises. It went on to win Best Picture. And what I love about the Rocky movies is much like Rocky in the real movie, it really was a sleeper hit. Nobody expected this to be the biggest movie of nineteen seventies six and then continue to make money and was the second highest grossing movie in nineteen seventies seven, right behind Star Wars. And a rare thing to happen is a movie like this to have such of a box office impact, a movie that a lot of people end up going to see because sometimes movies that get nominated for Best Picture. You know, not everybody has seen these movies. But a movie that had this much power going into it was up for ten Oscars and ended up winning three, including Best Picture. Like that's amazing. That really hasn't been heard of in a very long time. So with all that considered, out of all the movies I put together on this list today, I think that is one of the most impressive things. But now we'll get into movies made for less than a million dollars. A horror classic which came out in nineteen sixty Psycho from Alfred Hitchcock. Was able to make this movie for eight hundred thousand dollars, which back in was probably a lot more money, but it went on to make fifty million dollars. An interesting thing I recently found out about Psycho. It's basically credited for being the movie that created movie times. Alfred Hitchcock had to make it a point that if somebody was going to watch Psycho, they had to watch it from beginning to end. And before that it was a little bit more normal for movie theaters just to keep playing movies on a loop, and people would come in and watch them and you wouldn't necessarily start right at the beginning and finished right at the end. You could just walk in at the beginning, maybe you're in the middle, maybe there's another movie starting right after. The environment really wasn't made to watch a movie. People in there were, you know, just hanging out. But when it came to Psycho, that's when the movie times were set, like, you have to arrive at this time. You have to see the movie from the start to the end to get this movie. So not only was it a successful, low budget movie, it also changed the way we go and watch movies. Now, how about we go even cheaper? In the blair Witch Project comes out, the movie only cost six hundred thousand dollars to make, and you probably watch it thinking I could have made this for five bucks in a VHS tape, and you're probably right. But the movie went on to make two and fifty million dollars and really just created its own genre with being the first movie to really adapt the found footage horror movie. I think the first one was called UFU Abduction, but blair Witch is the one that really put this type of movie on the map, and the way they did this was really all in the marketing and the thing that some horror movies do is they create these concepts and these ideas that you wonder to yourself as the viewer, did this actually happened? And that was the biggest thing behind the Blair Witch Project is it was kind of marketed and pitched as this actually happened somewhere and you were just watching this, And that's what made it a little bit more scary. I know what they did with Texas Chainsaw massacre to where some people kind of forgot whether or not that was a real event. And when you watch something in that type of way, it becomes more scary because you wonder, what if this happened to me, what would I do? And with something like The Blair Witch Project, it almost sounds like something that could actually happen. So the movie was such a pop culture hit then paved the way and set the stage for other found footage movies, but at the time was a totally original concept. And yow, from six hundred thousand dollars to two and fifty million dollars, that's a really good profit margin. Let's go down even further. In two thousand and four, Napoleon Dynamite comes out. The movie costs only four thousand dollars to make and ended up making forty six million dollars at the box office. I think the most interesting thing about this is that John Heater, who plays Napoleon Dynamite, was only paid a thousand dollars for his role. And this is the movie that really put him on the map allowed him to have other major movie roles. It really Napoleon Dynamite is the one movie that John Heater will always be known for. And luckily he still makes money off the royalties. After this movie was a success, he was able to renegotiate and get a percentage of the movie's profits, so he's made a lot more than a thousand dollars now from this movie. And I've seen other stories of people who were extras in this movie. They weren't paid. They were just like, Hey, you want to be a part of a movie. Hop on this bus and we're gonna film this scene. And I think that is my new goal in life. I just want to be an extra in a movie. So if anybody has any leads on that, hit me up a few more movies I want to mention before I get to the most profitable movie of all time based on returning investment. From nineteen seventy nine, you have Mad Max, which was made for a three hundred and fifty thousand dollars and ended up making a hundred million dollars at the box office. Now, if you want to compare that to Mad Max, Fury Road, which came out in that movie cost about a hundred and fifty to a hundred and eighty million dollars to make and went on to make three hundred and seventy four million dollars, So it ended up making a lot more money, but also had to spend a lot more money. Which one of those would be your favorite? I would still lean to probably Mad Max Fury Road, but for