Most expensive looking low/ mid budget movies? - Blu-ray Forum

levcore · 08-11-2023, 08:24 AM

Basically which movies look like they cost a lot more than they did?

The Invisible Man (2020) is quoted as having a 7 million budget, absolutely unbelievable considering how great the movie looks with some very impressive set pieces and vfx.

CMG · 08-11-2023, 08:34 AM

INVADER (1992) on VIDMARK Entertainment with its groovy green box.

I can only speak of this movie having bought and watched the Vidmark VHS release several times but the SFX looked pretty good for such a meagre-budgeted film . . . but I wouldn't recommend watching a movie like this in Hi•Def because no doubt it's effects are not going to look better!

DR Herbert West · 08-11-2023, 09:11 AM

Halloween (1978)
Upgrade
Phantasm: OblIVion
Hardware
Nemesis (1992)

Martoto · 08-11-2023, 10:48 AM

I think Escape From New York is still the benchmark of making a million bucks look like fifty million. Some of the big movies of that period, A Bridge Too Far, The Black Hole and the like, don't look as good despite costing many times more.

Lee A Stewart · 08-11-2023, 10:56 AM

Budget = $30 million

KManX89 · 08-11-2023, 11:32 AM

300 was somehow shot with amazing-looking CGI, visuals and fight scenes at a mere $65 mil budget. I couldn't believe my eyes.

Evil Dead Rise with all its practical blood (they ordered 1,700 gallons of corn syrup just for this movie

) and actor salaries somehow only cost $15 mil, less than a quarter of Renfield's budget ($65 mil) which was all CGI blood.

jess1581 · 08-11-2023, 11:37 AM

Deadpool = 56 million budget
Bloodshot = 45 million budget
The Thing 2011 = 38 million budget
Underworld = 22 million budget

d2cheer · 08-11-2023, 11:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martoto

I think Escape From New York is still the benchmark of making a million bucks look like fifty million. Some of the big movies of that period, A Bridge Too Far, The Black Hole and the like, don't look as good despite costing many times more.

This 100%, love the look of EFNY.

I always thought the Underworld movies looked cheap and fakey.

Walter Kafka · 08-11-2023, 12:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by d2cheer

This 100%, love the look of EFNY.

I always thought the Underworld movies looked cheap and fakey.

Assault on Precinct 13 gets a lot too.

dkelly26666 · 08-11-2023, 12:16 PM

The entirety of both "Kill Bill" halves combined was only around 65 million.

"The Last Temptation of Christ" only cost around 6.5 million.

"E.T." only cost 11 million.

Kurosawa's "Ran" cost only 11 million, even though it was the most expensive Japanese movie ever at that time. (1985) It still looks more expensive to me.

UltraMario9 · 08-11-2023, 12:26 PM

The Passion of the Christ
Apocalypto

EvaDK · 08-11-2023, 12:34 PM

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Swedish/Danish 2009 film) - $13m budget
It's two sequels cost roughly the same combined.

The Matrix - $63m
Not a low budget film, but astonishing visuals and groundbreaking visual effects for the money spent. The STAR WARS of its generation.

The best looking and best value 'low budget' film of all time:

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly - $1.3m budget
Epic runtime, amazing sets and a fully realized civil war battle with hundreds of extras. Amazing value for the money.

Prog5000 · 08-11-2023, 12:42 PM

Moon.

LarryT · 08-11-2023, 12:46 PM

Moon had a $5m budget and looks great.

sandboxgamer · 08-11-2023, 12:57 PM

The two films that immediately spring to mind are Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) and The Shape of Water (2017) both films had only a $19 million dollar budget and they look significantly higher than that.

RossyG · 08-11-2023, 01:38 PM

I suppose $110m is fairly high, but I thought San Andreas looked amazing in terms of the scale of its destruction for a film of that budget.

For the record, other blockbusters that year were.

The Force Awakens - $533m (God knows where that went if true)
Jurassic World - $150-215m (Wikipedia is vague on this one)
Furious 7 - $250m
Age of Ultron- $250m
Spectre - $245-300m

Ricky G · 08-11-2023, 03:17 PM

Tremors - $10M
INSANELY GOOD

filmbuffTX · 08-11-2023, 03:52 PM

Love and Monsters had a budget of $30 million and was deservedly nominated for Best Visual Effects at the Academy Awards. It was up against movies that had 5X the budget.

NARMAK · 08-11-2023, 04:04 PM

I think it would be significantly more interesting to see movies listed by their original budgets and then the inflated amount of the budget for 2023 too. Would help a bit more with accuracy but there's definitely some solid examples above.

cheez avenger · 08-11-2023, 04:08 PM

El Mariachi was made for 7K back in 1992. Still an awesome film all these years later.

Monsters (2010) from Gareth Edwards cost 500K and looks like it cost at least 10-20 million.

08-11-2023, 08:24 AM	#1
levcore Blu-ray Grand Duke Member since:Jun 2011 Location:Dryland 4K collection:306 Blu-ray collection:2617 Trading Score:3	Most expensive looking low/ mid budget movies? Basically which movies look like they cost a lot more than they did? The Invisible Man (2020) is quoted as having a 7 million budget, absolutely unbelievable considering how great the movie looks with some very impressive set pieces and vfx.

