10 Movies Made With Shockingly Low Budgets

10. District 9

Neill Blomkamp's 2009 sci-fi mockumentary about an alien refugee camp in Johannesburg, South Africa took the world by storm when it was released. The project was created with the help of Peter Jackson, a man known for using massive budgets to create extensive and intricate film franchises.

Unlike Jackson's other work, this movie required a far lower budget than most, but the actual amount will likely surprise you. Instead of costing around $75 to $100 million, which would make sense given the need for a ton of special effects, District 9 cost only $30 million to produce!

You wouldn't think that to look at the movie given the large reliance on special effects, but when everything was over and done with, the movie only required a paltry $30 million to get made. There were a number of reasons the budget was so shockingly low despite its heavy use of post-production effects.

Shooting only took 60 days, which helped alleviate a lot of costs associated with filmmaking. Additionally, the use of acting talent that didn't demand $10 million paychecks didn't hurt. This was Blomkamp's first film, which meant his salary demands weren't incredibly high. In the end, the movie managed to generate more than $210 million, which makes its relatively low budget all the more incredible.