being able to make Mad Max for three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, as intricate as that movie is, that is also pretty impressive. From nine Clerks was made for only two hundred and thirty thousand dollars, and this was coming from an original budget that Kevin Smith only had about twenty seven thousand dollars to make this movie. He sold off a bunch of his like rare comic books, maxed out every single credit card to get this movie. Made, and I love that this movie feels very low budget. You watch Clerks in black and white and it almost feels like it was a movie made by a group of your friends. But it's one of my favorite Kevin Smith movies, and of everything he's made since, I think it's the one that resonates with Kevin Smith's fans the most. And this movie made three point one million dollars at the box office, but as the movie responsible for putting him on the map and allowing him to make another movie, you know there's another Clerks movie in the works. I thought Clerks too was great. My other favorite Kevin Smith movie is without a doubt, Mall Rats. I love that all of his films don't really have like this well finished, Hollywood polished to them. It's all about the writing, It's all about the comedy and all about the character stories. Another low budget movie was Swingers, from cost two hundred thousand dollars to make and made four point six million dollars. That was directed by Jon Favreau, who has done The Mandalorian, who has done the original Iron Man and has really become an underrated director and writer. And the way he saved a lot of money while making this movie was well casting himself. You also have a couple of documentaries here in two thousand and four, Supersize Me was made for sixty five thousand dollars, that's it, and ended up making twenty two point two million dollars at the box office. And then Catfish from twelve was made for thirty thousand dollars and that made three point seven million owners of the box office. Documentaries can usually be made for a lot less money, but with Catfish and Supersize Me, those were documentaries that a lot of people talked about, so a lot of their success came from word of mouth and also just the power of them being able to storytell in these documentaries. And then finally the movie that is the most profitable movie ever made based on return investment. It is from two thousand and seven, Paranormal Activity, which was made for just fifteen thousand dollars. That's right, one five zero zero zero dollars, and for that low budget it went on to make a hundred and ninety three million dollars. They've made sequel after sequel spinoffs in this movie, and it borrowed from the Blair Witch Project in the same way if you're watching this movie feeling like this actually happened to the people living in this house, and it's a pretty crazy and freaky concept that you'll go home and be a little bit freaked out at every single noise in your house. And where the paranormal activity movies took it a bit further, it was really marketing towards the last fifteen minutes of the movie. Like in all the trailers that played for this movie, it was like, you'll be shocked by the last fifteen minutes. You're not gonna want to miss that, And that creates the sense of like, oh, well, I really got to pay attention to this movie to the very end. I gotta go see this movie in theaters. So there is such clever filmmaking and the paranormal activity movies that they don't get enough credit for to be able to take not a whole lot of money a movie that looks like it was just shot on some old cam quorders from you know, the two thousands. So there you go. I hope you enjoyed that. Coming up next, actually the movie that kind of inspired this entire list, I want to talk about Jackass Forever and some of the Jackass movies that came before it. They were made for a relatively low amount of money. We'll get into that review next. You're gonna get into a spoiler free movie review. Now I want to talk about Jackass Forever, which is playing now in theaters. Movie that was on my most anticipated movies of two I'll just say it did not disappoint. But before I get into my full review, here's just a little bit of Jackass Forever. You're still blowing people up. It's not hard enough. An Jackass Texas rat Snake Minimus for insis hits harder than any heavyweight. To Aaron, it was a lightweight. That's not a lightweight. Then, even that trailer makes me smile. Still, let's talk about Jackass Forever, like, this is what I want out of a comedy going experience in the movie theater, because the Jackass movie is unlike any other comedy that you'll see in theaters, because it's a movie that you experience with strangers and can all collectively just laugh and then wind it a movie. And I haven't laughed so effortlessly in a movie in a very long time, and I think a lot of that is because of the format of a jackass movie, which is unlike anything you'll really go to the movie theater to see, because it's skit after skit. There's no following a plot line, there's no act one at two, act three. It's just funny moment after funny moments. Sometimes the bits are seconds long and that's it, And that's just a lot of creative details that goes into something so juvenile, and it's just funny that after so many years, some of the same gags of like hitting somebody in the junk are still funny. But in this movie they also step up the creativity a lot because they are now older. Johnny Knoxville is fifty years old, Stevo is in his late forties, and all the other original casts are right around that