08-11-2023, 08:34 AM	#2
CMG Special Member Member since:Jul 2023 Location:state of GA, USA Blu-ray collection:50 DVD collection:260	INVADER (1992) on VIDMARK Entertainment with its groovy green box. I can only speak of this movie having bought and watched the Vidmark VHS release several times but the SFX looked pretty good for such a meagre-budgeted film . . . but I wouldn't recommend watching a movie like this in Hi•Def because no doubt it's effects are not going to look better!

08-11-2023, 09:11 AM	#3
DR Herbert West Blu-ray King Top contributor Member since:May 2018 Location:Arkham, MA Trading Score:8	Halloween (1978) Upgrade Phantasm: OblIVion Hardware Nemesis (1992)

08-11-2023, 10:48 AM	#4
Martoto Blu-ray Duke Member since:Mar 2014 Location:Glasgow Blu-ray reviews: 7	I think Escape From New York is still the benchmark of making a million bucks look like fifty million. Some of the big movies of that period, A Bridge Too Far, The Black Hole and the like, don't look as good despite costing many times more.

08-11-2023, 10:56 AM	#5
Lee A Stewart Blu-ray Baron Member since:Jan 2019 Location:Albuquerque, NM	Budget = $30 million

08-11-2023, 11:32 AM	#6
KManX89 Blu-ray Grand Duke Member since:Nov 2019 4K collection:296 Blu-ray collection:737 DVD collection:126	300 was somehow shot with amazing-looking CGI, visuals and fight scenes at a mere $65 mil budget. I couldn't believe my eyes. Evil Dead Rise with all its practical blood (they ordered 1,700 gallons of corn syrup just for this movie ) and actor salaries somehow only cost $15 mil, less than a quarter of Renfield's budget ($65 mil) which was all CGI blood.

08-11-2023, 11:37 AM	#7
jess1581 Blu-ray Champion Member since:May 2016 Location:Fairhaven, Massachusetts 4K collection:550 Blu-ray collection:2332 Blu-ray reviews: 73	Deadpool = 56 million budget Bloodshot = 45 million budget The Thing 2011 = 38 million budget Underworld = 22 million budget

08-11-2023, 12:16 PM	#10
dkelly26666 Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Jul 2012	The entirety of both "Kill Bill" halves combined was only around 65 million. "The Last Temptation of Christ" only cost around 6.5 million. "E.T." only cost 11 million. Kurosawa's "Ran" cost only 11 million, even though it was the most expensive Japanese movie ever at that time. (1985) It still looks more expensive to me.

08-11-2023, 12:26 PM	#11
UltraMario9 Blu-ray Samurai Top contributor Member since:Oct 2013 Location:United Kingdom	The Passion of the Christ Apocalypto

08-11-2023, 12:34 PM	#12
EvaDK Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Oct 2014 Location:Denmark	The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (Swedish/Danish 2009 film) - $13m budget It's two sequels cost roughly the same combined. The Matrix - $63m Not a low budget film, but astonishing visuals and groundbreaking visual effects for the money spent. The STAR WARS of its generation. The best looking and best value 'low budget' film of all time: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly - $1.3m budget Epic runtime, amazing sets and a fully realized civil war battle with hundreds of extras. Amazing value for the money.

08-11-2023, 12:42 PM	#13
Prog5000 Blu-ray Guru Member since:Feb 2008	Moon.

08-11-2023, 12:46 PM	#14
LarryT Senior Member Member since:Aug 2018 Location:central ohio Trading Score:2	Moon had a $5m budget and looks great.

08-11-2023, 12:57 PM	#15
sandboxgamer Senior Member Member since:Jul 2020 Location:New York 4K collection:9 Blu-ray collection:293 DVD collection:84	The two films that immediately spring to mind are Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) and The Shape of Water (2017) both films had only a $19 million dollar budget and they look significantly higher than that.

08-11-2023, 01:38 PM	#16
RossyG Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Sep 2016 Location:Brighton, UK	I suppose $110m is fairly high, but I thought San Andreas looked amazing in terms of the scale of its destruction for a film of that budget. For the record, other blockbusters that year were. The Force Awakens - $533m (God knows where that went if true) Jurassic World - $150-215m (Wikipedia is vague on this one) Furious 7 - $250m Age of Ultron- $250m Spectre - $245-300m

08-11-2023, 03:17 PM	#17
Ricky G Special Member Member since:Aug 2019 Location:Texas 4K collection:90 Blu-ray collection:457 DVD collection:3 Digital collection:88 Trading Score:1	Tremors - $10M INSANELY GOOD

08-11-2023, 03:52 PM	#18
filmbuffTX Blu-ray Duke Top contributor Member since:May 2015 4K collection:267 Blu-ray collection:6361 DVD collection:2270 Digital collection:1617 Blu-ray reviews: 2 Trading Score:16	Love and Monsters had a budget of $30 million and was deservedly nominated for Best Visual Effects at the Academy Awards. It was up against movies that had 5X the budget.

08-11-2023, 04:04 PM	#19
NARMAK Blu-ray Prince Member since:Feb 2007 Location:United Kingdom Blu-ray collection:141 Trading Score:18	I think it would be significantly more interesting to see movies listed by their original budgets and then the inflated amount of the budget for 2023 too. Would help a bit more with accuracy but there's definitely some solid examples above.

08-11-2023, 04:08 PM	#20
cheez avenger Blu-ray Champion Member since:Dec 2009 4K collection:804 Blu-ray collection:1583 Trading Score:9	El Mariachi was made for 7K back in 1992. Still an awesome film all these years later. Monsters (2010) from Gareth Edwards cost 500K and looks like it cost at least 10-20 million.

Best Blu-ray Movie Deals