10 Low Budget Horror Movies That Dominated The Box Office
3. Saw
In 2003, Leigh Whannell and James Wan scraped $5,000 of their own money to put together a horror short called Saw. The footage was only seven minutes long but it was impressive enough to encourage producers to turn it into a proper movie. After Whannell and Wan received a production budget of $1.2 million, the feature-length Saw was good to go.
It caused a ton of buzz when it premiered at Sundance, causing Lionsgate Films to pick up the distribution rights. The studio originally intended to release the film straight-to-DVD but changed their mind at the eleventh hour and officially released Saw in theatres in 2004.
Lionsgate Films last-minute change of plan worked out perfectly since Saw raked in almost a hundred times its budget. The flick became so popular, it spawned eight sequels (and counting) and popularised the torture porn sub-genre (which is probably not something to be proud of).
It may have been the least successful entry in the series until Saw VI but the original was the most profitable in terms of return in investment.