age group. So some of the more physical stuff was a little bit toned down a bit, not to say they didn't really go for it in some scenes, but they brought in some new cast of characters that are younger and more vibrant and able to take on a little bit more of the stuff that would result in broken bones. Because what I learned from, you know, hearing them talk about this movie, that it's a lot harder for their bodies to recover from this, and there were a lot more hospital visits in this Jackass movie than any other Jackass movie given their age. So this movie was ninety minutes of just fun. Like that's a plain and simple. I feel like this is a movie we all deserve to watch right now, a movie where you can really turn off your brain and just laugh. Now. Was it my favorite Jackass movie? I don't think so. I think for some reason, for me, a good Jackass movie also has some heart to it, and I think for me, Jackass three will always be that Jackass. The first one has a special place in my heart because it was the first time that they could be more themselves and do the things they couldn't do on TV. I think Jackass two has some of the best us and most memorable bits. But the cool thing about Jackass Forever is that they were one able to make another Jackass movie, but too it just felt like going to hang out with some friends you've had forever again. And I love the sense of community that the Jackass movies have created, and really the promotion around this is it really creates almost a sense of community with a movie and with things like Johnny Knoxville and Stevo we Man going into movie theaters to surprise fans. It's a really like fan driven movie, and they're able to connect with people unlike any other movie franchise because I feel like they don't really consider themselves movie stars, and it's the only kind of franchise where it takes somebody like Cris Pontius or Preston Lacey who are otherwise would it be in a Hollywood movie and really allows them to be able to shine. I guess for me being such a big Jackass fan from the very beginning, I did feel a little bit like there was something missing from the movie, and maybe it's because Bamar Jira wasn't in it after getting kicked out of it. He really adds a lot to the Jackass movie, which I realized afterwards. He isn't it for a very brief moment. He doesn't get any kind of line. But I guess there was a stunt that they did that they wanted to include the movie that at the time he was still a part of the crew, so they didn't cut him out completely. And it's also the first Jackass movie they've made since Ryan Dunn passed away. Tragically, so it was either not having them too in the movie, and then what they kind of did was show a little bit more of danger errand in the movie and a little bit more of women, and I felt like, for the first time I kind of saw what Jackass could evolve into, because they are saying this will be the last one they make, but that kind of saw Johnny Knoxville take a little bit more of like a ring leader, which he has always had that role, but a little bit more of like the next movie could be. Jackass presents like a movie that just Johnny Knoxville hosts, and he has these newer, younger talents doing all the crazy stunts, maybe revisiting some stunts they've done before, just with new people. And although he really did risk a lot of his health for this movie, he takes some very hard blows to some really crazy things, proving that he is the ultimate leader in this the ultimate Jackass. But I did enjoy the new cast. I will say it's a little bit more of shocking gross humor than maybe any other Jackass movie I've seen for that reason of them leaning a little bit away from the physical comedy. The other thing, I kind of feel like it missed was the grand finale. While it was a little bit more elaborate than some of the other final ending scenes in the other movies, I just feel in the past that's been a little bit grander, and I wonder if it has a little bit to do with them making this movie in during the pandemic. It's probably just harder to make a Jackass movie when you have to deal with all those protocols. They started talking this movie back in twenty nineteen, started and it got kicked off by Johnny Knoxville and Stevo both ending up in the hospital pretty early on. Then the pandemic hit shut him down until about September. They were able to get the movie done, was supposed to come out last year, and now finally came out now this year. So I also did kind of get that feeling too of it being a hard movie to make given the circumstances. But I also think they made up for that a little bit with some of the celebrity cameos, which I all thought were pretty funny. So I will say, if you're a fan of all the other Jackass movies, you will go into this one. You will laugh. Be aware. I feel like there's more male nudity in this one than any other Jackass movies. If you don't like things with fluids that come out of animals vomiting or blood and people getting injured, probably not the movie for you. But if you're going into a Jackass movie, that's just something you have to expect out of it. I would give it four out of five broken ribs and in a world of people being able to put up these ridiculous things on YouTube and TikTok, I really loved how they were able to differentiate themselves and show that they are the best at what they do. Now tying this movie back into the theme, this movie was made for ten million dollars, and all the other Jackas movies were made for relatively low budgets. The first one cost only five million dollars to make and went on to win eighty million dollars at the box office. Jacks two was made for a living point five million and made eighty four point six million dollars, and then Jack Asked three was the most expensive one, which came ten years after the original. That one cost twenty million dollars. I think a lot of that was due to the use of three D technology for that movie, but it also went on to make the most making one and seventy one million dollars. I wish this movie all the success at the box office because with that ten million dollar budget really allows it to grow. And I hope more movies come from the Jackass universe, whether it be another Bad Grandpa or something like I was talking about earlier, where it's Johnny Knoxville kind of being the ring leader and just hosting a Jackass movie because from what I've read, he can't take another blow to the head without risking his life. So that's what I think about Jackass forever. Now it's time for the part of the podcast where I break down a new movie trailer of a movie coming to you very soon in theaters or on streaming. It's time to head down to movie Mike Troi La Paul. This week, I want to talk about Texas Chainsaw Massacre, yet another reboot of the Texas Chainsaw franchise. This one is coming out on Netflix on February. Before I get into what I think about this movie, here's just a little bit of the trailer. Fifty years I've been waiting for this night, just to see him again, who leather Face, try anything in your cancel bro. Oh. So I was excited about this movie until I saw this new trailer which made it look very cheesy, very formulaic. And maybe it was that last line of everybody taking pictures with their phones of leather Face and like a bus and the guy says, hey, you do anything, we get canceled. I feel like there was a very cringe line for this movie and already kind of took me out of what I thought this movie could be. The other thing, I kind of feel like it's following the formula of bringing back somebody who you know, had to deal with leather Face twenty years ago, and now it being the ultimate showdown between the two, and it's almost exactly the plot of Halloween Kills and with them rebooting Scream, with them rebooting Chucky into a you know, a series. Now, with Texas Chainsaw now doing this movie on Netflix, I feel like it's only a matter of time before we get another Friday the thirteenth and then another Nightmare on Elm Street. The other thing I don't particularly love about this is every Texas Chainsaw movie has oddly unique title and it doesn't really make any sense of what film happens when the original one is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and then there's the part two. But then you have the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which came out in two thousand and three, which I thought was still a really good movie, and then you just have Texas Chainsaw from leather Face in sev So a lot of these have been hid and miss But with all those factors, when you go into a movie like Texas Chainsaw, you only want to see one thing is leather Face. Tearing people at a stress with a chainsaw doesn't really take a whole lot of thought to figure out. But the thing that I think will make this the hardest movie to watch is the actual mask and the way leather Face looks in this movie. Like I thought it was a parody. I didn't realize that was watching the Texas Chainsaw trailer because it didn't even look like leather Face. I guess if you're rebooting something this amount of times, you have to give it a totally different look. But I kind of feel like that's going to take me out of wanting to see this movie altogether. But if you want to check that out, it hits Netflix on February. All right, and that'll do it for this week's episode. But before I hop out of here, every single week I give a listener shout out at this part of the podcast. All you have to do is post on your Instagram story that you're listening to the episode, send me a message, tweet me at Mike Destro, or hit me up on email movie Mike d at gmail dot com. If you forget any of that, it's all in the episode notes. You can just click on that. And this week's listener shout out goes to at Halo Barbie two on Instagram, a k A. Olivia. She posted a picture and tagged me in her Instagram story of her listening to the podcast on her iPhone and said, always listen to Mike Petro's podcast when I get ready in the morning. Finally saw Spider Man still listening to this one first, then the new one for Monday. So she was listening to the spoiler version that I put out of Spider Man No Way Home. So if you had a chance to watch Spider Man now as it's about to cross the two billion dollar mark at the box office, and if you haven't listened to that episode yet, you can go back and listen to all the spoilers that I talked about in that episode. It's a very rare thing I do, and with a movie as big as Spider Man, I had to do one. So thanks Olivia for tagging me in your Instagram story. That's probably the easiest way to get a listener shout out because I love to repost those on my Instagram story. So if you want to be a part of this next week, just tag me in your Instagram story. I'll repost that and give you a shout out. And also if you have any movie related question, I will answer those at this part of the podcast as well. Send those questions over to my email movie Mike d at gmail dot com. Thanks again for listening this week and for making it to the end of the podcast US. Hope you have a great rest of your week and until next time, go out and watch good movies. Later m MHM